HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-09-01, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2016.
`Drawer Boy' film shooting at famous Belgrave farm
Working out the story
Filming on The Drawer Boy began on Aug. 22 in Belgrave at an old farmhouse famous in
Canadian theatre circles as the home to Blyth Festival co-founders James Roy and Anne
Chislett and then to Ted Johns and Janet Amos. The film's three starring actors, from left,
Stuart Hughes, Richard Clarkin and Jakob Ehman, are seen here at a reading around the
home's kitchen table on Monday after having wrapped filming for the day. (Shawn Coughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
A Toronto-based group of actors
and film crew members are currently
splitting their time between Belgrave
and Listowel shooting a film based
on Michael Healey's The Drawer
Boy, a play with strong roots in
Huron County.
The collection, which consists of
over a dozen professionals, has been
spending much of their time at a
Currie Line home famous in Blyth
Festival lore. The old farm house
used to be home to Blyth Festival
co-founders James Roy and Anne
Chislett and has more recently been
a home away from home for Festival
regulars Ted Johns and Janet Amos.
The home was also the inspiration
for Peter Colley's I'll Be Back
Before Midnight, which premiered at
the Blyth Festival in 1979.
The group has been working on
the film since Aug. 22 and they are
scheduled to wrap production on
Sept. 14. The film is based on the
play which was produced on the
Blyth Festival stage in 2000. It tells
the story of The Farm Show in
1972 — portraying Festival regulars
like Paul Thompson, David Fox and
Miles Potter — which was the dawn
of an alternative form of Canadian
theatre, born on farms in Goderich
Township. The Farm Show in many
ways laid the groundwork for the
Blyth Festival.
The project is being taken on by
the production team of Aviva
Armour -Ostroff and Arturo Perez
Torres. Armour -Ostroff is serving as
the film's co-producer and associate
director, while Perez Torres is co -
producing and directing the film.
Armour -Ostroff, in an interview
On location
The Drawer Boy, since it premiered in 1999, has been one of the most popular Canadian
plays, being produced at theatres throughout the world. Production team Arturo Perez Torres
and Aviva Armour -Ostroff, along with their actors and crew, are hard at work turning the well-
known work into a film. Actor Stuart Hughes can be seen here working his way through a seen
as the film rolled. (Photo submitted)
with The Citizen, says her
background is in theatre and she has
always been familiar with the Blyth
Festival and its productions. Perez
Torres came to Toronto from Mexico
City 13 years ago and in that time he
has made a number of documentary
films, tackling subjects such as
undocumented South American
immigrants to Canadian municipal
elections.
The two have been together for a
number of years, but The Drawer
Boy represents the first time they
have actually worked together.
It started simply enough, Armour -
Ostroff says, in that she put a call out
on social media asking theatre fans
which Canadian play they'd most
like to see adapted into a film. The
answer that came back was The
Drawer Boy.
With playwright Michael Healey's
blessing, the two began production.
The project began two years ago
with location scouting and casting
and is now in Huron County for just
under a month of on -location
shooting.
While much of the production is
taking place on Currie Line, just
north of Nature Centre Road, the
group will also be spending time at a
Listowel -area dairy farm, as well as
the Central Huron farm of Alison
Lobb, the setting of the famous
Miles Potter "hay baling" scene.
That day will be a special one for
everyone, Armour -Ostroff says, as it
will be one more location that lends
authenticity to the production. In
addition, Canadian theatre legend
Paul Thompson, who has been
instrumental in the film production,
will be on hand to play himself in the
scene.
Perez Torres says that it's this kind
of authenticity and realism that first
attracted the two filmmakers to the
project. Coming from a
documentary background, he says
The Drawer Boy, and many of the
Blyth Festival productions, attempt
to document real life on the stage,
which is what he's been doing for
years with his films.
The world of dramatic films,
however, is much different than
documentary filmmaking or the
world of theatre, as both Armour -
Ostroff and Perez Torres are
learning. In order to make a
professional -level film, Armour -
Ostroff has learned about the costs
associated with a director of
photography, assistants and
thousands of dollars worth of
lighting.
While the budget for the film —
aided by the Canadian Arts Council
and the Toronto Arts Council, as
well as the couple's own funds — is
tight, they are determined to put
forward a top-quality product and
knew these were expenses they
would have to live with in order to
make their vision a reality.
Part of that vision has been the
cast the pair has brought in to realize
the film. Armour -Ostroff says it was
important to her that they cast
theatre actors in the production. Not
only would theatre actors be
adaptable to the long takes the
filmmakers are attempting to
incorporate into the film, but they
lend further authenticity to a tale that
began on the stage and tells the story
of stage actors finding a story in
rural Ontario.
The three main actors in the
production, Jakob Ehman, Stuart
Hughes and Richard Clarkin, have
given the filmmakers confidence that
the group they've assembled is the
right one.
And the results have been positive,
Armour -Ostroff says. The
performances have been great thus
far and the experience of shooting
on -location has been excellent.
Perez Torres says the crew spent
the first day or two figuring out how
to communicate with one another
and how to set the tone for the film's
shooting style. Once that was done,
it has been smooth sailing.
Both Armour -Ostroff and Perez
Torres have nothing but good things
to say about their work in Huron
County thus far. They have had a
positive working relationship with
the Blyth Festival, with the Festival
Continued on page 19
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