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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2008-06-26, Page 23THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008. PAGE 23.Entertainment Leisure& With a story of family and the dynamics and struggles within it, Blyth Festival got its season off to a solid start last week. This reviewer’s schedule landed her at a preview performance, traditionally a test run before audiences, and an opportunity to iron out the kinks. If there were some that night, however, they were beyond notice, thus one presumes Friday’s opening came off without a wrinkle. Playwright Carolyn Hay knows the Blyth audience well having worked here in 1996 and 1997 on stage in Booze Days in a Dry County, Barndance Live and Melville Boys. She is also well acquainted with her subject in this case, basing Against the Grain on her family history. She asks theatregoers to imagine their family under a microscope. What they find may be shocking, but “then again,” she said, “it’s all relative.” The principal relatives in this case are Henry Jamieson, a Manitoba entrepreneur and his son David. The struggle between them is familiar, the strong-willed, self-made patriarch, determined he knows what’s best for his heir; the son looking at the footsteps he’s meant to follow and determined not to. After he stops David’s dream of medical school, Henry pushes his son to marry. Meeting the enchanting French-Canadian Eloise, whom David has dated a few times, Henry takes command of the situation once again and sets his son on yet another path he had not planned on taking. Henry’s drive has also made a victim of his wife Daisy. A genteel, religious English woman, she eventually succumbs to the young Henry’s persistence, particularly charmed by his passionate hymn singing one day. However, after finding herself far from home with an absent husband, she becomes a shadow, tired and without will. Then when tragedy claims the family, daughter Marlene digs to uncover the truth that has been shut away. It’s a heavy subject, and director Eric Coates, the Festival’s artistic director, pulls out every light moment Hay has artfully infused. The result is drama with enough touches of humour to avoid melancholy. Hay presents her good friend Coates (the pair worked opposite each other in her earlier stints at Blyth) with an interesting challenge. Time shifts from past to present and between as two stories, Henry’s rise and his tortured family, intertwine. A minimal set by Pat Flood, with props serving to alter scenes, helps keep transitions moving. And while some changes are more awkward than others, the production, despite its complicated telling, is easy and comfortable to follow. The cast too is up to the challenge. John Dolan handles the role of the wide-eyed young Henry as capably as the goal-oriented middle-aged man, and the dominating patriarch. Tova Smith plays Marlene as ingenue and strong young woman believably. And as David, Gil Garratt shows how far he has come since he first stepped onto Blyth’s stage 10 seasons ago. Originally a writer, Garratt has grown incredibly as an actor. He gives a poignant performance here, transitioning believably from teen, young man and father with the subtlest of nuances. You could almost see him age. Rounding out the cast are Catherine Fitch, who offers the audience a gentle Daisy and Lisa Norton as an endearing Eloise. Against the Grain is a worthy example of what Blyth Festival is all about, the production of top-notch Canadian theatre. From its first draft, Hay’s play has been nurtured and developed through the Festival’s workshopping process. What finally was presented set the stage for a fine 2008 season. Against the Grain closes Aug. 16. Theatre review‘Against the Grain’ a solid start to season A season begins John Dolan and Tova Smith appear in Carolyn Hay’s Against the Grain, which opened the 34th Blyth Festival season on Friday night and runs until Aug. 16. (Terry Manzo photo) The chair of the Blyth Festival Art Gallery’s exhibition committee is a pretty happy man these days. Greg Sherwood says that May’s annual Student Show (works by high school art students from the Huron- Perth area) showed a strong surge in quality and attendance, perhaps encouraged by three $100 awards for excellence offered by the Gallery. Volunteers were almost swept off their feet by the flood of entries to the non-juried Community Show, which opened, complete with a live jazz band, on May 30. More than 100 pieces were mounted on almost every available surface (with the exception of the ceiling) in the Bainton Gallery of the Blyth Memorial Hall. People attending the opening were unanimous in describing the quality of the artworks as outstanding. Three fascinating shows by professional artists remain in the Art Gallery’s 2008 season. A Bend in the River is a joint exhibition by two London women landscape painters whose work is original and unique. kerry ferris (artist’s choice of lower case) has been a painter for 40 years and has exhibited widely in both Canada and Mexico. She is represented in many private and public collections. Much of her work is based on her travels to various parts of the world, including the Galapagos Islands, which inspired paintings presented at an acclaimed 1983 exhibition in the London Regional Art Gallery. The works in the Blyth exhibition are vibrant mixed-media watercolours and oil on canvas. Catherine Morrisey, who hails from a family of artists, is now a significant creator in her own right. Her London studio, which she shares with her jazz musician husband, Eric Stach, is a former auto body shop turned into “London’s coolest art space”. Her latest exhibition at the Blyth Festival Art Gallery features large gestural oil paintings on canvas and includes a 20-foot panoramic expanse of five paintings called Waterline. Her work, like that of her friend and fellow artist ferris, is represented in many public and private collections. The exhibition is curated by Ron Walker and sponsored by Joan Perrie. The public is invited to meet the artists at the opening reception of A Bend in the River at 6 p.m. Friday, June 27. The exhibition continues until July 23. Coming up in the Blyth Festival Art Gallery season, Behind the Mask, multi-media pieces inspired by the tradition of the theatrical mask, by Monte Wright (July 25- Aug. 13) and A Glass Menagerie, whimsical sculptures in blown hot glass by international award- winning artist Paulus Tjiang (Aug.15-Sept.1). By Bonnie Gropp The Citizen Come and help us Celebrate our parents’ 6600tthh WWeeddddiinngg AAnnnniivveerrssaarryy Len & Betty Archambault OOppeenn HHoouussee AAuubbuurrnn CCoommmmuunniittyy HHaallll SSaattuurrddaayy,, JJuunnee 2288 2-4 - Best Wishes Only - Love from Doug, Brenda, Rick, Marilyn and families ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Happy 1st Birthday Jake Bromley July 8 Love Mom & Dad Buck & Doe NICK COURTNEY & DAWNA GLEN Friday, June 27 Blyth & District Community Centre 9 pm - 1 am Tickets $5 Advance $6 At the door Dawn Dolmage & Matt Smith 519-523-4835 Elisha Courtney 519-482-8691 or 519-523-9305 For tickets call: Gallery chair a happy man Stick With the Classifieds. 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