The Citizen, 2013-08-15, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013.‘Prairie Nurse’ prescribes laughs at Festival
A case of mistaken-identity, a
Scottish doctor with a thing for
ducks (a quack if ever there was
one), a local sports hero trying to
balance his budding hockey career
with his actual one as a medical lab
technician, an over-stressed
towering head nurse and a candy-
striper with her nose and best
intentions in everyone’s business
provide the perfect comedic
backdrop for a love triangle in Marie
Beath Badian’s Prairie Nurse, which
opened this month at the Blyth
Festival.
Directed by Sue Miner and
featuring the talents of Jess
Abramovitch, Ryan Bondy, Lana
Carillo, Sarah Cornell, Steph Sy,
Rob Torr and Michael Torontow, the
play takes place in a hospital in
Arborfield, a small town in
Saskatchewan.
The arrival of two nurses that
couldn’t be any more different, but
are continually mistakenly-identified
(until the development of a hilarious
system) throws everyone for a loop
as the two Filipino women come to
terms with the odd language and odd
behaviours and the
miscommunications that come from
both.
The play, set in the late 1960s,
shines a light not only on a funny
situation but on some of the more
interesting quirks of the Englishlanguage.Carillo and Sy, playing Filipinonurses Penny and Puringrespectively, bring two completelydifferent characters to life who,despite different mannerisms,personalities and attitudes, areconstantly playing their own version
of Trading Places with the rest of the
staff at the Aborfield hospital. Throw
in Bondy’s character Wilf, star
goaltender of the Arborfield Flyers,
who falls head-over-heels for one of
the two and can’t tell them apart, and
the confusion and chaos unfolds on
stage accompanied by the boisterous
laughter.
Accompanied by some more-or-
less one-trick characters, including
the fatherly Charlie played by Torr,
the hunting-crazy Dr. MacGregor
brought to life brilliantly by
Torontow, head nurse and hospital
administrator Marie Ann played by
Cornell and Abramovitch’s candy-
striper Patsy, the trio find themselves
alternating between passionate
embraces, awkward silences and
Benny Hill-esque scenes where they
seem to be coming in and out of
doors all over the sets at different
times.
While Torr, Cornell, Abramovitch
and Torontow’s characters are more
or less static throughout the show,
that doesn’t mean they aren’t well
crafted, well-acted and add to the
play.
The presence of such strong
character attributes, which dominate
the roles lead to the situations where
all the actors can capitalize on the
miscommunications that occur
because of the seemingly single-
mindedness of characters like
Torontow’s foreign hunter, Cornell’s
efficiency-at-all-costs administrator
and Abramovitch’s teenage drama
queen.
Patty’s nosey, know-it-all (when it
comes to love) attitude isn’t just a
comedic element, but helps drive the
story. A more complex character,
however, would have drawn away
from the main conflict instead of
being a part of it.
Charlie’s fatherly air also opens up
opportunities for the audience to
better get to know Penny. One suchscene transforms Penny’s characterfrom someone detestable to a muchmore believable, likable andpersonable individual. The play, which Beath Badianexplains as being partially-based onexperiences her mother had whenshe came to Canada as a Filipino
nurse, focuses on two very different
experiences for people in her
position; those who came over to
help their family and those who
came over without seemingly a care
in the world.
Puring spends her time worrying
about family and friends back home,
writing them to make sure they know
how life is going on while Penny
seems to be constantly missing her
connection or alone time with the
overly-expensive phone calls from
Arborfield overseas to Milan.
As the story unfolds, we realize
that not everything is as it seems
with the outgoing Penny while
Puring remains as puritanical as
earlier remarks on the Filipino
people from Mary Anne and Patty
indicated.
While the actors certainly deserve
accolades for their great work, the
crew behind the scenes deserves a
great deal of credit for making the
show seem as if it were in the late-
1960s.
Often times with shows set in the
past, I find myself wondering why
the characters don’t just sit down at
their computer and use the internet
to solve their problems but I didn’t
once find that for Prairie Nurse.
