HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-06-27, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1988.
Entertainment Blyth play
wins awards
The story of three generations of a family that began when a spinster teacher became a mail-order bride of
a young western farmer is told in the play “Mail Order Bride” that opened last week at the Blyth Festival.
Here Carol Sinclair as Rachel Teeter, relives a memory from the past with Donald Dow as Harold English,
the narrator of the play.
Theatre review
Bride 'hauntingly beautiful'
BY TOBY RAINEY
“The Mail Order Bride’’ is a
cleverly crafted production that
should have a powerful effect on
anyone who has ever yearned after
his own roots orwantedtoknow the
vge Derations that have gone before.
As spare and as hauntingly
beautiful as the prairie landscape
that spawned it, “Bride” strongly
reflects playwright Robert Clin
ton’s own western past. Premier
ing at Theatre Network in Edmon
ton this April just past, this play
could easily add a sixth win for its
author in the 1988 Alberta Play-
writing Competition.
The story speaks toall of us, from
the moment it opens with stage
veteran Bill Dow, as the eccentric
Harold English, wandering around
in the audience which is still being
seated, to its-hopefully-happy
ending. The staging technique
intimately involves the viewer
throughout as Mr. Dow’s powerful
performance is highlighted by his
sideremarkstotheaudience, to
himself, to stage manager Hilary
Blackmore and to his long-suffer
ing bedding plants.
The story involves three genera
tions of the Teeter family, beginn
ing in 1908 when spinster teacher
Charlotte Emery (Judith Orban)
quits her job to travel west, with 11
other women, to meet her hus
band-to-be, Charles Teeter (Peter
Smith) for the first time - a
mail-order bride. From its tenuous
beginning, the marriage sets the
stage for the very human joys and
sorrows which are to follow.
Mr. Dow and female lead Karen
Barker as Eva, the you ng wife of
Charles and Charlotte’s hotshot
World War II flying ace grandson,
Russell (Aidan Devine) are excel
lent in their long and very
demanding roles. Both are on
stage almost continually as the
story unfolds, while Harold’s often
irreverant and comical remini
scences and Eva’s eager questions
link the three generations, whose
members are sometimes on stage
together, although not in touch.
A Blyth Festival newcomer, the
talented Carol Sinclair endows her
character, Rachel Teeter (Charles
and Charlotte’s daughter and
Russell’s mother) with a touching
poignancy that brings her very
close to our hearts through her
special relationship with her fath
er, as both child and adult. Ms.
Sinclair’s mobile face and expres
sive body language bring a special
luminance to her difficult role.
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Both Peter Smith and Judith
Orban, as secondary characters,
handle their roles with sound
conviction and feeling, and both,
as Festival fans well know, are
capable of much larger parts. The
young Aidan Devine as Russell and
Vaughn Fulford as Art Milligan,
the farm-machinery salesman who
takes Rachel away from home, and
from her own true love, for the first
time, are less convincing - but
then, mostperformanceswould
pale in comparison to those turned
in by the leading man and ladies in
Phone 357-1630 for 24 hour movie information ft
Playing from Friday to Thursday Ll
July 1st to 7th
Showtimes: Friday and Saturday at
7and9p.m.
Sunday to Thursday - One show each
il iccoiMawEin
SEAFORTH SEAHAWKS
Presents
DAYBREAK
FRIDAY, JULY 8th
AT THE SEAFORTH & DISTRICT
COMMUNITY CENTRES
$7. per person
Tickets available at Bob & Betty’s Seaforth & Seaforth Arena
Ageof majority required
The Blyth Festival 1987 pre
miere production of “Girls In The
Gang’ ’ was recently awarded three
Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the
theatre community’s most valued
prize. Written by Raymond Storey
with music by John Roby, Girls In
The Gang unfolds the incredible
story of the ‘Crirrie Dames’ who
followed the flashy 1950’s bank
robbers, ‘The Boyd Gang’.
Actor Neil Foster won a Dora for
his outstanding performance and
actress Patricia Vanstone was
nominated for her oustanding
performance in Girls In The Gang.
Directors Jackie Maxwell and
Raymond Storey received a Dora
award for their outstanding direc
tion of Girls In The Gang which
premiered at the Blyth Festival last
season and later appeared in
Toronto at the Factory Theatre as
well as the National Arts Centre in
Ottawa.
John Roby who has composed
original music for the Blyth
Festival’s production, “The Mail
Order Bride” received, along with
Raymond Storey, the Dora award
for best new revue/musical for
Girls In The Gang, first work-
shoppedatthe Blyth Festival in
1986.
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