Village Squire, 1977-07, Page 20THEATRE
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Grand Bend's Huron Country Playhouse is housed In a picturesque barn theatre.
Critics aside,
huron Country Playhouse is nothing
but a success with audiences
Bitch as they will, the critics cannot unuo
the fact that the Huron Country Playhouse
is well -loved by audiences.
Some critics, notably London Free Press
theatre critic Doug Bale who carried on a
running war with the Playhouse over half
the winter, have not always loved the
Playhouse. But in five full seasons more
than 100,000 people have paid their way in
to see Playhouse productions. They must
be doing something right.
The Huron Country Playhouse is the
brainchild of James Murphy, the artistic
director. In the early 1970's, when theatre
was springing to life all over Canada, Mr.
Murphy was head of Toronto Gate
Productions, a group that worked out of the
Colonade Theatre in Toronto. Murphy
recalled those days back in 1973 in an
interview with Village Squire.
PG. 18. VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1977.
"We used to gulp down a sandwich", he
said, remembering the hectic pace, "and
lead such horrible lives that I said 'we must
go, at least for the summer, to a place
where we can work under better
conditions'."
The others in the group, all thought it
was a good idea "but of course when it
came to the actual work, they said 'Oh I'm
sorry' and so in fact there weren't many of
the Toronto company who came up here.
There was this continual begging off.
"And let's face it, they were used to
playing leads for me and suddenly when
you go into a pioneer venture you've got to
be flexible, you know, you've got to go
back to doing whatever needs to be done.
But other people came along who were
willing to do the work, the digging and
whatever."
James Murphy was then working,
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