HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-01-21, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016. PAGE 19.
Entertainment & Leisure
Potter, Thompson to direct 2016 Blyth shows
June 15 to September
OUR BEAUTIFUL SONS.
REMEMBERING MATTHEW OINN
THE BIRDS AND THE BEES
IF TRUTH BE TOLD
ST DONNELLY STANDING
The big reveal
Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt, right, and Director of Marketing and Development
John McHenry, left, revealed this year's season last Halloween at a special Festival gala
(hence the costumes). They revealed that Blyth would play host to four world premieres in
2016. Garratt has now secured directors for all four shows and couldn't be happier with his
roster of talent. (File photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
With workshops already in the
books and opening night just around
the corner, Blyth Festival Artistic
Director Gil Garratt has this season's
slate of directors set.
The season will begin with a
familiar face to Garratt: his own. He
will direct Our Beautiful Sons:
Remembering Matthew Dinning, the
first play of the 2016 season.
The play, written by Christopher
Morris, will focus on the Dinning
family and one of Huron County's
most cherished sons, Matthew
Dinning, who was killed in
Afghanistan in 2006.
Because of how "close to the
bone" the Dinning story is to Huron
County residents, Garratt said he felt
a responsibility to direct the show.
In 2016, Garratt said in an
interview with The Citizen, the
Dinning family will be marking its
10th year since Matthew was killed,
which makes the story very relevant.
The play, he says, will be one of
his biggest challenges. While many
of the production's roles have
already been cast — filled by very
familiar faces to Festival audiences,
although he can't quite announce
them yet — casting Matthew will be
his biggest challenge since taking
over the position of artistic director.
"Matthew was a boy everyone
knew," Garratt said.
In addition to the community's
familiarity with Matthew, Garratt
also spoke of his "legendary" good
looks, which makes casting his
character an even tougher challenge.
Adding to the challenge is the fact
that Morris's play represents the best
of what the Blyth Festival does and
has done over the years, Garratt
says.
With such a well-known and
important story to the Huron County
community, it's important that the
Festival is there to tell that story.
"That's what we're here to do —
tell our own stories," Garratt said,
adding that because of how
important the story is to those in the
local community, Matthew's story is
one that needs to be "cared for" and
Garratt wants to be the one to do
that.
The season's second show, The
Birds and The Bees, written by Mark
Crawford, will be directed by Ann
Hodges.
Hodges last directed at the Blyth
Festival in 2012, when she was at the
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which was written by Beverley
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Garratt says the relationship
between Hodges and Crawford is a
strong one, with the pair having
worked together before.
He says Hodges is the perfect
person to direct Crawford's new
comedy, both due to her familiarity
with Crawford and his work and
her extensive work in the
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comedy genre over the years.
"Being able to direct comedy is a
hard skill to come across," Garratt
said.
One of the Festival's most familiar
faces will return to direct the
season's third show, If Truth Be Told,
written by Beverley Cooper.
Miles Potter, a member of the
original group that came to Huron
County and produced The Farm
Show under the direction of Paul
Thompson, will direct Cooper's
show.
The pair has worked together
before on Innocence Lost: A Play
About Steven Truscott, which won
Cooper a number of awards and has
played all over Canada.
Potter was last in Blyth just two
seasons ago, directing Crawford's
hit comedy Stag and Doe.
Garratt says that Potter's presence
for this upcoming season is
important, because he has been
involved in some of the best and
most important work the Festival has
ever done.
With the subject matter being
taken on by If Truth Be Told, Garratt
says he's expecting big things
from the play. He feels that the
Blyth Festival will certainly
not be the last place the play is
produced.
He's also hoping for big things
from the play's cast. Having worked
with Potter as an actor on the 2010
production of Pearl Gidley, Garratt
says that Potter has a skill for pulling
things out of actors they didn't even
know were there.
When Garratt and Cooper first
started discussing the project,
Garratt says, Cooper asked to work
with Potter once again — a pairing
he says he was happy to facilitate.
Directing Garratt in the one-man
show that will mark the closing of
this year's Festival season will be
Paul Thompson in the production of
The Last Donnelly Standing.
An officer of the Order of Canada,
Thompson's work on The Farm
Show has been credited as one of the
driving forces behind the creation of
the Blyth Festival.
He also created The Outdoor
Donnellys, one of the most
successful plays in Blyth Festival
history and a show that played in
Blyth for three seasons.
Garratt, who co -conceived the
show with Thompson, says
Thompson and his grand vision is
the perfect director for the show,
which has been billed as the ultimate
epilogue to the story of the
Donnellys.
The pair began work on the show
during the second season of The
Outdoor Donnellys, Garratt said,
when they became fascinated with
the story of Bob Donnelly and his
life after the massacre.
Garratt and Thompson share an
extensive resume of working
together and Thompson, Garratt
said, is well known for getting
the absolute best work from actors in
his many productions.
This year's Blyth Festival season
opens on Friday, June 17 with the
world premiere of Our Beautiful
Sons: Remembering Matthew
Dinning.
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