PORT DOVER—Liars at a Funeral, Lighthouse Festival Theatre’s fourth show in its successful 2026 summer theatre season, once again checks all the boxes a Lighthouse show aims for: it is filled with laughs, heart, memorable performances, and accomplished technical work.
The marriage of a sweet, sentimental, and relatable script from playwright Sophia Fabiilli with Lighthouse’s talented stable of performers and the light touch of debut director Blair Williams makes for a memorable night at the theatre that ties family drama, outlandish characters, hilarious misunderstandings, and one hell of a dysfunctional family into a neat bow.
The play revolves around Mavis, the matriarch of the titular family. Desperate to bring everyone together to break a longstanding family curse, Mavis concocts a scheme involving a faked death and a phony funeral, but with each member bringing their own baggage to the small funeral home where Mavis waits, it’s only a matter of time before things go spectacularly – and hilariously – wrong.
The work of five dedicated actors, each playing two characters, is what really makes Liars at a Funeral cook.
As matriarch Mavis, Lighthouse favourite Melanie Janzen had the opening night crowd roaring with laughter several times throughout the show and easily has the chops to pull audience members to her side, despite her ludicrous and manipulative scheming throughout the runtime. It’s Janzen’s second appearance on the Lighthouse stage this season, following her equally hilarious turn in season opener The Beaver Club.
She is joined by Deborah Drakeford, Scott Farley, Murray Furrow, and Charlotte Dennis.
Frankly, the quick changes, with actors walking out a door one moment and back through another in a different costume the next, are nothing short of mind-blowing in practice. This is a complicated show, with 10 characters interacting in various formations throughout, and there was not a single second where the illusion was broken.
In fact, a scene where one of Dennis’ characters emerges from inside a casket mere seconds after her other character exited the stage in a different costume had a pair of patrons sitting behind me convinced they were different people while they chatted amongst themselves during the show.
This is what happens when an amazing cast, boiling over with chemistry, is paired with excellent staging and a nifty, well-designed set. This is one instance where I would love to peek behind the curtains to marvel at what must be one hell of a well-oiled backstage scene.
Director Williams volunteers on the palliative floor of a local hospital. He shared, “I hear a lot of stories. These stories are often quite funny, and there can be a lot of laughter, but there are also stories of regret – of siblings lost to distance or to time apart; of estranged children or unforgiven parents; and often dying wishes that things had played out differently.”
Liars at a Funeral is a big, bright, hilarious wake-up call to all – perhaps you might want to make that phone call or send that email to whoever it is that has drifted from your life before you are left resorting to a fake funeral yourself to desperately try and pull them back in or find needed closure.
The message may be heavy, but the play is anything but. Rowdy, raucous, and full of hilarious dialogue, it’s one you don’t want to miss.
Liars at a Funeral is on stage in Port Dover until August 15, 2026. It will then run from August 19-30 at the Roselawn Theatre in Port Colborne. For tickets and more information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call the box office at 1-888-779-7703.
