HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-01-11, Page 23THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1989. PAGE 23.
Entertainment briefs
Theatre review
Much honoured play drags
Diana Leblanc as Lizzie Borden [left] and Frances Hyland as the Actress
perform in a scene from the Grand Theatre’s production of Sharon Pollock’s
award-winning “Blood Relations”. The examination of the mind of accused
murderer Lizzie Borden continues until January 28 at The Grand.
BY KEITH ROULSTON
A critics Dilemma: what do you do
if you go to a production of a highly
acclaimed play, directed by one of
the country’s most praised direc
tors, performed by a top flight cast
on an imaginative set... and you are
bored by it all.
Such was the case Friday night for
the opening of “Blood Relations’’ at
the Grand Theatre in London. The
script, by Sharon Pollock has picked
up just about every award a
Canadian script can garner includ
ing the Governor General’s award in
1981, and the Ch aimers Award as
the top new Canadian script produc
ed in Toronto. Yet despite its
glorious honours one senses it is the
Far-flung adventures of a frequent flyer
Continued from page 5
events which stand out but, after a
period of careful selection, 1 came up
with three. I give them to you at the
same time pointing out that one is
not more significant than the other
two.
One of them has to be the time that
I was in Leningrad, Russia, and told
my guide, a very prim and proper
young girl by the name of Valerie,
that I was a Christian and wished to
go to a Protestant service the next
Sunday. Much to my surprise, she
found a Protestant church and, on
the Sunday morning, off we went.
She decided to come too which was
also something of a surprise since
she had previously told me she was
an athiest. She did, she admitted,
like the music.
When I came in, the whole first
row stood up and offered us their
seats. It took some time of the
Alphonse and Gaston act before 1
decided to sit down and resolve the
issue. During the service, the
minister, a kindly old man, welcom
ed his guests from Canada. By now
the whole congregation knew who
we were but, at the end, decided to
extend their hospitality even further
by inviting us to a wedding that was
to take place after the service. This
wedding was one of the most moving
(outside of my own) that I had ever
attended and, when I said good-bye
script, not the production by the
Grand company that is at fault,
(unless that is the reviewer just
didn’t eat something that didn’t
agree with him and so disliked the
play everyone else loved). Checking
with a few other patrons, however,
the problem seemed to be more than
just one reviewer.
Blood Relations tells the story of
Lizzie Borden and an infamous
murder case in Fall River, Massa
chusetts in 1892. Lizzie Borden was
arrested for the brutal axe murder of
her wealthy father and her step
mother. She was eventually acquitt
ed because the jury can’t believe that
such a wealthy, well-bred young
woman of 32 could do such a terrible
act.
to them all, there was assuredly not a
dry eye in the place. How can one
forget something like that?
My second experience is of the
bittersweet nature. Afterschool one
day, I picked up my hockey
equipmentat my home in St. Gallen,
Switzerland, and proceeded to go to
the station to take the train for Zurich
for which I was playing in the Swiss
National League. I did something I
had never done before; I took a
short-cut through a building which
was in the process of being
dismantled. I had seen any number
of people take the same path and
nothing had happened to them; I
reasoned that I would be just as safe.
Was I ever wrong! Hardly had I
got inside that a strong wind came
down the valley and blew the
building down with me in it. A
cross-beam hit me and I was out cold
from that momenton. I took them
two hours to dig me out and
everybody was surprised to discover
that I was still alive. When I took at
the picture even today, I ask myself
the same question. I came to on the
examination table in the hospital and
it was six weeks before I was allowed
to go home. I wore a cast around the
upper part of my body for a couple of
months longer. What a day it was
when I got to take it off! I can
honestly say that this was the stiffest
body-check I had ever received.
Ms. Pollock sets her play 10 years
later when Lizzie’s sister Emma and
her friend, the actress Nance O’Neil
are still trying to pry from Lizzie the
real truth about whether she did or
didn’t do it. Lizzie proposes to her
friend the actress that they experi
ment by having the actress play
Lizzie while Lizzie plays Bridget.
Playing the part of Lizzie, the
actress re-enacts the time leading up
to the murder, reliving what Lizzie
went through until she is in the state
of mind Lizzie was in at the time of
the murders.
The problem of the play is that,
even with first rate people like
Frances Hyland (as the actress) and
Diana Leblanc as Lizzie/Bridget,
one really doesn’t care about any of
the characters. By the time the
murders actually take place in the
second act, one can only wish they’d
get on with the inevitable, kill the
people and let us get out for a drink or
a burger.
There are strong performances
throughout the cast including Ms.
Hyland and Ms. Leblanc, Reg
Dreger (a former Blyth Festival actor
in “Another Season’s Promise’’),
Karen Woolridge, Peter James
Haworth, Marilyn Boyle and Roland
Hewgill. Likewise the direction of
Martha Henry is strong, although
there are inconsistencies. One won
ders, for instance, why in a play
where the heat of the summer is
emphasized so often, old Mr.
