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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-07-02, Page 204 THE. BLYTH SUMMER .FESTIVAL :mug Designer likes Myth Canadian : plays Fudge of John and the Missus, by Pat Flood. Pat Flood's design for Sid Pettigrew, John and the Mims. THE VILLAGE GUILD Open 7 Days a Week 519-565-2766 imeterommirracammommiwouno ritilisi Fully Licensed by L.L.B.O. BAYFIELD. ONTARIO (519) 565-2576 Lunch Daily 12-4. Dinner 6-9:30 Sunday Brunch 12-3 Visit Our Gift Shop Across The Road One of the most exciting things about Blyth Summer Festival for set and costume designer Pat FlOod, is the Canadian plays in this year's program. "Because they are Cane adian plays that I can under- stand as a Canadian, as a designer, I have much more to contribute to the product- ion," she said. A graduate from the Uni- versity of Alberta where she received specific training for theatre and design, Pat said it is important to understand acting and how a play functions to be a designer. "If you don't understand a play, how you work a play, bow you build a play, you're nowhere." Pat, who worked as a designer at the Blyth festival two years ago, will be working on set and costume designs for John and the kfissus, Be Back For You Before Midnight and St, Sam of the Nuke. Pile„ "When I came back this year, I felt like Pd never left," she said. "Thee people are so friendly." She describes St. Sam as being the most challenging play for her this year with a great deal of work research- ing nuclear power plants. "We toured the Bruce Power plant and now . I'm trying to put the , things I saw there vittially on stage." St. Sam, she said, is a play trying to inform people and in creating sets, she had to consider what things actually looked like and what the audience thinks they should look like. "We are working with people's imaginations, what they think nuclear power would be and what it really is." What then becomes important, she added, is how the production is created and how designs flow and move. Pat said in designing and creating sets, she works closely with Janet Amos, the festival's artistic director. "It is a give and take situation with costume and set design. In working with directors, , they-talk to you about ideas they have, you both talk them through and then you work with it." LIKES IT BETTER- Originally from Calgary, Pat plans to make her home in Toronto. She said she simply likes theatre better in Ontario. As a designer creating' large sets, Pat explained how essential storage space is in, doing a worthwhile set. "The new addition has made my life so much easier and I don't know if I would have come back, if they didn't have it finished this year," 'she said. In addition to the need for wing and fly space, Pat said the only thing she has to consider when designing sets, is that there is only a stage left entrance. The Blyth theatre, she said, is as. professional as any other theatre-in Ontario, and people should be very proud , of it. Like Pat Flood, Linda Muir thinks the theatre selection ,of Canadian plays will be appealing for local audi- ences.. Linda, 25, will be set and costume designer for The Life That Jack Built, a collective production about the life and times of writer- author Jack MacLaren. The play centers around MacLaren's life - during World War I, when he was a member of the Princess Pats and later a member of the Dumbells, a W.W. I enter- tainment troupe. "Because I knew very little about the war, I had to do 'a lot of research," she said. Going through books by, the Group of Seven to understand the art and design of the period, Linda said she gained a greater respect for their paintings. "I enjoy doing realistic sets, but, because in this play eysrything changes, it has to he mobile and broken down, making realism diffi- cult.'' As part of a solution to that .problem, Linda , said re- • searching paintings from the Group of Seven gave her the flavor and atmosphere _ of that period. Because of the structure of .the collective play, Linda said there will be little time ;for changing costumes off stage and she is working on costumes that are common to all periods involved. She added she is ago woikifig on a method of changing cos- tumes right on stage. Linda, who said she does not have a formal design education, is a native of Toronto who has worked for four years with Theatre See'ond Floor. • She describes her work this season on The Life That Jack Built as challenging and exciting. THE. VILLAGE GUILD Bayfield, Ontario on Lake Huron Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. Dick, Proprietors * Silver - Antique Jewellery • Stamps for Collectors • China, Linen, Glass Sugar Bush Inn Welcomes You A complete year round resort for your leisure pleasure. *FAMILY CAMPING Pool ....Beach *MOTEL *RESTAURANT *PROPANE FILLING STATION *TRAILER SALES 2 miles South or BAYFIELII on. Highway 21 [519] 565-2450