HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-10-29, Page 32Continued from page 1
portrait of Wingham,” according to
Garratt.
The play is also still being written,
according to Garratt.
Garratt explained that after
Matthew’s death, his younger
brother Brendon volunteered for
active duty in Afghanistan. The
Canadian Forces, knowing that the
family had already lost a son, called
and asked if they should honour the
request.
“Laurie and Lincoln were left to
make one of the hardest decisions
imaginable for any parent; and this
decision is at the heart of
Christopher’s play,” Garratt said in
an e-mail to The Citizen.“This is a
play about love of family, the search
for bravery and the always
complicated paths to manhood,
motherhood and peace.”
The second play of the season is
The Birds and the Bees by
Mark Crawford who recently
found success on the Blyth
Festival stage with his rural
comedy, Stag and Doe.
Garratt said the play is hilarious
and explained the plot briefly.
“Earl was married to Sheila and
Gail was married to Frank and they
lived across the road from each
other,” he said.
Sheila and Frank left their
significant others, however, to be
together, leaving Earl and Gail living
across the road from each other.
“Gail stayed alone, but Earl
discovered internet dating,” Garratt
explained.
Gail took to raising bees while
Earl is a cash cropper who rents
fields from Gail, despite the fact that
neither of them can stand each other,
Garratt explained.
Sarah, Gail’s daughter, returns
home after realizing she doesn’t love
her husband and is tired of artifically
inseminating turkeys. A grad student
named Ben, a 23-year-old virgin,
also enters the fray after Gail starts
to see a drop in the local bee
population and hires Ben to get to
the bottom of it (though Gail is
convinced it’s Earl’s neonicotinoid
sprays).
Earl, Gail, Sarah and Ben are then
thrown for a loop when their
community gets ready to host their
last ever Turkey Dance and only two
tickets are available for the four.
The third play, If Truth Be Told, by
Beverley Cooper, may sound like a
well-known local story, but Garratt
insists it’s not about Alice Munro.
“It’s about a writer from a small
town who lives in Vancouver,” he
said, later giving the name of the
author as Peg Dunlop. “She has won
all sorts of awards, including the
Governor General’s Award and
moves back home to find her books
banned at a local high school.”
Dunlop’s return, however, isn’t
celebrated, as few members of the
community embrace her.
Garratt reiterated that the play is
not about Munro, saying that it’s
about a young woman named
Jennifer who wants to be an artist
and is taken under Dunlop’s wing to
learn how to craft, and how to
defend, one’s art.
The last play is a collaboration
between Garratt and Blyth Festival
alumni and Member of the Order of
Canada Paul Thompson, perhaps
best known locally for his work on
The Outdoor Donnellys and The
Farm Show.
Garratt explained that he and
Thompson worked on the play as
they travelled the world and decided
that the tale of Robert Donnelly
would make a perfect story for The
Blyth Festival as The Last Donnelly
Standing.
Donnelly, who was the only one of
his seven brothers that served time,
was released right around the time
the infamous massacre happened
that devastated the Donnelly family.
“Robert was the only one not to
flee,” Garratt said. “He bought a
house in Lucan.”
Garratt explained that the tale goes
that Robert would sit in front of his
home and watch the people who
went by, who knew what had
happened to his family.
“The story isn’t about that,
though,” Garratt said. “It’s about this
amazing fortitude that Robert
possessed. He rebuilt a home where
the log cabin was, he rebuilt the barn
where it was. He started over.”
Garratt said the play shows “the
rise and the fall of a defiant young
man, who stood in the face of
history, and dared to burn it all down
with a smile.”
The announcement was only one
part of what Garratt called “an
amazing evening” that was “hugely
humbling” and inspired him. He said
he was very happy to see as many
people at the event as there were.
The evening featured a silent and
live auction as well as awards for the
best costumes worn to the
Halloween-themed event.
PAGE 32. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015.
Dinning, Donnelly stories to be told in 2016
Taking a chance
Six pumpkins were auctioned off at the Blyth Festival fundraising event Galawe’en on
Saturday. Each one was carved by a local celebrity and each one had a chance of holding, as
Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt said, $1,000 in “cold hard cash.” The first two
pumpkins auctioned off went to Blyth Arts and Cultural Initative 14/19 Inc. Project Director
Peter Smith, left, and playwright Paul Ciufo. (Denny Scott photo)
Re-imaginings
Blyth Festival Director of Marketing and Development John
McHenry, left, and Festival Board Member Sarah Gusso
both attended the Festival’s Galawe’en Fundraiser event on
Saturday as re-imaginings of classic movie icons. McHenry
took on Johnny Depp’s 2005 portrayal of Willy Wonka,
originally portrayed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 classic
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, while Gusso
became Maleficent, the anti-hero from the film of the same
name released last year, meant to show the other side of
the Walt Disney classic Sleeping Beauty,released in 1959.
(Denny Scott photo)
By Claire Kobe
Another busy and exciting week
has gone by at St. Anne’s Catholic
Secondary School. On Monday, the
field hockey team had a win and a
loss at their games in Goderich and
the senior girls basketball team
played very well during their game
at St. Anne’s.
Tuesday, the Grade 12 gym
leadership class took a trip to the
Edge of Walton Challenge Course.
It was a fun day where students got
to participate in many activities and
everyone had a great time. On
Wednesday, the Ausable Bayfield
Conservation Authority visited St.
Anne’s to educate several science
classes on various topics relating to
the wetland area behind St. Anne’s.
On Thursday, several St. Anne’s
students travelled to Toronto to
participate in the youth forum,
“When Faith Meets Pedagogy.”
They heard from noted speakers,
participated in liturgy and interacted
with peers from all around the
province.
The cross-country team had its
Huron Perth meet on Thursday and
we are proud to say that many of our
runners are moving on to Western
Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic
Association next week.
On Friday, we welcomed all the
Grade 8 students from the feeder
schools to participate in the annual
Tech Day. Grade 8 students got the
opportunity to experience high
school for a day and build unique
objects in the workshop.
St. Anne’s welcomes
locals for Tech Day
You are entering
the Independent
Republic of
Elm Tree Valley
IN THE ROAD
By Keith Roulston
Enjoy a comic look at the
rural/urban divide
in the novel
When a forgotten village finds itself in
the path of a new super-highway it tries
to attract attention to its plight by
declaring itself an independent country.
But things get out of hand when the
town drunk organizes an army and
those who have most to gain by the
highway’s completion fight back.
Enjoy In the Road
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www.northhuron.on.ca
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