Former 'Corner Gas' star to perform in Saint John theatre production

Actor Eric Peterson is pictured. (Source: Saint John Theatre Company)

Two Canadian actors best known for their roles on “Street Legal,” “Corner Gas” and “Anne with an E” will star in a Saint John, N.B., production of a famous Samuel Beckett play.

According to a news release from the Saint John Theatre Company, Eric Peterson and R.H. Thomson will perform in “Waiting for Godot” in the Port City next month. Acclaimed director Richard Rose, who has led productions across Canada for 40 years, will be at the helm.

“RH and Eric have long been my favourite theatre artists,” Rose said in an email. “For a director, their theatrical brain power is a treat, accompanied by such deft and deeply experienced comic instincts - certainly a director’s dream. But it is their huge hearts and empathy about the human experience that will make for a rich show sure to touch the audience’s hearts as well.”

“Waiting for Godot,” first published in 1952, consists of conversations between the characters Vladimir and Estragon as they wait for the mysterious Godot to finally arrive. The show has seen dozens, if not hundreds, of productions over the decades, including one involving a younger Thomson.

“I was perhaps a bit young to play Vladimir in 1980, but no longer,” Thomson said. “Rehearsing it now, I see things in what Samuel Beckett wrote that I never saw before. I suppose age does that to you.

“It is as much about friendship as about anything else. My friendship with Eric Peterson has been as long as the friendship of Estragon and Vladimir. It’s amazing to return to Saint John with this resonant, timeless, funny and brilliant play.”

Actor R.H. Thomson is pictured. (Source: Saint John Theatre Company)

“Waiting for Godot” will run at the BMO Studio Theatre at 112 Princess Street from Sept. 24 to 29.

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