The Bean At The Foster Festival
The Bean, by the prolific Norm Foster, is receiving a sprightly world premiere at the charming Sons & Daughters Winery, tucked into the countryside south of St. Catherines.
Norm Foster plays are often reports from the front lines of the battle of the sexes. The Bean reports on one of that battle’s minor skirmishes.
Dennis (Derek Ritschel) and Cheryl (Kirsten Alter) meet at the coffee shop that lends the play its name. Over the course of two weeks, they chat and get to know one another. It’s as simple as that.
Like black coffee, The Bean is essentially calorie-free but, like Dennis, Foster adds plenty of sugar to perk things up.
Dennis and Cheryl are both damaged in one way or another. Dennis’s wife died two years ago, hit by a car. He is now raising, with some difficulty, a twelve-year-old girl as a single father. Cheryl, who is just starting a new job as a receptionist at the law firm across the street from The Bean is still recovering from the pain of a failed relationship with “a creep.”
The Bean unfolds in short daily scenes. Every day, Cheryl picks up a newspaper which, when unfolded, bears the day of the week in big black letters, so we can keep track of the march of time. Nice touch.
Dennis is an outgoing type, always cheerful, and an easygoing banter develops between them. We discover Dennis’ utter cluelessness when his daughter has her first period and Cheryl coaches him on what he has to do. His description of asking a young kid at the pharmacy for a “period kit” is priceless.
Cheryl has her own moments. When an angry man on the phone asks to be put through to his wife’s “asshole lawyer,” she calmly responds. “We have a lot of asshole lawyers at this firm. Can you be more specific?”
When there’s a possibility that the relationship might progress beyond daily chit chat, they hesitate. Will they? Won’t they?
But eventually they wind up falling for each other and, well-caffeinated, walk off into the sunset, right? Well, let me just say that one of Foster’s strengths as a playwright is that he works wonderful variations on old clichés.
In a programme note about a coming play in the season, Foster says that he enjoys the challenge of writing women characters. In my experience, it is a challenge he meets with great success.
Watching The Bean, however, made me think he also has a knack for writing male characters as seen through the female gaze. The distaff side of the audience the night I saw the play obviously took a great deal of pleasure in watching Dennis be . . . well, you know, a man.
The Bean is really Dennis’ play, with Cheryl as his foil. Director Jamie Williams was very wise to cast Foster regular Ritschel, who was incredibly funny in Foster’s Lakefront and Here On The Flight Path at the Lighthouse Theatre in seasons past.
Ritschel obviously knows his way around Foster’s humour and he brings a heightened comic sensibility to Dennis that struck me as just right for this admittedly slight material. I assume Williams had a hand in crafting Ritschel’s just-right tone.
Ritschel walks his characterization right up to the point of “too much” without ever once crossing that fateful line. Get this guy a role in a sitcom!
Alter has the less flashy role, but she carries it off with aplomb.
On a raised platform at the end of a meeting room at the back of the winery, Beckie Morris has created a simple but charming set using nothing but wall units to represent The Bean. Too bad she couldn’t have done something about the chairs set on either side of three long tables set perpendicular to the stage. I found them quite uncomfortable. On the plus side you can bring your wine into the show with you!
I couldn’t find a credit for sound design, but the interstitial music that plays between scenes – acoustic guitar renditions of popular songs – is very nice indeed.
The Bean may not be a shot of double espresso, but even decaf Foster is still a hearty brew.
The Bean continues at Sons & Daughters Winery through June 21, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Foster Festival website.
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