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Larry Mercy. Al Cherney.
Ernie King. Earl Heywood. Cactus Mac. Johnnie Brent. The Ranch
Boys. Ward Allen. Ross Mann. Archie Mann. Clarke Johnston. Slim
Boucher and the Golden Prairie Cowboys. Maurice Bealieu (Boyler).
Tommy Hunter.
-----The honour role of country music
in the CKNX-920 ten-county listening area, these names are all
indelibly linked to, as emcee Johnnie Brent would proclaim at
the beginning of each show, "Canadas Largest Travelling
Barn Dance." CKNX founder Doc Cruickshank created Barn Dance
in 1937, first with recorded old-tyme music, and then, within
a couple months, adding local live talent to the broadcasts. Crowds
would gather to watch the show from the street, through the windows
of the Wingham broadcasting station, and by 1942 the show hit
the road, playing in community halls around the area. It quickly
became the most important event on a Saturday night (seasonal
Foster Hewitt notwithstanding) in the region, and went on to provide
three decades of unforgettable entertainment.
-----One of those listeners was Atwood
native and playwright Paul Thompson. Through a process
known as "the collective" that Thompson used on such
familiar works as The Farm Show, Thompson and the actors themselves
gathered information on the show and together through improvisation
and workshopping, fine tune the ultimate product.
-----The ultimate product is now
Barndance Live and is the first of the Blyth Festivals
four-play season to open this season. The talented cast, many
of whom double as musicians, include Raoul Bhaneja, Eric
Coates, Andrew Dolha, Carolyn Hay, Gary Muir, Jack Nicholsen,
John Wright and Anne Lederman. Different local talent
in "walk-on roles" also highlights each performance,
assuring a different experience each evening. Opening night, for
example, featured the extraordinary step-dancing talents of the
Family Ties of Mitchell, in an act that received the most
sustained and enthusiastic applause of the entire evening, and
the aptly-named Betty-Anne Bray of Walkerton.
-----In recreating the excitement
of the original CKNX Barn Dance, Thompsons task is not easy.
Using a talented cast of professional entertainers, he had to
preserve the spirit of the amateurish and downright hokey entertainment
that was so appealing in its day (and its day ended in 1967).
Into this he had to weave the background and history of the program
and the personalities of the individual stars in a manner that
is fresh enough for todays stage. Effectively employing
freeze-action and a broom-pushing narrator (John Wright)
to guide us through the decades, he kept it moving, and most of
the audience absorbed. Most that is. The show is local, very local,
and for those who came from outside the 10-country reach of CKNX-AM
920, or who opted instead for Foster Hewitt, it is a stretch.
If you dont like country music, the stretch can be particularly
difficult.
-----However, this is exactly what
the Blyth Festival needs: a return to solid, local, grass roots,
Canadian entertainment. The stories told on that stage do not
need to have world-import to be worth telling and to be entertaining.
Memories alit, hearts aglow, feet a-tappin this is
a great evening of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with CKNX
Barn Dance. Its playing in Blyth Memorial Hall until August
23.
-----For tickets, $6 to $20, call
519-523-9300.
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Fireworks, a searing
family drama currently in rep at the Blyth Festival, is a wonderful
conclusion to a roller-coaster season. Written by Gordon John
Portman, the Blyth production marks its professional stage world
première and is under the direction of Paul Lampert.
-----Fireworks was developed
at Edmontons Theatre Network under the Artistic Direction
of Stephen Heatley, and with the input of a large number of talented
actors, designers and support personnel. It also received developmental
support from Alberta Playwrights Network's New Play Development
Program, and was a finalist in Theatre BC's national new play
competition. Fireworks was workshopped In Toronto, May 1996, with
Janet Amos, Rustey Davenport, Layne Coleman, Ron Hastings, and
Paul Lampert.
-----Fireworks is a magic
journey that centres around a broken family held together by Wynn,
an elderly woman who is the light of her husbands life,
a solace to her son, and a life-line to her grandson. Her death
shatters their world but her memory lingers on to guide them in
their new life. The "fireworks" in the play are moments
of emotional insight where each character finds the courage to
step into the future.
-----English war-bride Wynn is played
by the Festivals artistic director, Janet Amos, in
a towering performance. While Portmans beautiful script
provided the words, Amos was able to bring from them a full range
of emotions: laughter at one moment, and then next, a single word"gladiolas"that
brought us to tears. For an actor who is best known in the region
as Mrs Aylmer Clark (He Wont Come in from the Barn),
this tremendous success has proven her ability to carry a heavy
dramatic role; we hope to see more of it next season.
-----Rustey Davenport plays
mentally challenged grandson Jamie, mesmerizing the audience from
his opening lines, and sustaining the demanding speech and mannerisms
of this difficult character with dignity and sympathy. This role
proves his gem of a performance in Mabelle Mabel was no accident.
Davenport is destined for a great career.
-----Ron Hastings plays Wynns
husband, Franklin, and John Wright plays their son, Frank.
-----Paul Lampert is the director,
among whose many triumphs is the current Shaw Festival production
of The Hollow. Set and costume designer is Victoria
Wallace, whose last work at Blyth was the 1995 seasons
war-bride story, This Year, Next Year. Lesley Wilkinsons
richly evocative lighting sets the tone, clearly communicating
the difference between flashback and present-day scenes. Simple
yet powerful incidental music added to the plays emotional
impact, and was composed by John Roby, a twelve-season
veteran of Blyth.
