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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-08-01, Page 9BY ALICE GIBB Keith Roulston has taken the characters you find in an small town, exaggerated their foibles just a bit and turned life in the village of • Hamhocks into a. pleasant evening of theatre. McGillicuddy's Lost Weekend, the Roulston play • which opened at the Blyth Festival on July 24, is based on the diary of Ezekiel McGillicuddy, the long suf- • feringAaw enforcement offic- er ?it Hamhocks, who puts his woes on paper every month in Mr. Roulston's magazine, the Village Sqnire. In this play, the author not .only manages to poke some gentle fun at life in a small town, but he also makes: us laugh at a campaign to rid the community of "sin and smut" - a campaign that • hasn't always 'been taken aptly, by some members of the Huron County commun- The fatniliar characters we've seen in the. Village Squire diary have been suc- cessfully transferred to the • stage - and prove to -be even more likable in person than . they were on paper. First, aside from the chief, himself,. there's Councillor Sally Hemple, the woman who's, waging .the campaign to get rid of just about anything that's any fun; Mayor Lum- py, who's followed his grandfather and father into political life ih holding the village's highest office; and Cindy Lou, the chief's net door neighbour who's con- vinced the way to Zeke's heart must be through his stomach, so she tempts him with ' delights like Cindy Lou's surprise, a potent omelette heavily laced with anchovies and chili. WELL DESERVED REST The premise behind Mc- Gillicuddy's Lost Weekend is simple - after a number of years without a holiday, the town council has granted the chief leave for a three day fishing trip. When the play opens, Ezekiel McGillicuddy has exactly 30 tninutes to go until he can hang up his hat, toss a fishing pole into his car and take offon a well deserv- ed rest, both from the job and,the eccentric citizenry of • Hamhocks. • The chief is so relaxed in contemplating the holiday that he doesn't even • get • upset when, Councillor Hemple sails into his --office on one of her search and destroy missions,, •catches him reading a copy of Playboy and lectures him on the fact he's failing to set a high moral tone • for the townspeople to follow. The prissy councillor also warns the chief she's going to be Noisy Ladies come third • in tournament The Noisy Ladies softball team placed third in a tournament- in Holstein on the. weekend. They won their first game ainst Carlisle in a close ame with a .10 - 9 score. S urday afternoon they -lost • to urlington 9 - 5 despite a • good effort. Listowel • later defeated Burlington by a score of 4- 1 • to winthe tournatnent. Good team • spirit was shown by those who played: Judy Draper, Barb Helm, Pat • Boak, Judy Van KoOten, Nancy Cameron, Bonnie Tay- lor, Wendy Gerster,, Arlene :Turner, Ann 'Inglis, Debbie Price, Linda Guse arid Kathy Mewhinney. Coaches • are Steve Hackett and Brian • Draper. Players Dona, :Mac: • Donald and Sherry Boak were unable to attend. Recommended as ADULT ENTERTAINMENT Starts Friday A01): 3 id Aug „ 7th Friday & Saturday Two Showing's 7 & 9 p.M. Sunday • Thursday One ShoWing4 p.m. , , • Fron1thebeStSeHOr , .. that made millions believe in the unbelievable.. WARNING SOME SCENES MAY FRIGHTEN' • B'0NT. PARK GODERICH 3c) '04t SOA RE Program PHON'524:781,1 sublett AIRCONDITIONED 10 challenging the long -termed Mayor Lumpy in the next1 municipal • election with a campaign nicknamed COME -Committee on Morality Ev- erywhere -and the chief s haviour will be one of her main targets. Ezekiel McGillicuddy, played by.. Theatre Passe Muraille actor Layne Cole- man, is an underpaid and often unappreciated village policeman who sees through the facades of the villagers in his care, but hasn't quite got the ambtion to move on to greener • pastures -even though he's frustrated with a job that Job that involves little more than issuing parking tickets and chasing the younger "Terrorists" of the town. But when McGillicuddy suddenly finds has an , actual kidnapping on his hands, , and Mrs. Money- • bank's beloved son Junior seems to be the, victim, then the chief decides to sacrifice • his long awaited vacation for a chance to prove to himself • and the townspeople that • he's • more than just "a duthbhick town cop." EZEKL41 McGILLICIIDDT Layne Coleman, who deliv- ered strong performance as the Dutch immigrant in This • Foreign Land, seemed less sure of himself in the role of the . police chief. His line were often shouted at the • audience and from the port- rait of the chief in both the " play and