HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-06-30, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011.‘Hometown’ dazzles as 37th Festival openerEveryone has a hometown. Butjust because everyone has a home-town doesn’t mean everyone feelsthe same about where they camefrom.So it’s with the help of six ofCanada’s brightest playwrights thatthe Blyth Festival attempted to tack-
le the question: “What does
‘Hometown’ mean to you?” with the
aptly named Hometown, this sea-
son’s opening production.
The very concept is so grand that
after watching Hometown, it seems
inconceivable that such a project
could be penned by just one writer.
So instead of taking an explorato-
ry trip into one playwright’s child-
hood and one playwright’s child-
hood home, Hometown flows like a
tour of a grand old house. Each
room has its own personality, its
own story and its own characters,
but all six rooms belong to the same
house.
The story has been told many
times, but the project was hatched
by former Festival Artistic Director
Peter Smith. Smith was in Blyth for
a visit and saw Blyth postmaster
Faye Bolger locking up for the night
and it was this brief moment of hap-
penstance that spawned this entire
production.
So in the months following, Smith
teamed up with playwrights Martha
Ross, Mieko Ouchi, Jean Marc
Dalpé, Des Walsh and Mansel
Robinson to tell a unique story in
six even more unique parts.
First the audience meets Thea, the
main (and only) character in
Robinson’s contribution to
Hometown, ‘Thea’. Thea rides a
train destined for her hometown
while lamenting about cell phone
reception (or lack thereof), loneli-
ness and cyber isolation (she hasn’t
updated her blog in nearly a day).
Thea is played by the lovely Kira
Guloien, one of five actors who
each takes their turn in every one of
the play’s six stories.
Thea speaks directly to the audi-
ence and checks in several times
throughout the course of the
evening.
Woven in between Thea’s rants
about how she doesn’t want to go
home and her schemes to slip into
the train’s bar car are five touching
and telling stories that explore dif-
ferent aspects of growing up.
First is Des Walsh’s ‘New
Bonaventure, Newfoundland’ a
story with a particularly Irish feel.
Walsh’s story tells of a cluster of
settlements where everyone knew
everyone else, a place where every-one worked hard and kept to them-selves.And the stories continue. Dalpé’s ‘I’ll Be Home ForChristmas’ tells the inter-genera-tional story of a grown man makinghis way home for Christmas on oneside of the stage while on the otherside of the stage his mother (justafter the aforementioned grown man
was born) trims the Christmas tree
while her son plays outside.
It’s director Smith’s ‘A Way To
The Stars’ that brings Hometown
into its intermission. Smith’s tale of
a childhood friendship around his
hometown of Barrie is an emotional
one.
In his small allotment of time,
Smith spans an entire childhood
relationship taking equal parts good
times and bad times and spinning a
bittersweet tale that everyone can
relate to.
‘A Way To The Stars’ opens with
a family watching the moon landing
on a television outside on a picnic
table. Hometown standout Tony
Munch represents the older genera-
tion brought to the extremes of tears
and cheers as he yo-yos his head
from the television up to the moon.
Representing the younger genera-
tion are the two young men who just
don’t ‘get’ the significance of the
moon landing are Ryan Bondy and
Phil Poirier. Smith’s story follows
the two young boys as they grow up,
get into trouble and form a friend-
ship they’ll remember for the rest of
their lives.
As Hometown was Smith’s
vision, it’s not surprising that the
story he has to tell is the produc-
tion’s standout.
Smith’s ‘hometown’ is about rela-
tionships over a place or a feeling
and those relationships transcend
time. They’re something everyone
can relate to.
Ouchi’s story tells of a family
who worked for everything they had
in Alberta. ‘Things To Remember’
revolves around a list of ‘things’ that
help to make a life worth living.
This story is also anchored by
Munch, who transitions seamlessly
from a man in a golf shirt and blue
jeans howling at the moon to a
straight-ahead labourer making a
living decades before any moon
landing.
Ross’s ‘The Bog’ gives Festival
regular Marion Day her moment in
the sun. Day sits down to write the
story of her hometown as the script
(and the truth) begin to spiral further
and further out of control. It is in
‘The Bog’ when Hometown’s
Time to celebrate
Hometown, a collaborative production written by six different playwrights opened the 37th sea-
son of the Blyth Festival on Friday night with a gala dinner and a performance of the play. Actor
Tony Munch, second from right, can’t contain his excitement when North America lands a man
on the moon while a few younger people, from left: Kira Guloien, Ryan Bondy and Phil Poirier
look on and wonder what all the fuss is about. (Terry Manzo photo)
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Graduation
Keshia Bishop, Bluevale, graduat-
ed from the University of Guelph
with a Bachelor of Science
Honours degree with distinction
in Nutritional and Nutraceutical
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Medicine.
Kayla Bishop,
graduated from the University of
Guelph, Ridgetown Campus with
a diploma in Environmental
Management in 2010 and
Diploma in Agriculture in 2011.
She has accepted a position at
WG Thompson.
Congratulations, we are proud of you on all of your successes.
Love, your family
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
Continued on page 19