HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-05-24, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1989.
Youth pleads guilty
to vandalism, theft spree
A The International
Scene
A young Morris Township man
will appear in Wingham Provincial
Court June 21 for sentencing after
pleading guilty to eight counts of
theft and vandalism Wednesday.
Crown Attorney John Benson
asked for a pre-sentence report by
the probation office before sentenc
ing. Judge R.G.E. Hunter agreed
but warned Gary Edward Carter to
“make the necessary arrange
ments because you’re going to
jail.”
The charges relate to a string of
break and enters and vandalism
occurrences in the Wingham area
in April. On April 15, Wingham
town police were called after
damage to a backhoe belonging to
Lavis Construction. Windows and
lights had been shot out by a pellet
gun and spray paint had been put
on the machine. Damage was
estimated at $352.
On April 16, two windows were
shot out at the Crown Windows
Factory in the north end of Wing
ham.
On April 18 windows and patio
doors in homes at Royal Homes
were shot out with a pellet gun.
Damage was estimated at $750.
The same day street lights in
Turnberry township just outside
Wingham were shot out by a pellet
gun.
On April 19 police were called to
investigate numerous incidents
that had taken place early that
morning or late the night before.
There had been a break and enter
at the Wingham Arena in which
money, chocolate bars and cigar
ettes had been taken. There was a
break and enter at the nearby
Wingham Drive-In Cleaners. Win
dows had been shot out at the
Stanley Door plant then a gun had
been poked through the broken
window and fluorescent lights had
been shot out and paint cans holed,
sending paint leaking down walls.
Damage was estimated at $170.
Street lights along the river-front
section of Wingham had been shot,
out. There had been a break and
enter at the Wingham Sales Arena
in which $100 in cash and some
knives and camouflage clothing
had been taken.
Mr. Carter had been questioned
by police on April 20 and admitted
taking part in all the incidents.
Also charged in the occurrences
is Dwight Robert Chambers who
was unable to appear in court
because he was in hospital follow
ing a car accident.
Blyth students
perform play
HANSEL & GRETEL
SPRING FOR LIFE
by Melissa Kerr and
Stephanie Lentz
On the morning of Thursday,
May 18, the Grade 1 students
presented an assembly. They sang
songs, recited safety tips and told
about special events in May.
Three students, Julie Ritchie,
Nathan Shannon and Ryan Mont
gomery performed a short skit
about Rosie the Raccoon and her
friends.
The entire class then presented a
musical play - “Hansel and
Gretel.”
The students thank Mrs. Battye
for her expertise in coaching and to
Mrs. Vincent for playing the piano.
Theatre is big
business
BY RAYMOND CANON
In places such as Grand Bend
and Blyth, not to mention Strat
ford, theatre is big business in the
summer time. Many thousands of
people, for whom a night out at the
theatre was something they only
thought about, are now able to
enjoy first-rate entertainment after
only a short and pleasant drive. My
family and I count ourselves among
this category and it therefore
occurred to me that there might be
some people who have been attrac
ted by the theatre but who are
totally in the dark when it comes to
knowing where all this came from.
I must confess to having had the
same thoughts, or lack of them,
that is until I was wandering
around the Greek countryside and
came upon one of the open air
theatres that were prevalent at the
time Greek civilization flourished.
What got me were the acoustics of
the place; I couldn’t get over how
voices could carry to all parts of the
theatre, the seats of which were
built on the side of small hill. Not
only could one hear well, it was
easy to see as well which may or
may not have been as important
then as it is now since action of any
real amount was not part and
parcel of the plays written at that
time.
As far as we know, the birth of
drama has had its origins in the
field of religious ceremonies. In
Greece, so I was told by my guide,
this origin revolved around the
worship of Dionysus, the god of
wine and vegetation. At the be
ginning, the presentations were
little more than a series of songs
and dances, carried out by people
who represented the worshippers
but in a short while, Thespis, who
is considered to be the father of
Greek tragedy, and from whom
we get the word Thespian, took the
major step of adding an actor. The
adventures of Dionysis could then
be acted out and it was only a short
while before any topic of religious
importance could be presented to
the audience.
The first real drama festival was
held in Athens about the middle of
the fifth century B.C. and this was
in a form of a competition at which
prizes were given. It was at such a
competition that Aeschylus, the
first of the famous trio of Greek
tragedians, presented his plans
and gave the first actor somebody
to talk to in the form of a second
actor. V ith this second actor and
the chorus, it was now possible to
get a fairly complicated plot going
and it remained for Sophocles, the
second of the trio, to come along
with the third actor. If you get a
chance to read or see the plays of
these two, along with the third,
Euripides, you will see very easily
just how much progress was made
in drama in about a century.
Since the plots were from known
topics, there was little question as
to how they would end. What
interested the audiences at that
time was how the playwright would
handle the material in between.
Could he, for example, see mean
ings that had gone unnoticed by
previous dramatists? That, and the
fact that the plays were held during
specific religious festivals, ac
counts for the popularity of the
plays.
It was also from the early Greek
theatre that the concept of the
“deus ex machina” was created.
The actor who was chosen to
represent a god was normally
lowered or raised into the action on
the stage by means of a mechanical
device which was, to be honest, a
pretty clumsy bit of apparatus.
While the practice has, under
standably, pretty well died out, the
concept has not; it revolves around
the entry of a superior being to
restore order out of chaos just when
it was believed that all is lost.
I think that you can see by now
that it was totally within one
civilization that the theatre was
developed. There have been, of
course, all sorts of refinements
contributed by the drama of other
countries in the centuries following
the Greeks. Certainly the Greeks
would never consider doing away
with somebody on the stage; that
had to be carried out offstage,
although the audience was permit
ted to hear the cries of the victim as
he departed this life. The Greeks
also kept pretty well to the obser
vance of the three units - time,
place and action - but today it
would be a rare play, indeed, that
would pay any attention to that
convention.
If you are not a theatre buff, I
hope that this will be the summer
that you decide to take the plunge.
You will be delighted, as we have
been, with the variety and the
competence of the plays being
presented at both Grand Bend and
Blyth. All roads do not lead to
Stratford.
ZILLIAX LISTOWEL GODERICH [ i r
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