HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-04-07, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016.
Entertainment & Leisure
Festival cast a mix of familiar faces and new talent
Continued from page 1
travelling along the Camino de
Santiago trail.
While casting Matthew Dinning
proved to be a challenge, casting his
brother Brendan, Garratt said,
proved nearly as difficult. The
solution, however, was right under
his nose.
Cam Laurie, a Varna native, will
play Brendan. Laurie and Garratt
first met when Garratt was directing
the Blyth Festival's Young
Company and Laurie was in his
teens.
Laurie has since founded a
Toronto theatre company and
performed in Falling: A Wake at the
Blyth Festival. He is currently acting
alongside Garratt in The Fighting
61st, a co -production by the Festival
and the Huron Arts and Heritage
Network.
The cast will be rounded out by
Meghan Chalmers, who will play
Tanya, Matthew's girlfriend at the
time he was killed.
In The Birds and the Bees, the
season's second production, Marion
Day, another Festival veteran, will
lead the way. She'll play Sarah, a
recently divorced turkey farmer.
Day has been in many notable
Festival productions, including
Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven
Truscott and Kitchen Radio
and Garratt says Day is someone
able to connect with Festival
audiences in a unique way.
Day will be complemented by
John Dolan, a Fanshawe College
professor who has performed at the
Festival in productions like Against
the Grain and Courting Johanna,
and Nora McLellan, a well-known
Canadian performer with credits at
both the Stratford and Shaw
Festivals, as well as numerous
television and film projects. This
will be McLellan's first season at the
Blyth Festival.
Garratt says that it was McLellan
who reached out to him wanting to
work in Blyth for the first time in her
long career.
Christopher Allen, another Fest-
ival rookie, will play Ben.
Festival Orchestra to perform
On Saturday, April 16, two of
Huron County's favourite musical
ensembles, the Huron Harp School
and the Blyth Festival Orchestra,
will come together to present an
evening of music at the Kingsbridge
Centre. The highlight of the evening
will be a joint performance of the
Celtic Concerto by Laura Zaerr. The
concert begins at 8 p.m.
The Kingsbridge Centre is the
former St. Joseph Church and is
located in Kingsbridge, 20 minutes
north of Goderich. The centre has a
reputation as a beautiful musical
venue with excellent acoustics.
With over 20 harpists, the Huron
Harp School is a growing ensemble
based in Goderich under the
direction of Sharon Johnston.
Students come from all areas of
Huron County and beyond, and
range from seven years old to
seniors. The group's mandate is that
music is accessible to all, as
everyone plays together at their own
level. Huron Harp School members
can be found performing at
weddings, churches, special events
and other random and unexpected
locations.
The Blyth Festival Orchestra was
formed 20 years ago as part of the
Blyth Centre for the Arts. This
chamber orchestra is composed of
10 members from their late teens to
their mid -60s. They perform music
written for ensemble, ranging from
the 12th to the 21st century. The
deciding factor is: will the audience
like it; a secondary factor: can the
orchestra play it?
Laura Zaerr is a harpist and
composer living in Oregon. Her
Celtic Concerto premiered in 1999.
In it the composer blends her strong
classical background with her love
of Celtic music to achieve a dazzling
showcase for the Celtic harp. "When
I play Celtic music all my worries
fly away as the melodies unroll
through my fingers. I became so
immersed in the potential sounds of
harp with orchestra that I wrote the
piece in about four days, complete
with the orchestration in my head,"
she said.
"This concert promises to be a
highlight of the spring season. The
musicians are excited to be involved
in this musical collaboration, and the
Kingsbridge community is delighted
to open their doors to an
extraordinary event," said Johnston.
Tickets are $10 and will be available
at the door.
A big show
The Woodstock Dutch Theatre group presented Abseilen at Blyth Memorial Hall last month.
The group has been performing for 35 years and presents five shows a year in four different
venues across southwestern Ontario. The group raises money through the shows to give to
charity and, this year, donated $1,000 to Children's Health Foundation from the proceeds of
the 2015 season. The group's last performance for this year was held April 1 at the London
Dutch Canadian Society in London. Above are actors from the troupe, from left: Dick Wolters,
Jeanette van Barneveld and Mere! Purton. (Denny Scott photo)
Difference of Jesus is apparent
Continued from page 20
Saviour. Many people knew Him
and the life he lived before knowing
Jesus, and they saw the difference
Jesus made in His life. I overheard
some people speaking about him one
day at the coffee shop and they were
talking about the change they were
observing. My friend's life had
become a witness to the truth of the
resurrection of Jesus. And though he
did not think he was showing it very
well, it was evident to many people
that Jesus had come into his life and
that my friend had been raised to the
newness of life with Jesus.
P;lime
ARK THEATRE 30 The Squar:illy—)
MINE— 441Pr.
GODERICH 519 524 7811
FOR MOVIE INFORMATION...
•
•
•
www.movielinks.ca long distance?1-800-265-3438
In the Festival's third production
of the season, If Truth Be Told, actors
from the first production will
populate the cast.
The play will be carried by Fitch,
who will play Peg Dunlop, a small-
town writer whose books are being
banned by the local school board.
Nicholsen will play Harry Briggs,
Auerbach will play Maysie Pigot
and Chalmers will play Jennifer
Pigot.
Anita La Selva, a veteran of many
Canadian television shows and
movies, will play Carmella, a
teacher who's new to the community
and becomes one of the author's
biggest supporters.
The season's fourth play, The Last
Donnelly Standing, is a one-man
show featuring Garratt and directed
by Member to the Order of Canada,
Paul Thompson.
The Festival's box office officially
opened to the public on April 1 and
those working the Festival box office
reported selling one ticket per
minute for the duration of the day.
Tickets are available by calling
519-523-9300, toll-free at 1-877-
862-5984 or on the Festival website
at blythfestival.com.
A busy man
Whether it's performing at a recent fundraising lunch in
Belgrave, over the Easter weekend at local United
Churches or performing for Clifford Coultes' 80th birthday
at the Belgrave Community Centre on Saturday, guitarist
John McDowell has been a busy, busy man. On Saturday
he began the evening with an original song he'd written in
the 1990s when his friend Clifford had retired from
teaching. The song was well received on Saturday night,
both for its musical and humorous qualities. (Shawn Loughlin
photo)
FRIDAY, APRIL 22
BMG COMMUNITY
CENTRE, BRUSSELS
519-335-3557
Tickets: $60/person
foundation @ mvca.on.ca