The Huron Expositor, 1978-07-06, Page 30Peter, Snell worked
in Englisli theatre
It seems when talking with and worked 'with artistic director
Peter,.8nell an actor with the Blyth James• Roy in larillia--
Summer F,estival that he's done
eysry aspect of theatre work, ' He has done odds and-ends of television, including corn-
Ui rdluding pulling the curtain mercials. Peter is mainly in-
Peter spent some time in '
England where he got some of his terested in the acting
5 ide of the
; theatre. ; . • :
theatre training at Birmingham
, .
„
and West End Theatres where he "I like that aspect of per-
spent some time working on the forming—the spirit of it,” he said.
various backstages. He has also- Asked for more comments bn
worked for the Persephone his acting method, he says. "I
„ Theitre In ,- Saskatoon, Theatre• think tkere's h lot of it that is
London and Theatre 5, in Kings, inside but you've got to have the
torrwliere-he•-did improvisational ''' vehicle and technical know-how. I
shows for -,both 'children and don't think there's a hard and fast
adults. He also, worked for The formula :especially for different
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Pat Flood,designee
is lack-of-all-trades •
.10 — THE.-BLYTH STUMMER FESTIVAL 'ISSUE, JULY 5, 1978
Pat Flood is a jack-of-all-strates
and it is necessary for her to, be
that way in her position as set and
costume designer : for the Blyth
Summer Festival,
'Among her duties Pat had to do
draWings for all, the sets, all the
costumes and all the
be
even
things that have-to' be found and
made. She ali'0 has to be able to
draft things for 'the .people
building the sets, and to have a
knowledge if fer att. paints.
She also has to know how to
talk to the carpenter, using terms
; which are familiar to him as a
carpenter so he will know how she
wants things built and her job
also involveg some engineering at
times.
PAT FLOOD' . -
• Pat thinks • there arc a lot' of
things, that • people don't" realize
about the theatre and the, work
' that...goes into -putting a. pro-'
, ductioti on: Silk' • said there arc
four sets and people. don't realize
that while one set is on stage
•, three others arc being stored
behind it. 'She also thinks that
people don't realize th6 amount of
knowledge that theatre people
haVe to have.
She cites as an example, Bjarne
Christensen, the production •
manager, whom she says is a
wizard in eleetronics. He also has
to.be able to talk to the 'then about •
ptitting air 'conditioning in .the
theatre: •Ite has.• to_ 'know • •a bout
Sewing so he knows whht kind of
machines ,to ,get and. he roes to
know what the actors need.
"We're .not an' amateur
theatre. We're all professional,"
Pat said.
•, Pat has:her Bachelor of Fine
Arts (8FM:degree which she got .
in Alberta..aod her Master of Fine
Arts (MFA) degree from the
Upiliasity'o/ Minnesota.
/The program in Alberta was a
strictly theatre course. While she
was there Pat took courses in
c1row/ng; drafting, and painting.
"lt was a fully professional
- course," she says. '
The courses in Minnesota were
practical -coUrses where she took
things like major scene painting,
comparing European lighting •
instruments with American
lighting instruments studying the
various furniture styles and then
• building models of a hypothetical
set in which all the fur-niture had
tube right on for that time period,
Supervising a section of shoW 'and
.,vorkink and designing sets for a
play.
• Pat /affprenticed at the Tyrone
Guthrie Theatre, worked as an
•assistant designer in' Toronto.lat
the St. Lawrence Gentre, at the
-Stratford Festival at assistant, to
the designer-and-their decided 'to
strike oat on he own as a
designer. •
'Some of the other.Lplacet she
worked include The National ArtS
Centre in Ottawa.
•Winnepe,g, Caigary,
MitIllea polls, the Citadel Theatre
in. Edmonton and the Tart'agon
Theatre in Toron to.wh Mt is where
'the " the different time periods.
'And this is where the design
people really appreciate the
cutters, she said :because the
character's dresses arc not copies
of anything, and the cutters have
to make them up from nothing
and they've got to fit.
3"They've got- to make cheap
material look ,really good." Pat
said.
Next year is. thd. first year. that'
Pat will be a resident deSigner.
She usually likes to '.travel around
a lot but she' will be working at
Theatre...Calgary as'thcir resident
deSigner.' • •
Pat has no-desire-to be up on
the stage acting. "I much prefer
to be behind-the-scenes. It's
much more interesting."
Of the Blyth theatre she says.
"In a big city •you never know
your audience, but here you know
them. Here they give , you
critiques. Here I know if I put
Something on stage; they don't
like, I'm going to hear about it,"
she said.
she met Bjarne Christensen,
production manager of the Blyth'
Summer FeStival.
People probably,,, wonder just
how Pat functions as a. set and
costume designer.
"When I design a show, 1 read
a script over many many tithes to
see what kind of characters are in
the play: I read it for a,feeling and,
also read 'it for details. "Pat'
• says.
Then.she_tnake.s, ROCA]
Of the set so that the. actors,
directors and technicians can all
see what It looks like. Then she
draftsit up gives the plans to the
:carpenter who builds' the- Net.
Then she does,drawings of. all the
props for , the production
assistants,' and giVes them a list
of all the props. She also has to do
a•drawing of every costume from The Blyth Centre for the Arts
the show as well as doing a lot of Art Gallery will be in the building
--'research-on-what, people woke in immediately •--.4;etiffi- of the Blyth
Memorial Hall. Two art exhibi-
-tions • will be 'held this summer
through the CONT,ACT pr6gram
of the Art Gallery of Ontario
Extension Department.
The first exhibit July 1 -,,July 25
will be wood engravings of G.
Brender a Brandis. The exhibitien
includes examples of wood bloeks".
and engraving tools as well as a •
selectiOn of his fine wood prints of •
••thc -Ontario countryside.
Joili
the Canadian-
minority group.
The Fit.
From- July 20 until August 30,
the water colours and oils of Doris
McCarthy--painted during her
trips to the Arctic regions-;will :be
displayed..
CONTACT:baS: been realized in
direct rOspense to the needs of
communities which in the past .•
have not had 'the space br
facilities to house exhibitions'
circulated by Extension services. •
This title encOmpasses a 'number
Of' small-sized exhibits of works
by Canadian artists. .
CONTACT is ma'de pos.sVe by
,assistance from the Notional
Museums Corporation.. Ottawa,
with additional funding -from
Outreach Ontario. (Ministry' of
Culture and Recreation). The
Blyth Art Galleryis funded by the
Ontario Aos
Gallery hours 'are Monday -
Saturday 10' „- 8:30 p.m.
Art works
exhibited
' PETER SNELL