Bronwyn Wonnacott is a typical 17 year old so when it came to step into the life in the 1930s, it was a bit of work.

Wonnacott is one of the cast of 18 in Petrolia Community Theatre’s production You Can’t Take it With You. 

The story centers around Alice and Tony who are in love and they’re trying to figure out how their two vastly different families can meet over dinner. Alice hopes to conceal her families little quirks but everything goes wrong when Tony and his parents arrive on the wrong night!
Anything that can go wrong does.

Wonnacott plays Essie, Alice’s sister in the comedy set in 1936. And it took a lot of practice to become that proper 1930s lady. “I had to walk around with a book on my head,” she says. “I walk like a 17 year-old girl – I bounce up and down, I swing my arms a lot.”

So almost everywhere she went on set, there was a book on her head to encourage good posture. “People will try to make the book fall off while I’m walking.”

Director Carol Graham says Wonnacott has become quite good at the “proper lady walk” as have the others who have all had to slip into a different time period which we don’t see a lot of in popular films.

Not only was it difficult to become a 1930s woman, Graham says it has been a challenge to find the right period of furniature to fill the house with. “The biggest challenge was finding the couch,” she says. There are many Victoria couches around “but not in the 30s style.”

You can see the 1930s brought to life You Can’t Take it With You. Shows are Nov. 6,7, and 8 at Victoria Hall in Petrolia. The show starts at 7:30 pm and tickets can be purchased at the box office.