-----Fireworks is a triumph
of directing, acting and writing, creating a shattering theatrical
experience. It plays until August 31, closing the Festivals
1996 season. For tickets ($6 to $20) call 519-523-9300.
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Now playing at the Blyth
Festival is Cindy Cowans Ma Belle Mabel, an interesting
and thoroughly enjoyable historical account of the life of Mabel
Hubbard Bell, wife and greatest supporter of Alexander Graham
Bell. The play takes place in their home, Beinn Bhreagh, in Baddeck,
Nova Scotia, on January 3, 1923, five months after Alecs
death.
-----The production featured a very
versatile set by Pat Flood with lighting by Michael
Kruse, enhanced by the interesting use of slide projections
and sound effects, including a realistic simulation of the first
manned flight in Canada, just one of Bells lesser known
achievements. (Others included a candle-powered sock dryer for
use by soldiers in the trenches of WWI, a hydrodrome speedboat,
the manned tetrahedron kite, and his primary interest: devices
and techniques to assist the deaf. And, oh yes, the telephone.)
Cowans script is of average quality but with several emotion-filled
and action-packed scenes.
-----The cast is headed by Wanda
Graham who originated the title role for its Expo 86
premiére in Nova Scotia. After only her opening line, you
realized she was playing the role of a deaf person, without ever
having to mention it. She had mastered the speech pattern of the
deaf, and, in several scenes, provoked genuine emotion.
-----Alec Bell is played in flashback
by Ted Johns, adequately representing the prolific and
multi-disciplined inventor.
-----Bells assistant at the
Beinn Bhreagh lab was played by the versatile Rustey Davenport.
His remarkable transformation from the down-home Nova Scotian
boy to the erudite engineering graduate of an Eastern school was
effected as he moved effortlessly from exhausting physical scenes
to dramatically emotional moments.
-----The supporting cast included
Liza Balkan as Mayme, housemaid and confidante of Mabel Bell,
and Jocelyne Zucco as Elsie, one of the Bells two
daughters. Of particular impact was Balkans portrayal of
Helen Keller in an encounter with Bell.
-----Ma Belle Mabel,
directed by the Festivals artistic director, Janet Amos,
plays until August 29. Phone 519-523-9804 for tickets.
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One of the enjoyable things
about attending world premiéres at the Blyth Festival is
participating in the development of a workshopped script into
a production that may live on in theatres around the country and
the world. Villa Eden is Canadian playwright
Colleen Currans sixth comedy to premiére at
Blyth, from Cake-Walk in 1984 to Ceili House in
1993.
-----This murder mystery comedy is
set in Villa Eden, a bed and breakfast, soon to be a dead and
breakfast, in a North American seaside village. The faux-Italianate
interior design is the idea of Charisse, the ditzy proprietress
who, like the playwright, is influenced by seeing "far too
many fifties movies far too many times." A weekend rush of
strange guests include an obsessive archaeologist, a mysterious
movie star, a budding architect and a set of quarrelling triplets.
A shocking death in the midst of the play raises the question:
Was it death by poison or death by dessert?
-----Charisse is played by
Liza Balkan in a role that showcases her zany, warmhearted
style. Blyth newcomer Jacques Basko portrays triplets Cyril,
April and Avril in a garish and campy manner. Barndance Live!
veteran Andrew Dolha plays a nice guy architect in
the scripts only really normal role. Diana, the Italian
bombshell, is played to the hilt and over the top by Jocelyne
Zucco. Eric Coates is trapped in the cross-gender role
of Dr. Anne Brice, but even his formidable talent cannot totally
rescue the play. The biggest embarrassment comes with the casting
of Wanda Graham as Constable Larry, an unnecessary and
confusing choice. Why waste her considerable gifts on this strutting,
macho role? Surely there was a male actor available to play the
part?
-----Thematic material from the 1950s
film Three Coins in the Fountain is the basis for the play.
The audience is seated before a white sheet used as a screen for
projected stills from the movie as Frank Sinatra croons the title
song. This introduction seems clever at first but after five minutes
becomes tiresome and is needlessly reprised between scenes. Indeed,
the entire production is overly long and could be greatly improved
with significant cuts to the script. For example, the "Dessert
and Tribute to Three Coins in the Fountain" playlet is tedious
and amateurish; the 15-minute re-enactment would have more punch
if done in two minutes. Dianas shopaholic monologue is also
rendered ineffective by its length: the audience applauds halfway
through, at which time Ms. Zucco would be well advised to stop.
-----Designer Julie Fox did
an admirable job with the spumoni set, especially noteworthy was
the trompe loeil staircase that even fooled the archaeologist.
However, director Anne Anglin would find little solace
from patrons reactions overheard at the plays interval
and conclusion: "Whats the point?" and, "Ive
seen worse plays. Oh yeah
where?"
-----There is no point, and I have
seen worse plays. But in Villa Eden the humorous dialogue is lost
within the bulk of the script; the 2½-hour production will
be more enjoyable after at least half an hour is cut before the
play is re-mounted on another stage.
-----Villa Eden plays until
August 31. For tickets call 519-523-9300.
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Disclaimer: Nothing here is "official." Everything is a composite of media releases, information supplied by or procured from the theatres by direct or devious means, or downright personal opinion. If you don't like what you see, blame us, not the fine folks in the theatres of Southwestern Ontario.