Borden would come in wearing a
heavy overcoat and scarf.
Probably the star of the show is the
spectacular set by Astrid J an sen that
features the warped view of the
world (all the walls slant inward) the
characters seem to share and a
staircase that amounts clear to the
stage ceiling 30 feet above the
audience’s head.
But sets do not make compelling
theatre. It is good scripts performed
by good actors that make compelling
theatre and if the script isn’t what it
should be, the foundation of enjoy
able theatre crumbles. Despite all its
awards, the script of Blood Relations
seems to let down all the other good
things at work here, not to mention
let down the audience.
My third memory is of the time I
landed at Baghdad airport wonder
ing what I was going to find. It was
after midnight, I had no hotel
reservation and had been told that
somebody would meet me at the
airport. Hardly were we out of the
plane when the entire mob of Iraqi
passengers took off across the
tarmac waving their passports. By
the time I got to customs room, the
place was in an uproar. Everybody
was still waving their passports
clamouring to be served next. I soon
came to the realization that I was not
going to compete with that mob and
solwaited fora while. It paid off!
I finally heard my name being called
and looked up to see someone
waving me over to a corner of the
room. He had paved the way for my
passport examination and in a few
short minutes I was on my way to find
a hotel. Even at midnight it was still
about 30 degrees centigrade and I
was thoroughly relieved when we
found a hotel room and it had air
conditioning. The staffwas extreme
ly hospitable and did everything to
make my first days in the Middle
East pleasant ones.
With memories such as these, is it
any wonder that 1 have never
considered my life to be anything but
exciting. I have even left out the
bomb scare, the forced landing and
the mountain I climbed.
Former Festival cast
members busy
Actors, writers, directors and
designers long associated with the
Blyth Festival have been making
news in the last couple of weeks
throughout the country.
“YankeeNotions’’ a play by Anne
Chislett (Roy) is being featured this
week, for instance, on CBC’s
Morningside radio program. The
story, about the 1837 rebellion, is
told in five episodes broadcast daily
at about 11:35 a.m. Starring in the
play is a former Blyth actress Kate
Trotter (Quiet in the Land).
*****
A group of former and current
Blyth performers are part of ‘ ‘ Sweet
Lips’’ a congregation of actors and
singers that performs a new show
“Walk Like You Mean It’’ at the
Studio Cafe at the Factory Theatre.
Patricia Vanstone (Girls in the Gang,
Country Hearts) and Sandy Crawley
(Country Hearts) are in the group
Province provides money
for airport expansion
Provincial funding of $92,000 has
been approved to complete land
purchases for a major, new runway
for the Goderich Municipal Airport.
Making the announcement on
behalf of Transportation Minister
Ed Fulton, Huron MPP Jack Riddell
said the $92,000 will cover 80 per
cent of the cost of the purchase of
three pieces of property.
‘ ‘This funding is in addition to the
$65,600 that the province contribut
ed earlier this year toward the
purchase of other lands needed for
the runway expansion,” said Mr.
Riddell. “The town now has all the
land needed to complete the pro
ject.”
The next step is to go get funding
approval for the construction of the
runway itself.
Mr. Riddell said a funding request
for a provincial contribution toward
the cost of the runway project is now
being considered by the Ontario
Ministry of Transportation.
Officials hope that construction
can begin on the runway next year
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Phone 357-1630 for 24 hour movie information
Journey to
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in the universe...
A PARENTAL
H GUIDANCE
AOVISID
along with Susan Hogan, Brenda
Webb and Jay Bowen. Also involved
with the show are composer John
Roby who provides musical accom
paniment and Jack Blum, one of the
early members of the Blyth Festival
Company who is a writer-director for
part of the show.
* 4c 4c 4c *
Meanwhile down in London,
Robert King (Country Hearts, Ano
ther Season’s Promise) will appear
in “The Crackwalker’’ at the
McManus Studio Theatre of The
Grand Theatre. Designing lighting
for the show is former Blyth designer
Louise Guinand who also designed
the lighting for the main stage Grand
production of Blood Relations.
Assistant designer in that show is
John Thompson who began as an
apprentice at Blyth in the early
1980’s. In the cast is Reg Dregorwho
was in the original cast of “Another
Season’s Promise.’’
and be completed in 1990.
“This is an important project for
Goderich and area as it will
significantly enhance the availabili
ty of the runway during adverse and
windy weather,” Mr. Riddell said.
“In addition, it will increase safety
and allow heavier and faster aircraft
to use the Goderich Airport.”
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THURS..FRI..SAT.
5P.M.-12A.M.
BLYTH INN
EAT IN OR TAKE OUT
523-9381
Playingfrom Friday to
Thursday, January 13to19
Showtimes: Friday and
Saturday at 7 and 9p.m.
Sunday to Thursday8p.m.
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