Village Squire, 1978-10, Page 28THEATRE
Road Show Theatre Company works
to build home in Guelph
Rex Buckle, artistic director of Road Show Theatre Co.
PG.26. VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1978.
In some countries. the fact that a city the
size of Guelph has a full-time professional
theatre organization would not be at all
newsworthy. But such is the state of
theatre in Canada that Guelph's Road
Show Theatre Compam is something of an
oddity.
Guelph has been bursting at the seams
in recent years with a booming industrial
growth and the fact that it's almost a
suburb of Toronto now. In addition the
presence of a large university means there
should be a built-in theatre audience.
Still it's to be regarded as something of a
remarkable achievement that Rex Buckle
has been able to keep his Road Show
Company alive for five years. To prove the
point, nearby Kitchener -Waterloo with a
population much larger still has no resident
professional company.
The Road Show Compare resides in a
tiny old church off the beaten track in
Guelph more or less permanently
grounded after its start that brought it that
now -outdated name. The theatre grew out
of the theatre arts program at the
University of Guelph where Rex Buckle
taught for five years. A group of his drama
students Nvanted to undertake a summer
theatre project touring through Muskoka
with theatrical productions. The students
asked him if he would be the director for
the project.
The project worked quite well. Rex
remembers and the idea was resurrected
the next summer. By the end of the
summer it came time for a major decision.
A whole group of very talented students
was graduating at the sante time from his
drama program. This co-incided with a
growing dissatisfaction for Rex with
teaching. After years of teaching others
about theatre and watching them go on to
practice what he preached. he decided he
wanted to move out into the field himself.
So the group decided to try to form a
professional theatre operation.
Trying to find a location, the group first
looked toward the Kitchener -Waterloo area
because of its large population and the fact
there was no professional theatre there.
Finally they decided, however, to stay in
Guelph since that was where they were
best known.
They found an old church on York Rd.
that was empty. It had served as a leather
factory before and then stood vacant for
some time and the owner was willing to
rent it to them cheaply and virtually give
them a free hand with the building. They
moved in, built risers for the seats for the
audience, and painted the place. Today
with the combination of main floor
auditorium, basement greenroom and
workshops and even a small kitchen for
making snacks and coffee, it makes a very
pleasant and compact theatre operation.
The group got off the ground like many