White Rock Players Launch Season with Double Thrillers

Two spine-tingling plays kick off White Rock Players’ 2025 season. Experience chills with The Turn of the Screw and dark laughs in Murderers.

Double the Drama, Double the Thrills

What’s better than one suspenseful play to open a season? How about two? White Rock Players’ Club is starting its 2025–26 lineup with a bold theatrical gamble: pairing classic gothic horror with a modern dark comedy. From Oct. 1 to Oct. 19, audiences at the Oceana PARC Playhouse will be treated to a rotating run of The Turn of the Screw and Murderers—two very different tales guaranteed to keep hearts racing.

A Gothic Classic Returns to the Stage

First up is Jeffrey Hatcher’s chilling adaptation of Henry James’ 1898 novella, The Turn of the Screw. The story begins innocently enough: a young governess (played by Janine Guy) takes charge of two orphaned children under the care of their absent uncle (Chris Nash). But when she learns that her predecessor vanished mysteriously, her role turns from nurturing into a fight against shadowy forces lurking in the estate.

The production is directed by Candace Radcliffe, head of performing arts at Earl Marriott Secondary and co-founder of Beach House Theatre. This marks her first project with White Rock Players but not her first brush with atmospheric, high-stakes storytelling.

A Darkly Comic Take on Murder

Balancing the eerie mood is Hatcher’s own Murderers. Unlike a classic whodunit, this play asks why and how seemingly ordinary people commit extraordinary crimes. On stage, three residents of a Florida retirement community—Gerald (David J. Bodor), Lucy (Nancy Ebert), and Minka (Lori Tych)—casually confess to killing, walking audiences through their unsettling motivations with unnerving calm.

The show is directed by Bridget Browning, a White Rock Players board member and former school principal. Though new to directing for the club, she has led many productions with Naked Stage Productions Society.

Familiar Faces Take the Spotlight

White Rock audiences will recognize many of the cast members. Guy was last seen as Ilsa in Casablanca, while Nash co-produced A Year with Frog and Toad. In Murderers, Ebert returns after her role in Lend Me a Soprano, while Tych and Bodor bring experience from both White Rock and neighboring theatre groups.

Showtimes and Tickets

Murderers previews Oct. 1, followed by The Turn of the Screw on Oct. 2. Tickets for previews are $20. Regular performances run in rotation until Oct. 19:

• Murderers: Oct. 1, 3, 4 (matinee), 9, 11, 12 (matinee), 15, 17, 18 (matinee)
• The Turn of the Screw: Oct. 2, 4, 5 (matinee), 8, 10, 11 (matinee), 16, 18, 19 (matinee)

Ticket prices:

• Adults: $29
• Seniors (60+) & Youth (under 18): $25

Tickets are available online at whiterockplayers.ca, by phone at 604-536-7535, or at the Oceana PARC Playhouse box office, 1532 Johnston Rd.

✨ Two plays. Two directors. One unforgettable season opener. Whether you crave gothic chills or sinister laughs, White Rock Players are delivering it all this fall.

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