Mother, son to take stage together in ‘Farce’

When Dominick Varney heard that the director of “Bedroom Farce” was looking for an older woman to audition, one word popped into his head: Mom.

He called his mother immediately. “I’m sending a script home with Dad,” Varney said. “I want you to read it.”

Carol Varney was surprised by the call. It’s not that she didn’t have stage experience. She studied theater in college back in England where she grew up. She performed with amateur companies and always attended local shows. But when her son called, she couldn’t quite do the math. Had it been 20 years since she did theater in any serious way?

She read the script and liked it, but she wasn’t sure she still had the chops for being in a full-length play.

“I kept saying: ‘You can do this, you can do this.’ Just like she used to say to me when I was trying out for a role,” said Dominick Varney, a trained actor and academic adviser at the University of Maine. “Except this time, I was being her.”

“Dominick talked me into it,” said Carol Varney, a private art teacher in Winterport. “He thought it would be a good part. I wasn’t that interested. I didn’t think I could learn the lines, that maybe I was too old. I said I’d give it a try – just to please him. I got the part, and now there I am onstage.”

The Varneys will perform in the Ten Bucks Theatre production of Alan Ayckbourn’s romping “Bedroom Farce” March 24- April 2 at the Brewer Middle School Auditorium. The story is about four British couples who go through wacky situational comedy on a set made up of three bedrooms. Dominick Varney plays Malcolm, a newlywed husband. Carol Varney plays Delia, the wife in a seasoned marriage. In the course of the show, mother and son never exchange any lines.

But, as family members, they have their own unspoken dialogue.

“There are things that are funny to everyone because the script is very funny,” said Elaine Daugherty, director for the show and an acting instructor at UM. “But then there are things that Carol does that make only Dom laugh. It’s great fun to watch.”

Daugherty said the decision to cast Carol as Delia was easy. Very few older women audition for plays in the area. And not only was Carol the right age for the role, she also agreed to help coach the actors in British dialects.

“It’s a great experience to work with a lot of young people,” said Carol, who declined to reveal her age. “Some of those British accents are pretty good. I was surprised.”

She isn’t surprised, however, about her son’s accent (he was born in England) or about his talent (she has been to all but one of his performances). The two used to do community revues together when Dominick was a boy, and they’ve sung along with soundtracks from musicals around the house. But this is the first time Carol has seen her son behind the scenes.

“I really enjoy his comedy,” said Carol. “He reminds me a great deal of good British comedy actors.”

The feeling is mutual: “I’m such a mama’s boy, and I’m proud to say that,” said Dominick, who is 27 and the third of four children in the Varney family. “I’m learning how talented she is. I keep thinking: ‘That’s my mom!’ She has always been dramatic, but to see her onstage? Well, that’s my mom. I hope this sparks a passion for her to keep doing theater. I’d be just as excited to see her on the stage as she has been to see me through the years.”

And as for Carol’s fears about learning the lines?

“They’ve been a challenge,” said Carol.

Dominick put it another way: “She had them down within two weeks. My dad knows them, too. And so does my sister because Mom has had them both run lines with her at home.”

Is that the sound of a son celebrating his mother for her work onstage? As they say, what goes around comes around. It’s a safe bet that Carol can expect at least one very enthusiastic standing – if not leaping – ovation on opening night.

Ten Bucks Theatre will present “Bedroom Farce” March 24-April 2 at Brewer Middle School Auditorium. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. For information and tickets, call 884-1030 or visit www.tenbuckstheatre.com. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 9908266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.