The play begins its West Springfield run on Thursday.
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When you hear the words “cabbage patch” some people think of the popular dolls, while others use it as a response to young ones wanting to know where babies come from.
But at West Springfield's Majestic Theater beginning Thursday, “The Cabbage Patch,” a play by Daniel Lillford, is where some think Jean, one of the characters in the play who is missing, might just be buried.
Lillford call his play a “black comedy and mystery” which focuses on Arthur, an ex-Canadian Army captain who now spends his time as an inventor and gardener; his British-born wife, May; Roy, the town drunk, who served with Arthur in Korea; and Arthur’s sister-in-law, Jean, who has gone missing.
In a forward to the script, the author wrote, “I am drawn to the soldiers’ stories because of my grandfathers. Through their stories, and through others, comes this play. It’s not a big play. It is merely like that poppy I buy each year, one small mark of respect and remembrance.”
“John Thomas Waite who appears in our version of the play recommended it to me. So I got the script from the author and found it to be a very different and unusual story, which I thought we could bring to our audiences here in West Springfield,” said Majestic founding producer Danny Eaton.
Waite, who portrays Roy in the Majestic production, appeared in the play’s world premiere last year at the Depot Theatre in Westport, New York, on Lake Champlain.
“Daniel, I believe, is from Australia and now lives in Nova Scotia, so that makes him an Australian-Canadian playwright, and there aren’t a hell of a lot of them,” laughed Waite.
“So, here’s the thing about this play, which is sort of a dark comedy-mystery. What caught me up in it is that it is really a play about relationships – the relationship between Arthur and his wife, between Arthur and his old girlfriend, Jean, who is now his brother’s wife, and the relationship between Arthur and my character, Roy. And, everything that happens in the play is because of these different relationships,” he added.
According to Waite, who resides in New York City, the play takes place in the 1980s with flashbacks to the 1970s. Arthur and Roy were in the Korean War together where Roy served under Arthur. Roy is now the town drunk and Arthur is an inventor who is about to make a lot of money after a letter arrives from someone “who is going to take his invention and do something with it,” said Waite.
“Despite their differences, the reality is that the bonds forged between these two men during the war has kept them together all this time,” said Waite.
Eaton has tapped Canadian Kristen van Ginhoven, who now lives in the Berkshires, to direct “The Cabbage Patch.”
“This is my first time directing for the Majestic. Other than wanting to work with their players and Dan (Eaton), I was attracted to the play which takes me back home to Canada and Nova Scotia and to Dalhousie University, which I attended and where one of the characters in the play went to college. I understand the world of the play and where it is set, as well as many of the references in the script. It’s a very heartfelt and intriguing play,” said van Ginhoven.
Equal part mystery – fans of the television show “Law and Order” will enjoy following the crumbs of a trail throughout the play to try to figure out where the body went to – and comedy, the play opens with a grown man on stage who comes wearing a dress.
“That sets the whole tone for the play,” said van Ginhoven.