HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-07-04, Page 27THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2019. PAGE 27.
The return of Cakewalk to the
Blyth Festival stage is a welcome
slice of life and humour that is both
unique to rural Ontario and universal
at the same time.
Written by celebrated playwright
Colleen Curran, the show premiered
at the Blyth Festival in 1984. It
would be remounted two years later
as part of the 1986 season.
For this season’s production,
director Kelli Fox and her creative
team truly lean into the 1980s for
both the decade’s inspiration and
nostalgia. Audiences are delightfully
whisked back to an era before cell
phones and iPads – the rarely-seen
dinosaur of a pay phone even makes
an appearance.
Billed as a comedic dive into the
cutthroat world of small-town cake-
baking competitions, Cakewalk
comes flying out of the gate and
continues at the same breakneck
pace until the show ends, only
pausing for intermission. The show
takes place entirely in one room
where contestants with last names
beginning with the first three letters
of the alphabet are stationed, along
with their cakes, waiting to enter
them into the town’s Canada Day
cakewalk. Because of the setting,
there are no scene transitions in the
entire play, so the show can truly
consistently build on momentum
from start to finish with no breaks.
The women in the room – joined
by one man who is eventually
welcomed into the world of
cakewalking – have to pass the time
together, even as jealousy,
competitiveness and past encounters
with one another threaten to break
the peace.
There is Catherine Fitch’s brutish
and old-fashioned scout leader and
her brewing discontent with a local
café owner, played by Rebecca
Auerbach, who does things a little
differently (owning a healthy, yet
expensive lunch option in town and
who dared to keep her last name
when she married her husband).
Caroline Gillis plays a well-off
mother who enters her daughter’s
wedding cake into the competition
without her knowledge just one day
before the wedding, while her
daughter, played by Lucy Hill, is
always hot on the cake’s trail.
Rachel Jones plays a young nun
trying to win so she can bring a
fellow nun to France, while Nathan
Howe is the lone man in the
competition, often getting mistaken
for one of the judges, complete with
the perks that come along with that
particular case of mistaken identity.
A fine collection of familiar faces
and newcomers comprise the cast
and they are all sparkling in their
duties – humorous, dramatic and
sometimes over-dramatic as the
clock ticks closer and closer to the
cakewalk.
Audiences will know Fitch and
Auerbach from many seasons of past
productions. Howe is a newer face,
but a familiar one after turns in Wing
Night at the Boot, Judith: Memories
of a Lady Pig Farmer and Mr. New
Year’s Eve: A Night with Guy
Lombardo and Gillis will be known
to long-time Festival-goers from
productions like Barnboozled: He
Won’t Come In From The Barn 2,
Anne and Leaving Home. Hill and
Jones are delightful newcomers who
impress on stage. Just off-stage is
Robert King, who embodies a small-
town event announcer or radio
personality perfectly.
Though written in the early 1980s,
many of Cakewalk’s themes remain
relevant to rural living to this day.
Whether it’s the clash between
generations, the thriving gossip mill
or the fear and eventual grudging
acceptance of “new” things, rural
living, it appears, is impervious to
the passage of time in some respects.
However, while some of the more
unpleasant aspects of rural living
may make life difficult, Cakewalk
provides a pair of rose-coloured
glasses for every audience member
through which to look back – and
audience members very willingly
consent. It’s all about fun and
humour and one hot day in July in
small-town Canada and it’s glorious.
Fitch is brilliant as the “problem
child” Scout leader who will do
anything to win the competition in
search of a second honeymoon for
her and her husband Bucky.
Auerbach is excellent, as always, as
the face of a new generation –
proud, confident and unflinching.
Gillis connects with many in the
audience as the mother who spent a
lifetime putting others before
herself, while Hill provides the
perfect foil as Gillis’ privileged,
bratty daughter.
Truly magnificent, though, are
Howe and Jones. Howe’s physical
comedy is chaotic and excellent,
perfectly smoothed out by the calm
and patient Jones, though she
experiences her own inner struggle,
keeping her secret from Howe
though both are clearly attracted to
the other.
All on stage are directed by Fox
who, clearly, has continued to grow
in the years since she was last in
Blyth, directing fan-favourite
Kitchen Radio. She has built on that
experience and produced another
funny, thoughtful and entertaining
production destined to connect with
Blyth audiences.
Cakewalk is a fun, thoughtful
show that will prove to be just the lift
the Festival season needs in a season
full of essential, yet heavy
conversations. There will be winners
and losers in the cakewalk, but it’s a
ton of fun along the way.
Cakewalk is on the Memorial Hall
stage until Saturday, Aug. 10.
Nasty business
In Cakewalk, the Blyth Festival’s latest offering, audience members are returned to 1980s rural
Ontario for a Canada Day cake-baking competition. It may start civil, but the competition soon
heats up and some of the contestants can be anything but in the comedy that premiered in
Blyth in the early 1980s. Friends, played by Rachel Jones, left, and Rebecca Auerbach, find
themselves up against some stiff competition as they spend the afternoon in the room
designated for contestants with last names starting with the first three letters of the alphabet.
(Denny Scott photo)
The “Vow”Factor
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WOW!
Red Plaid Productions
Presents
MUDMEN
Celtic Concert
Wingham Town Hall Theatre
Saturday, July 13
$28.00 All Ages
General Seating
Tickets at: ticketscene.ca
Annette’s Treasures Galore
519-912-1515 Store
519-503-7666 Cell
Doors Open: 7:00 p.m.
Show: 7:30 p.m.
This is a Mudmen Inc. Event
www.mudmen.ca
60th Anniversary
for
Hebo & Margaret
Siertsema
You’re welcome to an
Open House
Sunday, July 7
1:30 ~ 4:30 pm
Auburn Memorial Hall
Best Wishes Only
Happy 60th
Anniversary
Jim and Dona
Knight
July 11th
Love from
your family
Congratulations
Doris Taylor, left, treasurer of the
Wingham & District Hospital Auxiliary
presents the winner of the quilt raffle to
Jennie Askes of RR #1 Bluevale with
the first prize quilt. Second prize, a $50
Foodland gift card was won by Jennifer
George. The draw was made June 24,
2019 at the Wingham & District
Hospital Auxiliary’s Annual Meeting.
‘Cakewalk’ makes for dramatic, cutthroat fun
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen