Right now, Foster is busy looking to the past. He’s pulled two one-act plays from his theatre trunk and they’ll be performed in tandem at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre.
By Gary Smith | Special to the Hamilton Spectator
July 8th, 2025
Norm Foster is without a doubt Canada’s favourite playwright.
The fact is, in many ways, Foster’s comedies express indelibly what you might call a Canadian sense of humour.
“I am certainly Canadian, and I write as a Canadian,” Foster says. “I think that just naturally comes through in my work. I don’t try to sound like a Canadian. I don’t have to. It’s there in my DNA. I love it when people refer to me as that, ‘Canadian playwright Norm Foster.’”
He loves working with Canadian theatre companies and the talented folks who make his plays so successful here on his home turf.
“All those talented actors, actresses, designers and directors are terrific. There is such a wealth of talent here on the Canadian theatre scene, and I’m lucky I get to experience it firsthand. It’s just so satisfying.”
So far, Foster has written 83 plays, and he’s not planning on stopping any time soon.
“They’ve all been produced at least once,” Foster says, “Except for the latest ‘Kate Pays a Visit.’ It’s up for grabs,” he says. “Anyone interested?”
Right now, Foster is busy looking to the past. He’s pulled two one-act plays from his theatre trunk and they’ll be performed in tandem at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre.
“Written around the same time in my career, they weren’t meant to be performed together. But they have a similar feel about them, so they should work as a pair.”
Foster believes they’ll give audiences big things to laugh at.
“I hope these are laugh-out-loud comedies,” he says. “I don’t write plays people are meant to snicker at.”
Performed under the blanket title, “Hidden Treasures,” “My Narrator” and “The Death of Me” are comedies all right, but with a darker edge.
“It was Lighthouse artistic director Jane Spence’s idea to call the pair ‘Hidden Treasures,’” Foster says. “And I suppose in a way they are. One-act plays are not performed that often today. Written in 2007 and 2010 these two are like extended sketches.
“I wrote ‘My Narrator’ because I thought it was a good idea to have characters who have a narrator telling them what to do. The other play, ‘The Death of Me,’ is about a man who dies and doesn’t realize he’s dead, until the Angel of Death breaks the news to him.”
Foster says he writes to please himself, not to fulfil the expectations of his audience.
“If I think something is funny, chances are audiences will find it funny, too. I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of a guy. And I’m sure if I tried to write to please an audience I would fail.”
Foster believes his writing style has changed over the years.
“When I first started I would map out a play from start to finish before I began writing it. But now, with growing confidence, I just start with an idea and begin without knowing where it’s going. And yes, the characters take over and almost write themselves. I was finishing a play last month, and as I got to the point where a play usually finishes up, around page 80 or 85, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t wait to see how this ends.’”
Foster believes audiences come to his plays because they can identify with them. They see someone on stage they know. He doesn’t like to name favourites, but he definitely has some.
“‘The Melville Boys’ is near to my heart because that’s the play that put me on the map, the one I’m best known for. ‘Jonas and Barry in the Home’ is up there, too, because I toured with it as Jonas, doing hundreds of performances. ‘On A First Name Basis’ is what I consider to be my most intelligent play. I punched way above my weight with that one. I’m proud of it.
“The one that surprised me most though was, ‘Halfway There’ which has become my most produced play. It’s about the friendship between 4 women. Four nice people. Good human beings. And I am very happy that it has caught on with audiences.”
Foster is philosophical about success.
“If I have a play that doesn’t do as well as the others I can usually tell you why. It just wasn’t as good. It can be for a number of reasons. Subject matter. Character development. Not funny enough. The reasons become very obvious to me.”
Foster’s new work now frequently has a darker undertow that battles the comedy for attention.
“I guess that comes from living life. We’ve all gone through dark periods. I’m fortunate I can use those as fodder for the heartfelt moments in my plays. I am a firm believer if you haven’t had any difficult times you can’t be a complete writer,” Foster says.
“The greatest pleasure in my life has been to be able to earn a living and support a family writing plays. I don’t consider it work. But it is work, of course. I’m very lucky. I’ve never had to work as hard as my parents did, not for one day in my life.”
When you ask Foster if he feels we value our playwrights and artists in this country, he demurs.
“I can’t say for sure. I feel valued, but I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator, as well as a variety of international publications, for more than 40 years.
