The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-07-18, Page 5Lucknew Sentinel, Wednesday, July 18, 1979 ---Page 5 •
Blyth play a thriller
By ALICE MB
P11 Be Back For You Before Midnight,
the bucolic mystery which is the Blyth
Festival's second production of the season,
turns the dream of that "little place in the
• country" into a nightmare - a nightmare
that keeps audiences on the edge of their
seats. •
Peter Colley's play, •billed as a "comedY
thriller" is about a city coupe - graduate
student Qreg, played by Peter Snell and his
young wife, Jane, who retire to the tranquil
countryside so the wife can mend her
shattered nerves. After seven months in a
hospital, "staring at white walls and white
people", Greg's wife wants some friendly
human company and the chance to pick up
the fragments of her once -happy marriage.
The company ,she doesn't want, but who
arrives anyway, is vampish sister-in-law
Laura, played with just the right mixture of
mystery and evil by actress Kate Trotter.
The fourth character in4the play is the
• good-humoured Sherlock Holmes buff
George, the neighbouring farmer from
across the way who drops in to share a drop
of whiskey with the young couple and warn
them there are "things that go butnp in the
night" known to be lurking around the
farmhouse. '
Tony Abrams' s t of a farmhouse filled
with dull but c�mfortable overstuffed
furniture, heavily draped windows and
sliding doors creates just the right atmo-
sphere col a house of mystery. When
George eagerly informs the couple that a
" half century before there was a ghastly
murder in their very livingroom and that a
red stain still appears on the floor
whenever a murder occurs in the local
area, then the play's,mood is set. George's
list of macabre country tragedies, from a
chainsaw murder to the inevitable crushing
in a piece of farm machinery struck just the
right note with the festival's rural audi-
ence. By the end of the first scene, the
audience knew they were in for a
spine -tingling evening of theatre.
The playwright Peter Colley, author of
last year's smash historical comedy The
Huron Tiger; about the eccentric Tiger
Dunlop of Goderich and a popular show
about the infamous Donnelly family,
produced by Theatre London a few years
ago, faced a major problem in tackling a
thriller set around the premis of a neurotic
wife teetering on the brink of insanity.
Unfortunately the same theme has been
tackled just • too many times before - in
novels, movies and on television and this
just doesn't leave the playwright much
room for original plotting. While Colley
does manage a twist on the theme in his
play's climax, by the last few scenes even
the twist seemed predictable for anyone
' following the plot very closely. As in every
good mystery, the clue to the play's
solution had already been handed to the
audience.
This reviewerfound the plot wasn't the
only thing suffering from cliches - so did
much of the humour on the difference in
the rural -urban lifestyle. The jokes 'about
needing a degree to farm today and giving
• a son ploughshares instead of a stereo are
• country humour we've heard just too many
times before. Jokes about the country, like
• The Lucknow Branch of the Royal Bank
announces the appointment of John Lemay
as assistant manager. Mr. Lemay has been
with the Royal Bank' for three years,
previously in Fergus and as loans officer In
Durham before coming to Lucknow. A native
of Georgetown, Mr. Lemay has a wife,
Eunice and two daughters, Rachelle, 2 and
• Lindsay, 11/2 months. Mr. Lemay is taking
the position previously held by Chuc Cauchl
who was recently transferred to Kincardine.
•. [Sentinel Staff Photo]
The 2 BILLION*
DOLLAR QUESTION,
*the cost of Heart Disease and
Stroke to the Canadian economy
each year. •
THE HEART FUND
GO WITH GEORGIAN COLLEGE
the "job connection"
Georgian College Is a rapidly expanding community
college with well-equipped campuses in Barrie, Orillia
and Owen Sound.
To meet Canada's need for highly trained people,
Georgian College offers more than forty job -oriented
programs 'in Applied and Design Arts, Business,
Technology and the Health Sciences. 96% of last
year's graquates are now working in fields related to
their course of study.
Georgian's full-time adult training program is design-
ed to provide mature students with the academic
training and skills required for entry Into the job
market.
For the part-time student, Georgian College offers a
variety of general interest and career•related courses,
some leading to regular certificates or diplomas,
GO WITH GEORGIAN COLLEGE
Barrie Orillia • Owen Sound
Call Toll Free 1 .800 • 461 - 7580
-
garden vegetables, need to be fresh to be
appreciated.
If the play's humour is often disappoint-
ing, the acting certainly isn't and this saves
"I'll Be Back For You Before Midnight,
creating enough suspense to hold the
audience spellbound.
Angie Gei, in, her fOurth season at the
• festival, creates a sympathetic portrait of
the wife fighting to hold on to both
husband and sanity. The wife's growing
fear and her battle to understand the forces
operating both inside and outside • the
farmhouse are a major factor in keeping
the play together. The neurotic Jan knows
she's a "walking cliche" as an ex -mental
patient, but she musters her reserves to
i fight off the threats both of her incestuous
sister-in-law and -the mysterious intruder
who invades the farmhouse after darkness
fi 1 I s
Peter Snell, as the vacillating husband
Greg, frightened of being left alone in the
world, and so an easy victim for his sister's
wiles, has his finest moments in the play's
comedy scenes. whether falling down
stairs or discovering the 'hazards of
jogging., When Greg arms himself with
pedoriter, sweat band and other asserted
jogging paraphernallia and sets out bravely •
to jog down the country lanes, only to
discover that fences can prove a painful
obstacle. the audience can't help but roar
at his fate, Those of us who questign the
sanity of anyone who jogs can't' help but
appreciate Snell's poftrayal of befuddles
academic who can't even run safely: -
Although the actor sometimes seems to be
• Diplomatese: "Con-
ditions are fluid" tran-
slates to: "We haven't
the foggiest idea of
what's going on.' '
typecast in the role of a shapeless character
at the festival, he always displays a flair for
comedy.
Kate Trotter, last year's dumb secretary
in His Own Boss, has turned into the
personification of an evil black widow
spider, although stunningly •costurned in
white satin. Miss Trotter proves to be a
villain you love to hate from her sultry
entrances down the stairs to her curled up
poses on the overstuffed couch as she spins
a web to ensure that she, not Jan, wins her
brother's undying love.
Peter Elliott has a more difficult role in
creating a believable next door neighbour
since his role is almost a stereotype - the
easygoing farmer with a too -hearty laugh
who likes to keep an eye on his neighbour's
goings-on. Elliott's best moments are in
his sympathetic scenes with the frightened
Jan and during the play's final scene - but
then any comment on that scene would
spoil the mystery.
Although this reviewer found I'll Be
Back For You. Before Midnight a disap-
pointingly safe production, with a first act
that left too many pauses between comedy
and suspense, the play will undoubtedly
prove popular with audiences - after all,
there's nothing anyone likes better than a
good scare. Younger audiences will likely
enjoy the thrills even -more than the older
generation.•
This play may not be Peter Celley at his
best, but almost guarantee you'll lock
all your doors after seeing this production -
and maybe think twice' about country
living!
NOTICE TO„BRIDES
In on effort tp keep news columns current...affer six weeiss
from the wedding date, a '15 charge will' be mode for wed-
•
dingpictures and a brief story, cutline.
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