![\"Confirmed](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/confirmed-bachelor_304752631.jpg\" "\\"Confirmed")
Confirmed Bachelor
4.5 stars (Out of 5)
Stage 26, Sugar Swing Ballroom, 10019 80 Ave.
Confirmed Bachelor is a two-handed farce of the highest order, the kind of whip-smart comedy that would give Jack Tripper whiplash, as you move from schemes to assumed identities to mistaken identities to confusion about one’s identity. The arc of Gabriel and Eliza is a jolly bit of fun, in this play from writer/performers Clayton James-Plamondon and Erin Leflar.
What we have here is a deft comedy of manners, in which “confirmed bachelor” Gabriel Ringley‘s father is trying to have him married off to an eligible bachelorette (he really wants none of it), whereas Eliza Bates’s aunt is trying to help her convince Gabriel that Eliza’s the one for him.
And in attempts to get to know Gabriel better and advance her chances, Eliza takes on the identity of a long dead brother Edward to get into Gabriel‘s good graces.
And it’s here where the story really takes off with the two actors bouncing between characters with James-Plamondon playing Gabriel and Eliza’s aunt Margaret and Leflar playing Eliza/Edward and Gabriel‘s father, Lord Ringley. And as the connection deepens between Edward and Gabriel, the emotional stakes rise as as scheme looks to fall apart.
The emotions underpinning the comedy are genuine, which helps the audience invest in the outcome, and Leflar and James-Plamondon are nimble when switching between comedic beats and heartfelt moments.
Sure at some point their accents may drop, or may become a touch in distinguishable, but the back-and-forth between the two performers as they navigate four characters helps bring life to these people.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable hour.