"Morning's at Seven"

July 23, 2019 — Three sisters are next door neighbors, a fourth lives a few blocks away. Cora (Kathy Manfre) and her husband, Ted (Greg Wood) and Cora's single sister, Aaronetta (Becky London) have lived together for nearly 50 yearrs. Next door reside third sister Ida (Dale Hodges) and her rambling husband, Carl (Kraig Swartz). Fourth sister Esther (Lisa Bostnar) and her husband David (Ken Sheldon) have moved several blocks away because David finds the three other sisters intolerable. Got all that?

The Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire, presents Paul Osborn's "Morning's at Seven," directed for the Players by artistic director Gus Kaikkonen. The title is from a line in a Robert Browning poem. The set consisted of two beautifully designed and constructed house façades side by side on the stage, the creation of  resident scenic designer Emmy Boisvert.

This comedy of a dysfunctional mid-western family takes place long before the word dysfunctional was in use in the '30s. I haven't mentioned the two most important characters yet, Homer (Tom Frey), Ida and Carl's 40-year-old son, and his fiancée, Myrtle (Bridget Beirne). They've been engaged for seven years and have been going together years before that. Homer is bringing Myrtle, who none have met, home for the first time.

I won't go into all the complications that arise when old resentments and jealousies surface. Homer may change his mind about marriage. Cora has leased the house from Ida that Homer and Myrtle had planned to live in. Cora wants to move there with Ted to get away from her single sister, Aaronetta, who has lived with them for many years. Believe it or not, this is all fun to watch. It features a cast of the Players' best actors, and the more than two hours seemed to go by quickly.