In his debut for Napier Repertory, Steve Driver jumped at the opportunity to direct the show Canoeing for Beginners after seeing the ITV series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, which is also based on the same news sensation.
“It never ceases to amaze me what people will do to get their hands on money, and this story is just one of those events,” Driver said.
Written by award-winning actor-turned-playwright Mike Yeaman, The Little Theatre’s end-of-year production is very loosely based on a famous tabloid press story – however, any similarity to persons living or pretending to be dead is purely coincidental.
Yeaman appeared in the UK TV series Finney and was a writer for Spitting Image. Canoeing for Beginners has been produced in theatres worldwide and in several different languages.
Beryl and Frank are in their 60s, but they’ve never been able to manage money well. Frank comes up with an insurance scam to ensure them a comfortable retirement in the sun. But faking your own death isn’t easy - especially when you haven’t told your own kids and there’s a police liaison officer who never seems to clock off. Beryl and Frank make a hasty escape and plan their new life from a seedy hotel room in Havana. It’s then that events turn and become completely beyond their control. It’s a dark comedy that builds into a frenetic farce with a surreal twist.