Never did I feel I was anywhere but
the winter of 1969.
Prairie Nurse runs until Aug. 31 at
the Blyth Festival.
For tickets visit blythfestival.com
or call 1-877-862-5984.
Coffee with a Playwright starts Friday
One exciting small-town hospital
The nursing staff at Arborville Hospital, portrayed by, from left, Patty as played by Jess
Abramovitch, Sarah Cornell’s Marie Ann, Puring as portrayed by Steph Sy and Lana Carillo’s
Penny, serve as the main interest in Prairie Nurse, the Blyth Festival’s fourth play of the season
on the main stage. The show runs until Aug. 31. (Terry Manzo photo)
Heather Hill, daughter of Don
and Marleen Hill graduated from
Cambrian College in Sudbury
obtaining an advanced diploma in
Medical Laboratory Technology,
with honours. She has accepted
employment at the Grey Bruce
Health Services in Owen Sound.
Congratulations Heather!
We are very proud of you.
Love: Dad, Mom and Brad.
Graduation
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
The summer is wrapping up
quickly, (too quickly for some) and
in Blyth, those at the Blyth Festival
are trying to slow down time to
enjoy the last few beautiful nights to
come. We are inviting some
wonderfully talented playwrights to
come and chat in our new series
Coffee with a Playwright starting
this Friday, Aug. 16 and Tuesday,
Aug. 21 hosted at the Queens
Bakery in Blyth.
The time and energy that is spent
producing new Canadian theatre is
an interesting and challenging
process and is considered a mystery
to many. Where does their
inspiration come from? How do they
start? How do they know when they
are done?
Since the Festival’s first curtain
rose in 1975, Blyth has always been,
“a place of creativity and has
inspired playwrights… to develop
stories from Huron County. The
Festival provides the playwrights
with the opportunity to live, write
and research within the community,”
explains new Artistic Director
Marion de Vries who will be hosting
this interesting series.
“New play development is so
unique to Blyth,” says de Vries, “we
literally tell the ‘stories from where
we live’ and not many other theatre
companies in Ontario do that. The
Blyth Festival is world renowned for
our world premieres.”
Coffee with a Playwright is an
opportunity for our community to
meet the people writing the plays
they see onstage in Blyth, and for the
playwrights to meet the community
they are writing about. “One of the
most fabulous parts about the Blyth
Festival is that the audience gets to
meet the actors after the show, but
this is a chance to meet the people
who have written what they have
just seen onstage,” says de Vries.
Informal, yet informative, the first
Coffee with a Playwright will be
hosted by The Queen’s Bakery in
Blyth and will feature playwright
Christopher Morris and the
following Tuesday will feature
Anusree Roy. The series will
welcome a variety of playwrights in
the many stages of completion, and
will even include two book launches
of playwrights who have had their
work premiere on the Blyth Festival
stage.
The dates include: Aug. 16 at 5
p.m. – Queens Bakery with
Christopher Morris; Aug. 21 at 5:30
p.m. – Queens Bakery with Anusree
Roy; Aug. 27 at 5 p.m. – Queens
Bakery with Gil Garratt; Aug. 30 at
10 a.m. – Queens Bakery, book
launch with Leanna Brodie The
Book of Esther; Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. –
Lower Hall, book launch with Gary
Kirkham Falling: A Wake.
Get entertainment
information on the
Entertainment section
of our
website at
www.northhuron.on.ca
Graduation
Jennifer MacDonald, daughter of
Barry and Cindy MacDonald of Blyth,
graduated from Laurentian University
(Georgian Campus) in Barrie with a
Bachelor of Business Administration
degree. Jennifer is a former graduate
of Georgian College with a diploma
in Business Administration. Jennifer
is continuing her education by
completing her Certified General
Accounting Designation.
Congratulations Jen
from your proud family ~ Mom, Dad,
Josie, Ryan and Jory.
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