By Daniel Nolan Contributor
Thu., Feb. 25, 2021
You can add screenwriting to the resume of multitalented Sharron Matthews.
The Hamilton native has helped pen an episode of CBC’s “Frankie Drake Mysteries” in which she co-stars as pathologist, Flo Chakowitz.
She’s also writing an animated show with her costar Rebecca Liddiard, who plays police morality officer, Mary Shaw, and writer Carmen Albano. It’s called “Mary and Flo: On the Go!”
Matthews has been in showbiz for more than 30 years, appearing in more than two dozen movies and TV shows like “Mean Girls” (2004), and TVO/PBS’s “ODD Squad” (2014-2016). Known also for her singing — she was proclaimed Toronto’s cabaret queen a decade ago — she has appeared in musicals like “Showboat,” and “Les Miserables,” plus the TV show “Canada Sings.”
Matthews, 52, admits one of the reasons she wanted to write an episode for the show was to afford her character a chance to sing. Called “Life is a Cabaret,” the episode involves Frankie (Lauren Lee Smith) and Flo investigating a murder linked to an underground drag club in 1920s Toronto. “Frankie Drake Mysteries” is now in its fourth season and is on CBC at 9 p.m. Monday.
Flo gets a chance to belt out two songs, although her character initially begs off when asked to sing by saying she hasn’t “sung since I was kicked out of choir in Catholic school.” (Matthews is a graduate of Hill Park Secondary School and Eastmount Park Elementary School). The episode aired Feb. 15, but can be streamed on CBC Gem.
Matthews, who lives in Toronto, said she approached show writer Keri Ferencz in December 2019 to see if she was interested in writing an episode with her. She loved the way Ferencz wrote lines and scenes for her character.
“I’ve written all of my own (cabaret) shows, but screenwriting is a different beat,” said Matthews.
For one thing, she notes the length of an episode — 42 minutes. Within that time frame, she says you have to provide clues for the viewers and let them meet the suspects and the killer.
“Every genre of writing has its own fence posts,” Matthews said.
Plus, there is usually a B story — the two other characters in the show, Trudy Clarke (Chantel Riley) and Mary investigate an insurance fraud.
Also, this show had music, which Matthews noted, “takes away dialogue.”
“I remember at one point we had 80 pages,” she said. “We had to wheedle it down to 62 pages. You write the story you really want and then you have to pare it down. It was a really amazing process.”
She was afraid to watch it at first, but got a kick out of seeing people she knows speak lines she had written. One of the people in the episode was guest star Thom Allison, a singer who Matthews calls “a soulmate.”
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the writing of the show, in that it delayed production and gave Matthews and Ferencz more time to write it. They began in April and had their first draft in July.
The show was filmed with all kinds of safety protocols during the fall, including regular testing and the constant wearing of masks. Matthews caused filming of a scene to stop once when she was surprised an actor had a beard under his mask.
“I think my face blanched, ‘Oh my God, you have a beard,’” she laughed.
Matthews would like to write another episode and has joined the Writer’s Guild of Canada. “I’ve always loved writing. Singing was my release. Writing has been a great joy for me.”
Matthews still has family in Hamilton. Her mother and a sister live on Hamilton Mountain and another sister lives in Dundas. Her father died in 1970.
“Frankie Drake Mysteries” shoots often in Hamilton and Matthews talks up the town to others. It has filmed at such places as Gage Park, Dundurn Castle and the Scottish Rite.
“I love shooting there,” adds Matthews. “I’m always very proud. Our town is great.”