milt thomas

At first glance, you might dismiss a play about postage stamps, but you do so at your own peril, just like the characters in this new production on Riverside’s Waxlax stage. The stamps in question are among the rarest in the world, worth millions. They were issued by the British Colony of Mauritius – an island off the coast Africa – in 1847.

The play Mauritius begins as Jackie (played by Dayna Palya), brings an old family stamp album for appraisal by a stamp expert, Philip (played by Liam Craig). He ignores her because he is tired of people bringing their worthless stamp collections for a free appraisal. However, Philip’s “friend” Dennis (played by Rod Brogan), happens to be in the store and feels sorry for Jackie, so he looks through the album even though he is not an expert. He discovers something he thinks is potentially valuable and urges Philip to look, but he still refuses.

Jackie goes home to her older half-sister, Mary (played by Katherine McLeod). Jackie’s mother has recently passed away, but before she died, she gave Jackie the stamp album. Jackie needs to sell it to pay her late mother’s large medical debts. Mary just showed up and contends that her grandfather wanted her to have it. So they argue. Suddenly Dennis shows up (he had followed Jackie home) and he doesn’t care which sister owns it, he just wants to help them sell it so he can make a fortune.

Dennis goes to another stamp expert, Sterling (Wynn Harmon), who realizes more than any of them the value of these two stamps. Suddenly, Philip joins the fray and now he is in competition with Dennis and the sisters for ownership of the album.

How far will Dennis, Sterling and Philip go to possess the album containing these rare stamps? How far will Mary go just to get Jackie out of the way?

They all argue and at times it becomes more than just a war of words. In fact, how far will any of them go to possess those two multi-million dollar stamps?

Jackie is at first innocent and naïve, but she is a quick study dealing with the other characters and becomes less naïve and maybe less innocent as well. Philip, the grouchy stamp expert, keeps everyone at arm’s length until he doesn’t. Dennis is the most opaque character while Sterling is exactly who you think he is.

These excellent actors play their parts so well on the intimate Waxlax stage, at times you feel like you are witnessing first hand a family dispute at the Thanksgiving dinner table. But the stakes are much higher than which political party is best or who gets the last dollop of gravy.

You should definitely make plans to see Mauritius, which runs through February 22. Tickets are $75 and may be purchased by calling the Box Office at 772-231-6990 or visiting riversidetheatre.com. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30pm; Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; with matinees on Wednesdays, select Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm.