Home, I’m Darling is a quirky look at nostalgia

This ensemble piece effectively explores one couple’s blissful view of the 1950s – a time and place that might never have been.

Making a tonal shift from its last production, the tense and consuming Death of a Salesman, Dundas Little Theatre’s mid-winter offering is the quirky Home, I’m Darling, written by English playwright Laura Wade. It’s an ensemble piece that sees the bright and chirpy veneer of its opening scenes crack to show some more serious themes and interactions within the second act. The DLT production is already sold out through its second weekend, but there is still time to snap up tickets to see the play in the third and final weekend of its run.

The premise of Home, I’m Darling is a fresh and interesting one, but the plot doesn’t reveal all its secrets at once. The setting for the entire play is a family home of the 1950s, its beautifully appointed kitchen awash in turquoise and the upstairs bedroom revealing closets meticulously arranged with hat boxes and freshly pressed clothing. The living room is stylishly period-appropriate with ready comforts like afternoon cocktails and a large record player. 

Picture I Love Lucy but in technicolour. 

A beautifully dressed and coiffed young housewife, Judy (Antoinette Laleon), flits about the kitchen making certain that breakfast is sitcom perfection for her husband Johnny (Aleks Ristic), right down to the little egg cup and light banter. The way the two speak together evokes the rapid clip and Americanized transatlantic accent of movies and TV shows of the era. Once Judy sees her real estate agent hubby off with his lunch pail and briefcase, however, she pulls a laptop out from inside a kitchen cabinet. What gives?

It turns out that the action is set in the present day, but Judy and Johnny have made an “arrangement” to pursue a lifestyle that adheres as closely as possible to a romanticized version of the 1950s they both, but particularly Judy, love. Judy previously worked in finance, but now cares for the home using mid-century techniques while wearing swing dresses, pumps and hosiery with seams running up the back. Johnny wears period-appropriate cardigans, suits and fedoras while driving an old sedan to the office. Once a year they vacation at a festival for fans of the ’50s. Eventually, though, the happy arrangement starts to show strain at several stress points.

The rest of the DLT cast includes Liz Buchanan (as Judy’s friend, Fran), Myles Rusak (as Fran’s partner, Marcus), Barb Dickie (as Judy’s mother, Sylvia), and Sarah Farrant (as Johnny’s new boss, Alex). The production is directed by Melissa Roberts. Each of the actors fulfills their roles capably, though it’s clear that the story ultimately centres on the marriage of Judy and Johnny.

Laleon and Buchanan may be especially familiar to Dundas Little Theatre audiences as they both performed in recent DLT productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Death of a Salesman. Laleon literally sparkles in her costumes, and moves most gracefully about the stage. She has a natural flair for the witty and rapid-fire banter in the script and there is something captivating about her Judy, making it difficult to take one’s eyes off her. Even when the pacing falters or the direction of the story seems unclear, one wants to know what Laleon’s Judy will do next. There are a few occasions when Judy claps her hands over her mouth in surprise or mortification, and it isn’t clear whether this exaggerated response is a planned quirk of the character or not, but on the whole Laleon’s charisma is force enough to keep the audience from checking their watches.

Ristic has his most impactful moments late in Act II when wife Judy appears to be spiralling out in psychological distress; he brings a tenderness to Johnny as he seeks to reconnect emotionally with Judy as well as a touching degree of vulnerability in communicating his desire for an authentic life together.

Home, I’m Darling debuted in 2018 at Theatr Clwyd in Northeast Wales, and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy (2019). It was staged at the Duke of York's Theatre in London’s West End and has had several tours across the United Kingdom. It has also been performed in Australia. Playwright Wade has nearly 20 plays to her credit. Home, I’m Darling has been described as a “smart comedy,” and yet its most successful moments come when the present day conflicts bubble up and the 1950s nostalgia has some icy realism dashed across it.

It’s here that Dickie, playing Judy’s free-spirited, yet exceedingly direct, mother Sylvia (with a delicious brashness), brings narrative relief when she drops some refreshing “truth bombs” into her daughter’s fantasy land. It’s Sylvia as well as Johnny’s very modern boss Alex (Farrant) who come to question the airbrushed version of the 1950s Judy especially seems to obsess and psychologically depend upon, exposing that for many, including people of colour and women like Sylvia who actually lived through it, the 1950s was far from a utopia. By ignoring aspects of personal autonomy, career opportunity, sexual safety and gender politics, Judy seems to have a nostalgia for a place she’s never been and perhaps has never really existed outside the square of a cinema or TV screen.

In another recent review (of Rotterdam at The Players’ Guild), I questioned the lack of English accents in a play by an English playwright sprinkled with British references. In this production of Home, I’m Darling, several U.K.-specific place names and universities as well as terms like “A-Levels” and “bonnet” come out of mouths of ostensibly English characters that sound completely North American. It’s a bit jarring and could be confusing to some. One option might be to seek permission from the playwright or licensing organization to trade certain scripted words for North American equivalents. Something to consider.

Kudos to set design and decor lead Michelle Chin, set construction lead Blair Smith, and costuming lead Jane Snider and their respective teams for a stunning job indeed. My theatre companion was mentally reconfiguring her upcoming home reno based on the delightful set and we both mused about how the turquoise and brown of the living room made such an unexpectedly satisfying combination. It was my friend who clocked the twin beds in the master bedroom, so common to 1950s-era sitcoms and yet this raised some additional, unanswered questions about the state of Judy and Johnny’s marriage. Not to worry. It seems as although the pair will end up happily ever after.

NEED TO KNOW

Home, I’m Darling
Friday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 7, 8 pm
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2 pm
Dundas Little Theatre
Garstin Centre for the Arts, Dundas Little Theatre
37 Market St. S., Dundas
Tickets are here
Box office: 905-627-5266