The Citizen-Blyth Festival 2001, 2001-06-13, Page 44Layne Coleman: this McGillicuddy new.
Iri
HURON COUNTY MUSEUM
& HISTORIC GAOL
HERITAGE EXPLORATION SUMMER
PROGRAM
Make history come alive this summer
Programs at the Museum at 110 North Street
Explore the world of Ships, Trains and Planes in Huron County
July 3rd to July 6th or July 24th to July 27th
Cost: $25.00 per 4 day week includes snack
Ages 6 to 9 9:00 am to noon - Ages 10 to 13 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Go back in time to the life of an Early Settler in Huron County
July 10th to July 13th or July 31st to August 3rd
Cost: $25.00 per 4 day' week includes snack
Ages 6 to 9 9:00 am to noon Ages 10 to 13 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Go behind the scenes at the Huron County Museum as a Junior Curator
July 17th to July 20th or August 7th to August 10th
Cost: $25.00 per 4 day week includes snack
Ages 6 to 9 9:00 am to noon Ages 10 to 13 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Programs at the Huron Historic Gaol at 181 Victoria Street North
Within these walls - enter the world of the Gaoler's family
August 14th to August 17th or August 28th to August 31st
Cost: $25.00 per 4 day week includes snack
Ages 6 to 9 9:00 am to noon Ages 10 to 13 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Experience the life of a 19th century prisoner for a day
August 21st, or August 22nd, or August 23rd, or August 24th
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Cost: $10.00 per day includes lunch and souvenir
Enrollment for this Day program is limited to 12 participants.
Ages 10 to 13
For further program information and registration please contact:
Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol
110 North Street, Goderich, Ontario, N7A 2T8
Phone: 524-2686 (Mon. to Fri. 9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
Registration begins on June 15th, 2001
PAGE 20. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2001.
This McGillicuddy a different play, Coleman says .
By MArk Nonkes
Citizen staff
Director Layne Coleman is trying
to target that he ever played the title
role in McGill/cut/4k over 20 years
ago.
That's because this version of
McGillicuddy is very different than
the one in 1979. It's a whole new
show, a powerful and moving story.
Coleman said. Though the main
character may be based on the same
person, he has grown a lot since the
original production.
McGillicuddy is a comedy that
chronicles the life of a small town
cop. According to Coleman it is a
show that works on many different
levels.
The first level is the story of a
young boy with a wild side who
grows up getting into, trouble. It's a
play about middle age sexuality and
coming to terms with it, Coleman
said.
The story also focuses on
loneliness in a small town. Coleman
Playwright takes
Although life doesn't usually give
second chances, writer Keith
Roulston is getting another one with
the production of McGillicuddy.
McGillicuddy was originally
produCed in the summer of '79 and
starred Layne Coleman, the director
of this version.
That first production was written
in a hurry, Roulston said.
"I didn't do the job that I probably
could have done because I jumped at
the easy way of doing it," Roulston
said.
With that show Roulston didn't
want to take the characters into
directions that couldn't fit into the
magazine column where the
characters originated.
Although the audience seemed to
enjoy the show, looking back
Roulston said opportunities were
missed and over the years he thought
of redoing the show.
McGillicuddy was born as a satire
on small town life in a column when
'Roulston produced the magazine
Village Squire. The inspiration goes
back to when Roulston was the
editor of The Clinton .News Record
and witnessed the constant battle
between the police chief and town
council.
"This started way back in the '70s
but the same kind of tensions
between saving tax dollars and
getting the service you want are still
around today," Roulston said.
Covering court also helped
Roulston create the situations and
charatzters in McGillicuddy.
"The play is definitely different
today than it would have been if I
had written,it 25 years ago because
of the experiences I've had of living
in a small town," Roulston said.
McGillicuddy is still a comedy but
different than anything Roulston's
written in the past. This time the
show is less traditional than others.
The story follows a cop who
moves from Toronto to a small town
and runs into more than expected as
a small town police chief. The main
Character does battle with a nosy
next door neighbour, the town clerk
and a kid who gets into trouble as
well as a number of other characters.
The play takes place over an eight-
year period of time.
Roulston and director Coleman
have worked with one another
before in plays, but always with a
writer-actor relationship. Coleman
goes right hack to Roulston's first
play, when he acted in The Shortest
Distance Between Two Points in
1977 and the original McGillict«idl
in 1979.
This is Roulston's sixth play being
said the loneliness in a small town is
very different from loneliness in a
city, both which the director has
experienced.
The show has a very rich tapestry,
Coleman said. It's a show that will
have its challenges.
The show has 'three realities, the
challenge will be to make all three
realities comprehensible.
In the show the main character and
nosy next door neighbour develop a
second look
produced at the Festival, his most
recent production being Jobs, Jobs,
Jobs in 1998.
relationship through a
series of encounters.
The challenge will be
to portray the flirting
in an adult way.
Another challenge
the play faces is the
relationship with the
audience. When the
main character speaks
directly to the
audience a distinct
tone will be needed to
build the audience and
lead actor's relation-
ship, Coleman said.
It's a very realistic
and well-researched play, Coleman
said. A play in which both good
McGillicuddy
things and bad things happen.
Coleman was in Blyth last summer
when he starred in The Drawer Boy.
As artistic director of Theatie
Passe Muraille, Coleman is bringing
the last show he directed in Blyth
The Great . School Crisis of '99 to
Passe Muraille this winter.
In the last 25 years Coleman
estimates he's been at Blyth for
about 15 summers. His first season
was in 1977, when he starred in all of
the shows put on by the Festival that
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Coleman said living in Blyth for
the summer allows him to cope with
living in the city for the winter.
"As T get older I enjoy it more and
more," Coleman said.
Last summer Coleman brought his
daughter to Blyth. She' was in the
Young Company and didn't want to
leave at the end of the summer.
"We're looking forward to coming
back," Coleman said.
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