By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Everyone has a romantic ideal. The perfect life partner, for a perfect two-person experience. It exists in one’s mind as an ever-changing fixture. But is it something you can find at a museum, like an artifact that has survived centuries of strife, or a painting with a man or woman’s eternal, plastered smile? That is the exhibit that the whip-smart, fast-talking, intellectual modern-day career woman of Theatre Burlington’s current offering must deliver to the public as curator of a popular gallery. But how can she put together a presentation on all the glories of love when the wires holding together her own fragile love life are snapping?
Theatre Burlington presents The Invention of Romance, an original comedy-drama by Conni Massing, and a coming together of local talent and universal concerns. What’s romantic anymore nowadays, when people are so absorbed in their jobs and their phones, and dating apps are more like meat markets than anything resembling real courtship? A minimalist cast and a script of quick-paced zone-out-and-you’ll-miss-it wit seeks to find the answer. Directed by Michelle Spanik and produced by Michael Hanningan, The Invention of Romance is a clever commentary on the eternal tug-of-war between being a hopeless romantic and a realist who entertains some hope for a strong, healthy, and real relationship.
Jessica Logan stars as Kate, the museum curator with big ideas and little self-esteem who dreams of a lover to match her high standards and the historical subjects she’s studied. She likes being in control of her circumstances and she likes neatly organized Top Ten lists, especially on romantic subjects. Despite her confidence in her work, she is an anxious and indecisive individual, agonizing over the thesis of her exhibit, aptly named “The Invention of Romance,” and unable to come to a conclusion about what she really wants from that true love that keeps eluding her.
Christine Hopkins and Gregory Cruikshank join Logan on stage as Kate’s mother Louisa (Hopkins) and as every male character the story calls for (Cruikshank). The most important of these male characters is Kate’s assistant, the awkward, underappreciated, and lovelorn James. A play-within-the-play is the central focus of the drama, as Kate is desperate to find out more about the theatre production her mother starred in with a former beau in the latter’s youth. The acting trio’s chemistry allows them the versatility to slip in and out of the different characterizations and situations with ease.
Massing’s storyline follows the rom-com formula without overly wringing it out, maintaining a balance between the quirkiness of the characters and the seriousness of the subject matter. Several scenarios, in the true fashion of the genre, border on the ridiculous, but that is the whole point. Fantasies can be silly, real love can be boring, and there is enough room in one’s life for both.
The main character herself is enamoured by the staple films that make up contemporary imaginations. She loves the actor Colin Firth, and Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Lost in Austen isn’t an unattainable fantasy for her as much as a blueprint for her own romantic goals. Throughout the play, Kate reserves the right to invent romance on personal and pop culture terms, and her down-to-earth and romantically successful mother exists as the voice or reason and as her only chance for ever being pulled down from cloud nine. The Invention of Romance is a charming play, lighthearted and relatable, and a refreshing and entertaining reprieve for the people of Burlington as we enter a jam-packed block of autumn and winter months.
Theatre Burlington plans to continue its streak of excellence in storytelling in the upcoming months and in the year 2025. Local theatre-goers can look forward to the holiday season’s Santa the Panto, written by Diana Kimpton, and of course, the highly anticipated Timepiece, written by Kico Gonzalez-Risso, as well as The Invention of Romance this coming weekend. Tickets are available for pre-order on the Theatre Burlington website.
