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The Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon
Directed by Amy Grove-Rogers for Powderkeg
Reviewed by Anna Kurnuszko 1981
The Gingerbread Lady, presented by Powderkeg Players, is not the typical Neil Simon play. It is a drama but despite this the Simon humour comes through time and again with wonderful throwaway lines.
The play centres around Evy Meara, an ex-singer fighting a desperate battle against alcoholism and increasing weight. When the play opens she has just returned from a sanatorium where she has received treatment and is now trying to pick up the threads of her life.
Ivy Walker, as Evy, was on stage for almost all of the three-act play and gave a very fine performance.
Greg Henderson and Jenny Price also gave good performances as her friends Jimmy and Toby, who are trying to help her on the road to a complete recovery.
Kris Weber gave a strong performance as Evy's daughter, Polly, who desperately wants to establish a normal relationship with her mother but finds that circumstances are against her.
John Petropoulos, as Manuel, the grocery boy and Bernie Cole, as Lou, Evy's former lover, gave cameo performances.
The play was well directed and particularly suited the small, intimate theatre space.
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