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Life is full of promise when we are young. We are the lambs moving through the seasons, from the optimism of spring through adulthood, until eventually we find ourselves facing the colder winds of winter. For Tony, his wife Katherine, and his lifelong friend Richard, that winter arrives during the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Ray Rivers’ comedy LAMBS IN WINTER takes place in Hamilton in 2008, when collapsing markets, disappearing retirement savings and uncertain futures confronted an entire generation. Tony has recently retired, expecting to enjoy retirement, only to discover that his financial security has vanished. At the same time, his marriage begins to unravel as long-hidden secrets emerge.

Tony, Katherine and Richard are former 1960s student activists who once believed they were going to change the world. They protested against the American defence industries in Canada, embraced the social revolutions of their generation, questioned authority and challenged their parents’ assumptions. Eventually, careers, marriages, mortgages and middle-class security replaced demonstrations and youthful idealism.

Now retirement has arrived, but instead of providing peace and stability, it forces these old friends to confront everything they thought they understood about themselves and one another. LAMBS IN WINTER is billed as a comedy about old people behaving badly, and Rivers finds humour in the contradictions between youthful ideals and present-day realities.

The friendship between Tony and Richard stretches back to their college days, but so does their complicated relationship with Katherine, the woman they have both loved. As memories resurface and secrets are revealed, all three must reassess relationships they had taken for granted.

Against that personal story is the economic turmoil of 2008 and 2009. The global recession becomes more than historical background, acting as a catalyst that strips away the security these characters believed they had built. It forces them to consider how much of their identity depended upon money, property, marriage and expectations about retirement.

There is also plenty of 1960s counterculture woven into the story. Sexual liberation, protest movements, changing social conventions and the optimism of the baby boom generation become part of the play’s landscape. Rivers explores the gap between fantasies and reality, including adult complications involving relationships, sexual freedom and unconventional arrangements.

The production features actors Ilene Elkaim, Julian Nicholson, Mariia Zaichenko and Naseem Abdulahad. Rivers appears in the production while serving as playwright and director. He is a singer-songwriter, author, actor, economist and journalist who has written and produced four stage plays, including productions at the Toronto and Hamilton Fringe Festivals.

LAMBS IN WINTER was previously produced during the 2010 Fringe season in both cities. Rivers’ acting credits include PLENTY, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, HAMLET, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, TWELFTH NIGHT, DEAD MEN DON’T ITCH and AN IDEAL HUSBAND. He has also recorded two CDs of original music, written a book and works as a contributing editor with the Burlington Gazette.

Audiences who enjoy films such as THE GRADUATE and THE BIG CHILL may recognize familiar territory in LAMBS IN WINTER. At its centre is a comedy about friendship, survival and a generation discovering that growing older does not necessarily mean growing up. Tony, Katherine and Richard may have entered the winter of their lives, but they are not prepared to behave themselves.

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