the original diary, it seems Ezekiel should., have been middle-aged and more frustrated. Layne Coleman's • strongest scenes in the play • Were confrontations with the Awesome Mrs. Moneybanks and in one particular tender scene with an unusually chastened. Councillor Hem- pleo , • • One of the, most convincing portrayals in the play was Anne Anglin,'s portrait of the banker's wife, Mrs. Money - banks, a familiar -character in every small townie member st Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, August 1, 1979—Page 9 •A iipliceman's lot of a well-to-do family that likes to imagine ,they're the Rocicefellers or Bronfmans of the village. Anne Anglin has managed to make the unsym- pathetic Mrs. Moneybanks, with her frumpy clothes and obsession with a spoiled son - "Junior's the only thing I've got that money can't re- place" -almost likeable and she captured both the ex- pressions and gestures of "the citizen" of the town. Another strong perform- ance was Mary Ann Cole's portrayal cif Cindy Lou -the Single "girl" who lives next door to Ezekiel McGillicuddy and obviously has intentions of making an honest man - even after years of unsuc- cessful campaigning. • In the diary excerpts, Cindy Lou has often seemed mainly a figure of fun, but on stage she's more human - in the scene where she con- fronts Councillor Hemple and advises the politician on the finer • points of child raising or when she collapses in tears, after being labelled the town .tramp. Mary Ann • Coles has taken a giggly girl who badly wants a man and turned her into a giO-Who' hides a heart of gold nder. • her scanty, bikini (well, bare- ly hides a heart, of gold). The • two other stars of McGilhicuddv'sWeek- end • are Peter Elliott as. Mayor Lumpy,, the than WhO tries to be everyone's friend, spending all his time trying to stay in place on the fence in the process; and 'Angie Gei as the very moral Councillor • Sally .Hemple. While Miss; Gei gave a convincing por- trayal of the woman who ,tried to forget her own' tint - happiness by "cleaning up" Hamhocks and its citizens, again..the actress seemed to young for her role, a fact which might have been alter- ed by better 'makeup. STRONGER PRODUCTION McGillicuddy's Lost Weekend directed by Janet Amos, who will be the artistic director of the festival next season, is definitely a stronger production than last year's Roulston play, His Own Boss, Part of -the reason may be that the character Ezekiel McGillicuddy was already familiar to many of the opening night audience, but the play itself was also faster paced. The theme that a policeman's lot in a small town isn't always a happy one as well as the gentle satire aimed at everyone from the morally pure Mrs. Hemple to the fence sitting mayor, couldn't help but win a response from the audience - after all, these characters are our neighbours, and maybe even ourselves. The set was one of the few weaker points in McGillicud- dy's Lost Weekend, and seemed to suffer from too much crowded on the stage, which sometimes created dif. faculties for the actors. Tony ` Abrams the set designer, ' could have asked the audi- ence to use their imagination.. a little more and created a • less cluttered scene on stage. McGillicuddy'.s Lost Weekend will, add to Blyth Festival's already successful • season which his ;seen a• • numbe . of sello V' erform- ances �f: "I'll Be "k For You Before 'Midnight". _Keith Roulston has abandon • - -ect the puns of last year s His • OwnBoss, andtreated the ..• audience to some ligh and entertOning comedy 'opthe nature of human nature, The - performances of. McGilliciid- dy's Lost Weekend run from July 26 to August 17 and include two matinee per- formances. ; . .. Last Night Thurs. Aug. 2nd BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE lechnicalor l'ana‘kion Recommended as ADULT ENTERTAINMENT 'STARTS FRI., AljO, 3-9 t ttiVide :the speeci 0. • PLUS • He was tough enough for the streets... Was he tough enough to leave them? Scime scenes may 'frighten. Theatres Br. Ont. SUN AUG 5T1.71 ONLY! pErEAFONDA‘NANcvSINATRA • THE THEWILD EVICTORS ANGELS 11161 PANAV I SION• a PAT H ECO LOR 1, G7134111 WALL Mr 4rfe Y61 ' WED 1, TH1JRS 2, FRI 3, SAT.4 • Recommended as ADULT ENTERTAINMENT gladly LoPPJ GOOD GUYS WEAR • BLACK 41,0 Ainumitil Starring EILEEN BRENNAN MON., AUG. 6th - CLOSED! TuEs., AUG: 7th • WILD ANGELS atid SWEDISH FLY GIRLS MI11111.01 .1' • \ 4 PLUS .ADDED BONUS FOR SUNDAY DUSK TO DAWN. Love, laughter, • good guys, bad guys. r jj t The movie that defies gravity! WEN Recommended as ADULT ENTERTAINM1rNT liWY. GOBERICH AT CONCESSION D. 4' . PHONE 524-99111 No pastes. accepted for Sunday's, --busk to dawn Show