The Huron Expositor, 1978-06-29, Page 10BEECH ST. CLINTON
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10 — THE HURON XPOSITOR 0 4UVEI , ign
Serendipity
Fihrtirig a play
[By Alice GIbb]
When Gordon McCall talks of finding a play, he isn't talking
about the'physcial propess of locating a script he wants to stage.
Finding a play is that peculiar process which goes on for weeks
before the audience ever sees a play on, stage. It's the process
when actors,, se t designers, the director and' sometimes the
'author take the flat words atall instructions from the printed page
and transforni them' into a believable drama for the play's
audiences.
If the director and cast are successful in finding the play, the
audience will never be awafe of the process. If the director and
cast arerett successfid, then the audience will be painfully aware
and embarrassed or bored or angered by the unfinished product
they've seen on stage. TheY may, like many already have, give
up live theatre for the predictable monotony of the television se t
in their living room. s ,
Gordon McCall, the director of His Own BosS, the second
presentation of the Blyth Festival of the Arts,, and the cast of the
play„ have been spending the last week in the gymnasium of
Clinton High School, going through the painstaking process of
finding the comedy - understanding the lines, discovering what
dialogue works and what doesn't, gradually shading in
interpretations .of the characte,,s, alid then finally starting to
'block out, the play - practising movements on stage and getting
afeel for how the play will run in front of an audience.
The director has worked 'with established scripts when he
directed plays by Bertolt Brecht, children's plays and an Italian
16th 'century comedy, The Three Cuckolds for theatre
companies in Vantouver. .
. He's also worked with new scripts - like The Collected Works
of Billy The Kid, by the former London poet, Michael 'Ondaatle.
McCall met with Roulston earlier in the spring for the first
time,,read the script Of His Own Boss quickly and then sat down
to discusS questions and problems he could about the play.
—Ultititately;--the-final_say.ahont how the play will he , staged ...., __...
rests with. the director, but' on the under-Standing tifarre-viron't
do anything againthenintent of.thc Writer. ,
McCall Says the only problems, with the play to date have been
to clarify the overall statement Roulston is trying to make and a
problem with one of the play's six characters. Although McCall •
hopes,to have completed all the changes in the play's script four
days before the curtain goes up on opening night, as director, 'his
actual deadline for.script changes can be as tight as five minutes
before the curtain goes up.
In writing his play, Roulston' has been particularly conscious
To- -ip ay director anti_offer of the fact some writers want
over:elaborate . instructions about the play's dispracters,
movement on stage: etc. To avoid this., the author has given a
brief description of the character at the beginning of the script,
leaving the ,director leeway in building the action on stage.
The cast arc scattered about a table. pencils in hand,coke cans,
and coffee cups in proftion. mimeographed scripts in loose leaf
binders, reading throt gh the play's first ,act slowly, line by line,
testing each other's r action to the dialogue, discussing whether
one line should be ioftened so the character is less "bitchy",
whether words in another line should_be changed' to clarify a
situation and tentatively experimenting with different expres-
sions when delivering their lines. •
Rehearsals for the play started a' week before, when the cast
met each other for the first time, listened to an'explanation of the
Actors Equity rules governing rehearsals (the director can work.
his cast seven hours a day, with breaks for lunch ,and coffee) and
Meeting the play's author, Blyth writer Keith Roulston.
The comedy, is about a young mart from the city,fed up. with
working on the assembly line, who comes to d"country town to
take over his late uncle's cheese factory. The idea for'the play,
Roulston's second, came on one of his blackest days when he was
running his own small business in Blyth.
' Although the play is, humorous, the theme is slightly: more
serious - you have tothave small businesses as an alternative te,
big business, if you don't have small businessmen then you
won't have small towns‘ but if you want small towns then the
small businelssman has to believe someone cares about him and
the government doesn't always prove to. b6-etwof the" agencies
that seems to 'care.
Since Roulston had just finished an article on a cheese factorr -6
for his magazine The Village Squire, he decided this would be an
ideal setting for his play about the tribulations of running a small
business.
The idea, for His Own Boss came to'him, When he was in the
midst of rewriting The Shortest Distance Between Two, Points,
his first play produced at the Blyth Festival .last summer. He
stored his cheese factory idea until the end of the summer, then
mentioned it to James Roy,: the festival's artistic director and
after Roy was convinced the idea had potential, he commissioned
Roulston to put his ideas on paper. '
Now the writer sits at rehearsals, listening as the cast
members slowly dissect each line of his script - testing the play's.'
structure, the dialogue and the 'characters. Now and then he
answers questions from the cast about a character's background,
now and then he notes changes which will have to be re-written
into the final script. It will still be 'another two days before the
actors have finished going through the first act, step by step.
From the director's point of view, working 'with a new play,
one which has never been tested on stage, has both its
advantages and disadvantages. First, since the author is both
alive and present, lines and even entire scenes can be changed
and modified, so the final play is a compromise between author,
director and cast.
However, with an "old" script, a play by George Bernard
•
'Shaw, for example, the director doesn't have to worry about
re-writing, and can spend extra time on finding a different
interpretation of the play.
McCall, who teaches in the drama department of Queens
University;'ha-s-worke-d-with-both-"dtd"-b:itd scripts. pt
After sitting in on the play fora few more days, Roulston will
stay out of the rehearsals until the cast are doing full run
throughs of the play.
Last year, Roulston found .by the time opening night finally
arrived, half the lines in his play, also a comedy, no longer
seemed funny. The actors were geared the lines would die on
stage, and the writer found he couldn't sit still long enough to
take a seat with the audience.
But surprisingly, thei audience did laugh.4_at...the_same_tnies_
the Writer and cast thought were stale. And each ,night the play
was produced, audiences would laugh at different lines, since
each audience brings a personality of its own to a performance.
By the end of the play, Roulston was able .to sit through a
whole performance, but in the early days of a production, he
wants to be free to walk out if things get too bad,
Although Roulston can qualify as an established playwright
by the end of this summer, few theatres in. Canada are doing
Canadian plays. Many that are specialize in plays about one
subject - e.i.the workingman or plays with ,a regional location so
Roulston's published play may sit fof years before it's produced
again.
in the meantime, McCall and his actors - Peter Snell, Karen
Wiens, Heather Ritchie, Kate 'Trotter, Tom -McCamus and David.
Kirby - sit surrounded by the boxes and other paraphenalia
meant to represent the finished set for His Own Boss, and go
over and over the lines of the play. •
If they find the play, if the "play says it" as McCall hopes,
then the frustrations, 'the doubts, the long hours, the endless
cups of instant coffee, will be worthwhile. The first time the
audience reacts to a line;,the first time the audience leaves the`','
theatre', still talking ab out what they've seen onstage, the
process will be complete.
CAREFUL NOW — 'Vicki Gordori, daughter
of Ross and Marion Gordon of McKillop takes a drink
of her milk at Saturday nighPs Lions' Barbecue.
(Expositor Photo)
OH NO YOU. DON'T — Gwen Patterson waves
away the photographer as he took a photo of her,
husband John and son Jason at -the Seaforth Lions
Bfarbecuebn Saturday. ' (Expositor Photo)
imagine your life hangs by a thread.
Imagine your body hangs by awire.
•Irnagine you're not imagining.
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Cardiff of Grey and Ken Campbell of . McKillop get
things set up at the Lions, beef barbeque.
JExpositor. Photo)
Otto and Katie Tippelt
at the Lre,pf barbecue
s,