The Citizen, 2007-05-10, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007.
Impressive
Leah Davidson’s rendition of Shania Twain’s That Don’t
Impress Me Much, was impressive at last week’s
installment of Grey Idol at Grey Central Public School.
Students in Grades 4-8 strutted their stuff for the judges and
the audience to see who could strut it the best. The students
were then treated to a performance by a real idol, last year’s
Canadian Idol contestant Kati Durst of Goderich who sang
Leavin’ On a Jet Plane for the kids after their performances.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
The work of distinguished theatre
designer, Susan Benson, will be seen
on the Blyth Festival’s 2007 season
marketing materials.
“We’re delighted to have the work
of Ms Benson depict the women
portrayed in our 2007 productions,”
said artistic director, Eric Coates.
“Her accomplished career mirrors
the strength and determination of the
four marvelously spirited women in
a season I’ve dubbed the season of
exceptional women. Our graphic
designer, Heidi Holdsworth of
Creative Feats in Stratford, has
imaginatively placed two of the
images in the season poster in a door
frame akin to the doors of Blyth
Memorial Community Hall. The
door is adorned with folk art similar
to the work of Nova Scotian folk
artist Maud Lewis, whose life is
celebrated in World Without
Shadows, opening in August.”
Benson, well-known to theatre
audiences for her designs for the
Stratford Festival, made her debut as
a designer for ballet in 1984, when
she designed the National Ballet’s
L’Ile Inconnue, by Constantin
Patsalas. Raised in the south of
England, Benson’s years at art
college led to professional design
work in the costume departments of
BBC television and the Royal
Shakespeare Company.
Since immigrating to Canada in
1966, Benson has designed for
theatre companies across the
country, including the Vancouver
Playhouse, the Neptune Theatre in
Halifax, Theatre New
Brunswick, the Manitoba Theatre
Centre and the National Arts Centre
in Ottawa.
She also spent four years designing
for dance, opera, musicals and
contemporary theatre at the Krannert
Centre in Illinois.
Benson has received seven Dora
Mavor Moore Awards for costume.
She has taught design at the
Universities of Illinois and
Michigan, York University, the
National Theatre School and the
Banff Centre School of the Arts. In
1987 she was elected to the Royal
Canadian Academy and in 1991 was
the recipient of the Al Jones
Memorial Guthrie Award.
In 1992/93 Benson was awarded a
Senior Canada Council Award.
The Blyth Festival’s 2007 Season
Sponsor is Sparling’s Propane Co.
Ltd., Blyth and the 2007 Season
Media Sponsor is CTV.
For full details on the Blyth
Festival season visit
www.blythfestival.com or call toll
free 1-877-862-5984.
The Stratford Festival’s AvonTheatre opened to the public April30 with the season’s first previewperformance of To Kill a
Mockingbird.
Peter Donaldson takes on the role
of Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer
raising his children in racially-
divided Maycomb, Alabama, during
the Great Depression. A man of high
principle, Finch agrees to defend a
young black man, Tom Robinson,
played by Dion Johnstone.
The trial holds the attention of the
entire town, bringing them, as one
neighbour says, one step closer to
tolerance – and showing Atticus’s
young children that there’s much to
be proud of in their father, even if he
can’t throw a football.The two-act play by ChristopherSergel is based on Harper Lee’sPulitzer Prize-winning novel of the
same name.
The production opens on May 30
and plays in repertory until Oct. 27.
Previews have also begun for King
Lear, starring Tony award-winning
actor Brian Bedford.
Bedford, who is also directing the
production, is well-known to
Stratford audiences for his dramatic
and comedic roles. He has played
the title role in Macbeth, Richard II,
Richard III and Tartuffe.
His other roles include Elyot
Chase in Private Lives, Sir Peter
Teazle in The School for Scandal
and Charles Condomine in BlitheSpirit.King Lear, considered to beShakespeare’s greatest tragedy and
perhaps the greatest play ever
written, has been mounted eight
times by the Festival and taken on
tour twice, to Europe and the U.S. In
it, an aging monarch, who is
dividing his kingdom among his
three daughters, makes a
catastrophic error in judgment that
plunges him and those around him
into a terrible abyss of suffering.
The production opens on May 28
and plays in repertory until Oct. 28.
Tickets are available at 1-800-567-
1600 or through
www.stratfordffestival.ca
John Neville, artistic director of
the Stratford Festival from 1986
through 1989, will be made a
Member of the Order of Canada on
Friday, May 4, at a ceremony at
Rideau Hall at 10:30 a.m.
Neville first appeared at Stratford
in 1983 as a senior member of the
Young Company and in 1985 was
named director of the Young
Company.
“I’m very pleased to hear John has
been named to the Order of Canada
for his work in theatre in Canada,”
said current artistic director Richard
Monette. “John understood the
unique challenges of being an
artistic director of such a large
theatrical organization. He did his
job well, presenting both
challenging works and crowd-
pleasers, to put the Festival on a
sound economic footing.”
In the 1950s Neville rose to
prominence as one of the brightest
young stars of English classical
theatre, appearing in numerous
productions at the Old Vic.
He came to Canada in 1972,
directing at Ottawa’s National Arts
Centre and performing at the
Manitoba Theatre Centre. In 1973 he
was made artistic director of
Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre. In
1978 he left Edmonton and assumed
the artistic directorship of Halifax’s
Neptune Theatre, where he stayed
through the 1982-83 season.
His citation from the government
of Canada reads as follows:
“John Neville is a renowned actor
and an esteemed artistic director. In
addition to performing roles in many
theatre, film and television
productions, he earned a reputation
as an artistic director willing to take
risks and able to challenge and
motivate actors. The Stratford
Festival of Canada, as well as the
Citadel and Neptune theatres,
flourished under his skillful
directorship. He also co-founded the
Young Neptune Company travelling
troupe, which has reached over
350,000 students across Nova
Scotia. His talent and passion have
contributed to the development and
strengthening of performing arts
communities across the country.”
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To Kill A Mockingbird startspreviews at Stratford Festival
Former Stratford artistic
director honoured in Ottawa
Celebrated designer creates
art for 2007 Blyth Festival