Village Squire, 1979-06, Page 16the lack of dressing rooms and washrooms convenient to the
stage. As actor Don Harron once put it, the actors had to hold
back when appearing qn the Memorial Hall stage. A new
addition will begin this fall which will see dressing rooms,
washrooms, offices, workshops, a craft room for community use
and storage area at stage level for sets and props. That's been
one of the most pressing needs, literally. Operating in a
repertory system that sees plays alternated, technical crews have
had to try to store up to three sets in the crowded wings of the
theatre and still leave room for actors to squeeze through.
After leading the Festival through its first, often trying five
years, James Roy is mounting his final season as artistic
director. He will step down at the end of the season to move on to
what is sure to be an illustrious career in larger Canadian
theatres. He'll be working this summer with his successor, who
herself has a long association with Memorial Hall. She was in
that basement performance of The Farm Show in 1973 and has
since performed on the stage many times. As a director, Janet
Amos returned to work at the Festival in 1976, directing The
Blyth Memorial History Show.
The season that will be Mr. Roy's final one is an apt one to
wrap up his tenure as artistic director. It will feature three of the
playwrights who have been popular over the years at the Festival
and another play that is very locally oriented.
The opening presentation will be This Foreign Land, a play
that will be pieced together by writer Patricia Mahoney (who is
also artistic director of Theatre Go Round in Petrolia) and the
actors in a way reminiscent of the first production at the theatre
Mostly in Clover. This one will deal with the experiences, happy
and sad, funny and tragic, of people who have immigrated to
Canada and faced problems of a new land, a new language and a
new culture.
Peter Colley, who last year wrote The Huron Tiger for the
Festival will return with I'll be Back for You before Midnight, a
comedy -thriller about a couple of back-to-the-landers who find
more than tranquillity in their dream house in the country. It will
be directed by Keith Batten who co -directed Private Lives at the
Stratford Festival last year and recently directed Same Time
Next Year for Theatre London.
There wasn't far to go to find a writer for the third play on the
Festival bill this year. Keith Roulston, a Blyth -area writer is one
of those whose work was first performed at the Blyth Festival. In
1977 he contributedThe Shortest Distance Between Two Points
dealing with the troubles of small towns. In 1978 he looked at
small business problems from the funny side with His Own Boss.
This year he will be adapting the adventures of Chief Ezekial
McGillicuddy, the harried smalltown police chief from the
monthly Village Squire column McGillicuddy's Diary for the
stage. The play is called McGillicuddy's Lost Weekend.
One of the most striking (and at times controversial) plays the
Festival has ever presented was last year's production of
Gwendoline by James Nichol about an eccentric small town
woman in the early part of this century. This year Mr. Nichol is
back with Child, an intriguing drama about a young couple who
attempt to get their lives back together after the loss of their son.
The association with Theatre Passe Muraille that originally
brought about the Blyth Festival will continue with a
co -production that will close out the season. Ted Johns, who
scored so strongly last year with The School Show, has rewritten
T.P.M.'s original hit on the Donnellys, Them Donnellys into a
new play, The Death of the Donnellys.
The program of the Blyth Festival has remained geared to the
same goal of relevancy to the local audience and another aim has
also remained: the aim to keep ticket prices as reasonable as
possible so as to allow local people an inexpensive opportunity to
enjoy theatre. The tickets, ranging from $4.25 for adults down to
$2.50 for children remain among the least expensive in
professional theatre.
That is part of the marvellous achievements of Mr. Roy and his
fellow workers: that they have been able to make their theatre so
successful and yet stick to their initial goals. When he leaves his
post in September, Mr. Roy has much to look back on with pride.
MARSHPLLS
?sr maRys
150- 152 BueC'. Si.
fl1f1RSHf1LL'S of Si. fl1fIRYS
"WHERE THE UNUSUAL IS USUAL"
GIFT SHOP LADIES WEAR R CARD SHOP
150 QUEEN ST.
The Grand Central Hotel built in
_1843. u'as for decades a welcom-
ing place to spend the night.
Today it is a group of three
connecting shops. What was once
the lane for horses & buggies to
reach the stable at the back is now
a charming CARD & CANDLE
SHOP. The original bar is now the
LADIES WEAR with its handcraft
section. Browse on into the GIFT
SHOP, once the dining room,
where full use has been made of
the charm of this old building.
Many of the original antiques are
used to display imports from
around the world.
"DO COME VISIT US SOON"
284-3070
14 Village Squire, June 1979