The Citizen-Blyth Festival 2000, 2000-06-21, Page 29BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE21, 2000. PAGE 5.
After 20 years, Diana Belshaw knows Blyth audiences
By Mark Nonkes
Freelance Writer
Anne director Diana Belshaw
considers herself a regular at the
Blyth Festival.
Blyth has been Belshaw’s place of
work for the past three summers but
she first came to Blyth 20 years ago
and has returned many times since
then.
Recapturing your youth
required to play Diana
Birgitte Solem
For Birgitte Solem the road has
always led to theatre.
“There was never any other
option in my mind”
As a child Solem entertained
“My passion has always been
plays about this country and I also
have always loved the relationship
between the theatre and the
audience.”
This year Belshaw directs a cast
of eight in Anne.
“It is a story of imagination and
it's a story about someone who is an
outsider who becomes part of a
community."
"There is a real honesty and
earnestness to everything she says.
She l()0 per cent believes everything
she says."
For the various roles in Stolen
Lives — The Albert Walker Story
Solem has accents to work on.
“I'm going to rent a lot of movies
and I have a friend who is a vocal
coach who I am going to call up and
ask her to please help me.”
Solem now makes her base in
Toronto and has made a living
working in theatre.
Although this season wilt be
Solem's first season with the festival
she has been to Blyth to see her
husband, Raoul Bhaneja, in shows
several times before. —MN
Belshaw said the lesson in Anne
is important.
“If we don't have the dreamers . .
we would be a lot poorer as human
beings."
Belshaw believes the Blyth
audience knows the story of Anne of
Green Gables well.
“I think the hard thing is to find a
way of making it so that the
audience sees and hears the story for
the first time.”
Belshaw said she is a
Blyth Festival
2000
Anne’
collaborative director and likes
everyone involved to give input into
how the show is staged.
“It’s wonderful to work with this
group of actors."
In this show the actors include
her partner of 20 years, Thomas
Hauff, who plays Matthew.■
For the Blyth Festival, Belshaw
directed Thirteen Hands two years
ago. Audiences may remember
Belshaw from last summer as Mrs.
Crump in That Summer.
During the winter months,
Belshaw taught theatre at Humber
College in Toronto and has recently
been promoted to program co
ordinator.
Diana Belshaw
Directs “Anne”
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herself by playing imaginary games
and in high school she was actively
involved in the drama club.
Solem took courses in theatre and
English and graduated from the
University of Ottawa in 1996.
Following that, Solem moved to
London. England and took classical
theatre classes.
Solem will appear on the Blyth
stage as Diana in Anne and
numerous roles in Stolen Lives —
The Albert Walker Story.
Diana is Anne’s “bosom buddy”
and the first of Anne's peers to
embrace her. Salem. 30, has to go
back to the mind set of a I5-year-old
for the part.
Acting and yoga
mix for Clare
Most mornings Clare Preuss
practices yoga from an hour to three
hours and plans by the end of the
summer to be a yoga instructor. •
Preuss said yoga and theatre play
off each other well.
"In both, the idea is to be present,
to be aware, both your body and your
mind.”
Preuss grew up
in Lethbridge,
Alberta and until
the age of 16
wanted to work
with nature.
When she was
cast in a play at
the Great West Clare Preuss
Summer Theatre in Fort Macleod,
Alberta and got paid for acting she
knew theatre was the career she
wanted to follow.
A graduate of the University of
Alberta, at 22, this is Preuss’s first
appearance in Blyth and she will be
on stage as Ruby Gillis in Anne.
Ruby is one of Anne’s friends and,
Preuss said, “idolizes Rachel Lynn”.
“She is a lot of fun to play... very
warm-hearted and caring and loving
and definitely has an element of
gossip although she tries to be very
moral.”
Preuss said she can definitely
relate to the character of Ruby and
sees similarities of herself when she
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Preuss has worked in the Toronto
theatre industry and has been in a
few films that will be released this
year including Loser which was
released in June.
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