HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-08-29, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019. PAGE 19.
‘Heaven and Earth’ to open Aug. 27
‘Sink or Swim’ delights Festival audiences
A look back
Beverley Elliott impressed Blyth Festival audiences last
week with Sink or Swim in the Phillips Studio, an ode to her
life in rural Ontario during her Grade 1 year. (Courtesy photo)
Continued from page 17
were devastating for farmers, small
businesses and homeowners. How
different our situation today might
be if we’d had 40 years of work on
renewable energy and conservation
rather than governments subsidizing
the fossil fuel industry. We don’t
have another 40 years to waste. We
don’t even have another four-year
term to waste to address climate
change. It is time to get serious
about building a regenerative
economy which works for people,
the environment.”
Tax fairness is important, said
McQuail, to ensure that everyone
pays their fair share toward the
services we all need and for the
investments required to make the
transition to a regenerative
economy.
McQuail will be holding summer
socials around the riding in the lead-
up to the election. These are an
opportunity to meet him and discuss
“A New Deal for People”, the
NDP’s commitments to Canadians.
Those wishing more information
about upcoming Summer Socials or
NDP commitments can contact him
at TonyMcQuail.NDP@gmail.com.
Sink or Swim, the Blyth Festival’s
first professional Phillips Studio
show of the year, is a fun
recollection of Beverley Elliott’s life
between 1965 and 1966: her Grade 1
year.
Elliott grew up in Perth County,
and the play focused on her
memories, both good and bad, of
moving off the family farm, visiting
Boiler Beach and going to Grade 1
both in a one-room schoolhouse for
part of the year and a “new” school
with 800 students from Kindergarten
to Grade 8.
From the recollections of her
mean one-room schoolhouse teacher
to the different bus drivers she
encountered in her first months at
the larger school, Elliott painted a
beautiful picture of everything she
ran into while growing up: the good,
the bad and the ugly.
The play made full use of the
recently-upgraded Phillips Studio
space, with projections highlighting
specific parts of the play through
static backgrounds and images and
even an era-specific commercial
with music and song provided by on-
stage pianist Bill Costin as a brief
break from the recollections.
Costin, while mostly just tickling
the ivories to provide atmospheric
music for the play, provided some
great back and forth with Elliott
during the play.
The play was good, though it
would likely be a little more
relatable for an older audience if my
experience was any indication. I was
definitely on the younger side of the
median age of the audience and that
became apparent when I found
something worth a smile and others,
more in touch with the reference,
found it hilarious.
Between fixing nylons with nail
polish, “ditto” machines and ink
bottles, there were a lot of references
that went over my head, but that
didn’t take away from my enjoyment
of the play.
While the play is a comedy, it’s
also a musical, with Elliott
serenading the audience with
touching songs throughout.
The play is written by Elliott and
directed by Lynna Goldhar Smith,
and the poignant projections were
designed by Jordan Lloyd Watkins.
Lori Anderson was the stage
manager for the play.
Sink or Swim is a
HappyGoodThings Production that
won the Pick of the Vancouver
Fringe Festival 2016 Award.
Beginning Aug. 27, the Blyth
Festival Art Gallery will be
presenting the last of its three 2019
professional-level exhibitions,
featuring the paintings of Elizabeth
McQueen and ceramic art by
Catherine Weir.
The two Dundas, Ontario-area
women have been working
collaboratively for three years now,
with their first joint exhibition, also
entitled “Heaven and Earth”, held at
the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas in
2017.
The artists say, “Heaven and Earth
has been our working title and while
we began with the obvious, the
painter’s pre-occupation with skies
and large land-forms and the potter’s
lyrically artful facility with earth, it
is becoming so much more.”
A ceramic instructor on the
teaching faculty at Mohawk College
and the Dundas Valley School of Art,
Weir has taught workshops to
potters’ groups across the province,
has shown at dozens of open,
invitational and juried exhibitions
and has garnered five major arts
awards.
McQueen has taught at the
Hamilton Wentworth District School
Board, Dundas Valley School of Art
and at Canadore College in North
Bay. She has been represented in
many group and solo art exhibitions
and her paintings are in several
government and corporate
collections.
Together they say that, “Our
common ground has been an
exploration of landscape (we are
after all, Canadian)… Quite
unintentionally, we have begun
parallel ‘dreaming’ and are
delighting in the place where heaven
and earth meet.”
The artist’s exploration of what
“Heaven and Earth” means to them
will be on view in the Bainton
Gallery, Blyth Memorial Hall, from
Aug. 27 to Sept. 28.
The public is invited to meet
the artists at the opening reception
on Friday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at the
gallery
The show is presented by the
Blyth Festival Art Gallery. It is
curated by Robert Tetu and co-
sponsored by Ron and Bev Walker
and Duncan and Lynda McGregor.
The gallery is located next to the
Blyth Festival box office and is open
during box office hours. Admission
is free.
Wedding Announcement
Tavish and Keaton Legacy are excited to announce the marriage of their
parents, April Gross, daughter of Gordon and Bernice Gross of Auburn,
and Daniel Legacy, son of Edith Legacy and the late Lorenzo Legacy of
Oshawa, which took place on June 29, 2019. Crowe Lake at Marmora,
ON was the perfect setting for the beautiful lakeside ceremony.
Following the dinner and reception, the celebration concluded with the
guests enjoying a wonderful display of fireworks on the lake.
Gross-Legacy
Rutling Holdings
presents
Luxurious 2 bedroom
townhouses
in Blyth for rent
Contact: 519-955-2323
agrutledge@hurontel.on.ca
Happy 90th
Nora
Looking Good
Love your family
Entertainment Leisure&
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
McQuail
set to run
Drop by our office in
Blyth or Brussels and
check out our wonderful
selection of books. We
have books for all ages.
541 Turnberry St., Brussels
519-887-9114
405 Queen St., Blyth
519-523-4792