The Citizen, 2001-10-03, Page 23Cenetta Bainton honoured
FRI. - THURS.
OCTOBER
05 - 11
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Air PARK THEATRE
GODERICH 524-7811
FRI. & SAT
6:45 & 9:15 PM
SUN. - THURS.
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FRIGHTENING SCENES
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LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-800-265-3438 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO
Women's
Hockey
starting soon
in Blyth
Any
interested
players please
register by calling
Annie 523-9725
or Fran 523-9040
Town and Country Support Services
Huron Adult Day Centre and
the Alzheimer Society
cordially invite everyone to the
kAND
OPENNG
of the
Betty Cardno
Memorial Centre
in Clinton
Saturday, October 20th
1:30 p.m. at 317 Huron St.
Fun Festivities and scheduled events: Silent
Auction - handmade quilt and pillows, child's
handmade picnic table, art prints, duffle bag of
office supplies and many more beautiful items;
50/50 draw; refreshments; something for every-
one. Dance at 8:00 p.m. to Ken Scott, admission
to dance $10.00 per person. Please come out and
join us for a fun filled afternoon and evening.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2001. PAGE 23.
Entertainment& Leisure
Theatre review
Avon's 'Wingfield' as always a delight
Man of many moods
Rod Beattie shows some of his many faces and moods (from left: Harold, the clerk; Ed, the
editor; Freddy) as Walt Wingfield and friends in Dan Needles' fifth installment of his famous
series, Wingfield on Ice, playing until Oct. 12 at Stratford's Avon Theatre. (Courtesy photo)
The Blyth Festival held a dinner tribute for Cenetta Bainton
to recognize her many contributions to the Festival. Janet
Amos, the former artistic director, pictured above with
Bainton and Lynda Lentz-McGregor entertained those in
attendance with stories of Bainton's early years in Blyth and
her work with the Festival. (David Blaney photo)
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
A dozen or so colourful rural char-
acters have taken to the Avon
Theatre stage to the delight of audi-
ences.
Walt Wingfield and friends are
back in Dan Needles' Wingfield on
Ice and life in the country has never
been so much fun.
The story of Wingfield has become
familiar to many. Needles first intro-
duced us to his stockbroker turned
farmer in 1985's Letter from
Wingfield Farm, which was based on
his newspaper columns in which
Wingfield told of his adventures in a
series of letters to the editor.
The fun continued with Wingfield's
Progress in 1987, Wingfield's Folly
in 1990 and Wingfield Unbound in
1997.
A book version of the first three
plays, published in 1989, was nomi-
nated for the Stephen Leacock
Award for Humour.
In this fifth installment, Needles,
who also penned The Perils of
Persephone, which premiered at the
Blyth Festival in 1989, looks at the
close-knit rural communities and the
animosities that drive people apart.
In his author's notes, Needles said
that growing up in Dufferin County
he was struck by the pleasure some
people took in "lopping off the heads
of the tall poppies in the communi-
ty."
"But then, I was also struck by the
way people who could be so cruelly
critical of each other could also be
capable of such startling acts of
kindness. A death or a fire brought
the community out in droves, not to
stand and gawk, but to cook and
clean, to do chores and fieldwork, to
comfort and to grieve."
WEDDINGS
Performed - your location or our
indoor or outdoor chapel
(non-denominational)
For brochure call:
REV. CHRIS MORGAN
ALL FAITHS PASTORAL CENTRE
BENMILLER, 524-5724
CHRISTENINGS
he is suddenly seeing in what he had
always believed to be a welcoming
environment.
His old neighbour The Squire has
an estranged brother Walt never
knew about. Another, Don, is on the
outs with a farmer, whom he
believed made a dig about his new
state-of-the-art barn. Nephew Willie
is duelling with "an almost purebred
dog, a borderline collie" named
Pookie.
Even his beloved Maggie, he dis-
covers, is capable, of a snipe or two,
as she explains her feelings for Mrs.
Lynch. After all, she wonders, how
can anyone trust someone who uses
Dream Whip in their cream puffs.
The calamity that pulls everyone
back together is an ice storm and the
birth of 'Hope', Walt's new daugh-
ter, delivered in the kitchen of the
Orange Hall, by Mrs. Lynch.
While Needles' wry wit is wonder-
ful and his take of rural living dead
on, what has made his stories such a
success is the winning combination
of script, actor and director. Rod
Beattie, who has been Wingfield
from the beginning, continues to
amuse and impress. Portraying a
dazzling number of characters with a
twist of face and tuning of voice tim-
ber, he makes the transformation
from Walt, to Maggie, to Freddie, to
everyone else, with amazing ability.
Directed again by his brother
Douglas Beattie, who knows Walt as
well as he does, the actor's comedic
timing is unrivalled.
Though in this time of factory
farms, the simple country life as
depicted in Persephone Twp. ,by
Needles may be a littleiless familiar
than it was when it began, the charm-
ing characters who live there are no
less funny. You know them, you've
met them.
And for the sake of laughter, may
Needles never stop telling us their
story.
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This essence of country life is cap-
tured in Ice through a series of sto-
ries involving the quirky characters
of Persephone Twp. Petty griev-
ances, long-standing grudges are all
here. Wingfield, now married and
expecting his first child with wife
Maggie, is frustrated by the ugliness