It’s one thing to read a compelling script and imagine what it’s going to look like on stage. It’s quite another to see that script lifted off the page with tightly woven skill and artistry. On opening night of the Walterdale Playhouse’s 52nd season, the cast and crew of Perfect Pie wove lighting and sound, costumes and set, lines and movement into a performance that amazed and mesmerized.

Thompson’s script is rich with sensory images and impressions – the aroma of baking, the tang of rhubarb, the richness of raspberries, the rumble of the passing train, the stench of sewage and death. The performance brought to life these sensory elements, balancing the underlying themes of passion and control, rebellion and respectability, while weaving the story of two friends who meet at age eight and grow toward womanhood, with the story of these women at mid-life, meeting again after a 30-year separation. The stories converge on a cathartic and life-altering incident.

We see young Patsy (Stephanie Wigston) befriend the outcast Marie (Holly Cinnamon) - who becomes the beautiful Francesca move toward this incident while providing subtle and genuine portrayals of eight year-olds becoming 10 and 12 and 16 within the span of two hours.
 
Meanwhile, Patsy and Francesca munch on freshly baked cookies, drink tea, sip wine, and stitch together the pieces of their story that were tore asunder on that terrible night of the high school dance.
 
The synergy of this performance is as perfect as Patsy’s prize-winning pie.