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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-04-23, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2015. PAGE 9. Love Letters, a love story with a twist, will be performed by five different couples on the Blyth Festival stage and Director John McHenry hopes that will bring a different experience over all five nights of the play’s run. Running April 25, 26, 30 and May 1-2, the show portrays two people writing to each other from the time they are young to when they are adults. “We get to see him rise up the ladder and advance in life,” McHenry said of Andrew, or Andy, as he is sometimes called, one of the two characters in the play. “[The character of Melissa] however, doesn’t make it quite as far.” McHenry said the show is a great love story, though not a typical one, as the majority of the relationship between the two happens in letters. The five actors and four actresses taking on the mantles of Andrew and Melissa are Phil Main and Jodi Kuran, Bruce and Marg Whitmore, Shawn Van Osch and Lisa Hood, Quinn Ross and Hood and Duncan and Lynda McGregor. Each pairing will work from an identical script with the only difference being how individuals see and interpret the characters. “We wanted to bring in some local talent and local names,” McHenry said. “We thought it would be fun to do some actual couples and some people who are friends. We also thought it would be fun to have different couples to see five different interpretations.” Because of the style of the show, which involves the actors reading most of their lines verbatim from written letters, McHenry was able to enlist the above nine actors instead of two actors to perform the entire run. “Because of that style, the show requires very little commitment from the actors,” he said, indicating that each couple would have at most three rehearsals on stage. “There is almost no memorization required.” He said that the Blyth Festival wanted to do a community show, but there are limitations to what you can ask of local talent. “This way, we could get busy people,” he said. “It’s not that the piece isn’t as complex as others, it’s set up and designed to be like this.” The play has been performed by actors from every level of theatre from community to some of the best-known actors in the world. “You can bet most professionals have done the play at some point,” he said. Retired teachers Bruce and Marg Whitmore, who will be featured during the Sunday, April 26 show at 2 p.m., said they are very much looking forward to the chance to act together. “We were contacted in Florida and they asked us if we could do the roles,” Marg said. “We read it over several times and have had one rehearsal now,” Bruce said. The couple said that their take on the show is that it traces the growth of a relationship between a couple from its inception to its final moments. “It’s quite a spread of emotions,” Bruce said while Marg added that the show is accessible to pretty much any crowd. “It’s important that anyone, even kids, can enjoy the show,” she said. “That said, it’s not your regular love letters.” Bruce explained that the two characters are not really a conventional couple in his opinion, but that they love each other nonetheless. The Whitmores said they were excited to get back into acting because the chances for the two of them to do so are rare these days. Having worked on shows such as The Outdoor Donnellys and Jack and the Beanstalk, the Whitmores have acting experience, but, thanks to theatre equity rules, the call for local talent in plays isn’t as wide as it once was. “I didn’t think we would ever have another chance to act together so this is great,” Bruce said. “We really enjoy doing things like this together.” Blyth residents and familiar faces around the Blyth Festival Duncan and Lynda McGregor will be featured on May 2 and Duncan says they are very much looking forward to it. “It’s not just a nostalgic memoire, it’s a very interesting life,” he said. “It’s an incredible love story that is just wonderful and very up to date and really reflects how people are.” Duncan, who is rehearsing remotely with Lynda who is currently out of the country, said that he was glad that McHenry had chosen people from several different age groups to bring different experiences to the story. When he first opened up the script, he said it immediately piqued his interest. “I was surprised by it,” he said. “I really enjoyed it. It’s tremendously interesting. This couple writes letters because they want to. It’s modern so they don’t have to, but they want to and the letters read like real-life. There are so many surprises that it just works well.” Kuran and Main will be the first duo to take the stage on April 25 and Kuran said she is quite excited for the opportunity. “I’ve been friends with Phil for awhile and we have been involved in community theatres and supported each other, but we’ve never been able to be on stage together,” she said. “I got an e-mail from him saying we should do something together a little while ago and we decided to wait and see if something came up and it did.” Kuran got a call from McHenry in which he asked the two of them to The Fire Department of North Huron (FDNH) had a five-day stretch reminiscent of some of its busier weekends in 2014, the busiest year the area had ever seen in recent memory. Starting last Wednesday and stretching to Sunday, the department had six calls over five days. Wednesday in the early morning a fire broke out in a home on Blyth Road just east of Blyth. While the report for the exact cause of the fire will not be completed by the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management for some time, early indications don’t classify the fire as being suspicious. Both FDNH Blyth and Wingham firefighters were on site for the fire as well Huron East’s Brussels station through mutual aid. The visiting station responded with manpower as well as a tanker truck and pumper truck. Blyth Road was closed for approximately five hours while the crews were at the scene. “Fire crews were able to contain the basement fire quickly, however there is considerable smoke damage throughout the home,” FDNH Chief David Sparling said. “To ensure that the fire had not spread elsewhere, extensive overhaul was required. This is labour intensive work. We really appreciated the assistance from Huron East’s Brussels hall.” Friday a kitchen fire in Belgrave was attended by the FDNH and it was contained to the kitchen area. Fire Prevention Officer James Marshall explained that cooking is the primary source of residential fires in the province. “Never leave cooking food unattended,” he said. While at the scene of that fire, a brush fire in Morris-Turnberry was reported the department that saw firefighters go from one scene to the next. The department contained and extinguished the second fire. Saturday, FDNH members reported under mutual aid to a pig barn fire in Howick. Sunday, FDNH responded to a field and bush fire in Central Huron that kept Maitland Block Road closed for three hours. The fire started when a property owner was burning scrap building materials and sawdust outdoors. The fire set a nearby field ablaze before spreading to a nearby forest. Central Huron Fire Department was called in to assist with the fire. Also on Sunday, as FDNH Blyth firefighters were returning to the station from the field and forest fire, FDNH Wingham was called to another field fire in Morris- Turnberry where burning garbage had set grass on fire near a structure. Another busy week for FDNH ‘Love Letters’ opens Saturday at Memorial Hall Significant smoke damage A fire in a home on Blyth Road east of Blyth last week resulted in the road being closed for several hours. The fire started in the basement and firefighters were able to contain it there and save the structure, however, a great deal of overhaul was needed to make sure the fire hadn’t spread and much of the remaining home suffered smoke damage. (Denny Scott photo) Stay Connected The Citizen $3600 per year Go to our website and pay by Pay Pal or come into the office and pay by cheque or cash The Citizen www.northhuron.on.ca 413 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-4792 541 Turnberry St., Brussels 519-887-9114 to wherever you are in the world with an Electronic Subscription • Easy access • Read on your phone, tablet or computer • Perfect for travellers, students or snowbirds • Timely reading (no waiting for mail delivery) By Denny Scott The Citizen By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 10