HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-06-14, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2000.
Making the connection
Back for a second run as a member of the Death of a Hired
Man cast, Christopher Morris spends his non-acting time
with a family he met here last year, who now resides in the
Toronto area.
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' ' ' L/C
Blyth Festival actor
moonlights as farmer
Steelde welcomes MP to Blyth
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
They say that farming is a way of
life, it can get under your skin mak
ing it hard to ever really leave.
Blyth Festival actor Christopher
Morris doesn't doubt it for a minute.
Last year, Morris, along with the
other actors in Paul Thompson’s col
lective about the threshing era Death
of a Hired Man, spent two days on
the Morris Twp. farm of Mike and
Cynthia Beretta. For six hours each
day they practised stooking, learning
the rhythm of the work, feeling the
heat, sweat and aches of a day of
hard manual labour.
Then on the final day, Morris had
what many call a defining moment.
“We had finished, it had been a hot
tinng day. It was dusk and Cynthia
had called us for dinner. Everyone
was walking towards the house and I
knew I didn't want to leave that
field.”
And in a way he hasn't. At the
reception following opening night,
Morris asked the Berettas if they
needed any help on the farm. “Of
course, they said yes. What farmer
doesn't want help,” he smiles.
Thus when the show closed in
mid-September Morris moved in
with the family and worked with
them until October. “I did all kinds of
stuff,” he said, including helping at
an abbattoir they owned outside
Brussels, in conjunction with their
butcher shop.
Then Morris returned to help get
turkeys ready for Thanksgiving,
which was just a few days before the
Berettas closed their business.
Their move to a King City farm
has only deepened the bond that has
formed between the two men. “We
have become quite good friends,”
says Morris, who is once again living
with the family. With Mike’s father
also living in King City and com
muting daily to Toronto, Morris is
able to balance his acting career with
his work on the farm.
Though raised in Markham,
Morris said he grew up with farms
him. Acting since high
the Queen’s graduate said
around
school,
though he’d never give up acting for
agriculture, the latter has always fas
cinated him. “I can see me for sure
when I have my own place some day
living in the country.”
The enjoyment he believes is
because of farming’s immediacy.
“You- see right away what you’ve
accomplished. You can spend years
in the theatre and never really know
if you got it right.”
Since being back in Blyth for this
year’s run of Hired Man which clos
es this weekend, Morris runs into
many people interested in the
Berettas and how they are.
“Hitchhiking into Blyth one day I got
a lift from a man who used to drive
to Mike’s for the Brussels bologna.
Mike still has this guy’s picture on
his fridge.”,
When the show closes, Morris will
be heading back to the country.
“Before I came out here, Mike and I
organized a big bam dance. It was
really fun. I was in charge of the
entertainment. We had fiddlers,
callers, invited the neighbours, fami
ly, friends... unbelievable.”
“It is an absolute pleasure being
around Mike, Cynthia and their fam
ily. It’s a wonderful place to be.”
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FIw b Ia
Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle had
an unusual chance to promote his
riding in Parliament on May 30
when he officially welcomed fellow
politician and playwright Wendy Lili
(Dartmouth) to the Village of Blyth.
Steckle announced to the House of
Commons that the member for
Dartmouth will have her play Corker
produced at the Blyth Festival this
Bluewater Playhouse
plans Walkerton benefit
Be a Friend to Walkerton is the
theme of a benefit concert to be
staged by the cast of Bluewater
Summer Playhouse’s Hank Williams
- The Show He Never Gave
Wednesday, June 14 (tonight) in
Walkerton at the Jubilee Hall begin
ning at 8 p.m.
Darius Murray who is back for his
second year with Bluewater to again
fill Hank's boots, and the band. Mark
Blais, Dave Mayer, Alison Porter
and Katrena Johnston, didn’t take
long to figure out that they had a
great show that just might help
Walkerton.
Hank Williams - The Show He
Never Gave, the hit musical from the
1999 season at Bluewater, is a great
show. The cast feels strongly that
they can “pour it on,” on Wednesday
night, determined to give concert
goers a super evening of down home
entertainment.
The decision to mount a concert
happened very fast. The show opens
officially in Kincardine on June 19,
so the cast and crew had very little
spare time. This will in fact be their
dress rehearsal ... not quite the one
they would have under their own
lights with their own stage, but the
artistic and music directors, Darius
and band think it is well worth the
extra effort it will take. In fact they
are “chomping at the bit” to see the
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season. He also invited all MPs to
join this summer and experience the
best Canadian theatre has to offer.
Steckle made the following
remarks: “Mr. Speaker, hark, what
talent through yonder benches
breaks.”
“ Each year for the past 26 seasons
the Blyth Festival Theatre has been
delighting audiences with its world
curtains go up, the lights go down
and the first beat boom in Jubilee
Hall to start the show that will give
“friends of Walkerton” a night to
remember.
Happy 50th Wedding
Anniversary
June 17, 2000
Love and best wishes,
from Ken and Brenda, Barb and Pete and
grandchildren.
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renowned performances, chronicling
all the aspects of our national experi
ence.”
“With this, I’m pleased to inform
the House that joining with ranks of
Shakespeare is one of our very own.
I congratulate the honourable
member for Dartmouth as this year
her play Corker will be showcased at
the Festival. This satirical comedy
pokes fun at our society and under
scores the surprises that life often
produces.”
“On behalf of the Festival and the
citizens of Blyth, I invite all mem
bers of the House to review the
brochures I have provided to their
offices and then to take the time to
join me at the Festival sometime this
summer.”
Corker will be on stage at the
Blyth Festival from June 20 - Aug. 5.
F