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The Citizen, 1988-06-15, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1988. 'Clover' proves local content biggest asset Continued from Page 5 sol thought), I decided on “The Mousetrap” as one half of the season. However, my few months around the burgeoning theatre scene in Toronto had stirred my incipient artistic sensibility to the point that I knew it would be more exciting to round out the season with material closer to home than a crisis in an English manor. By chance I came across a book of anecdotal reminiscences of grow­ ing up during the Depression in the Blyth area that I had read as a youngster. Five minutes of thumb­ ing through Harry J. Boyle’s “Mostly in Clover" and I was certain that I could find enough material in it and two accompany­ ing volumes to form the basis of a collectively created play. In spite of the risk, or because of it, I decided it would be most exciting to actually open the season with this show. The programme set, I finished off the application to the Arts Council with the assistance of my wife, Anne Chislett, who, family help being the cheapest, had joined Keith (by now Chairman of the Board of Directors) and myself as Administrator of our new venture. The entire first season was budgeted at $10,000, a large sum of money when no revenue was guaranteed. We realized that it would be pure madness to proceed without some Arts Council support, and even with it, wisdom indicated that it would be wise for several of us not to draw salaries until it was certain that the Festival would be financially successful. Because time was pressing, I could not wait for the decision of the Arts Council, and proceeded to choose the acting company and staff, warning them that we could proceed only if there were a favourable response to our grant application. There were eight of us in total, all young professionals between theatre training and an Actors’ Equity card. We were only a few days from rehearsal start at the beginning of June when word finally came that we had been granted $2,000 towards the first season. Half of that would only be given to match private fundrais­ ing, but we would manage that somehow. We threw ourselves into rehear­ sals in the basement of the Hall with the naive excitement of those too inexperienced to realize the enormity of their task. Part of the day was spent creating “Mostly in Clover” with the four member acting company, augmented by one local teenager, Mark Battye, to play the young Harry Boyle. Afternoons our core company was joined by some willing local amateurs for “Mousetrap” re­ hearsals. Meanwhile, upstairs on the stage, the one man technical staff designed and built both sets, and rigged together a lighting system of household dimmers and a few instruments begged from local high schools. The new Board members helpedfind props and costumes, but otherwise seemed happier not knowing what was going on. (Therewasalwaysthe possibility that it was the sequel to “Baby Blue” after all.) At the same time, Anne was undertaking the publicity cam­ paign, keeping the books - after a crash course from the village clerk, and, with Board help, soliciting the private donations we needed to round out our budget and claim the remaining portion of our grant. Most of the latter was painstaking­ ly earned in a series of afternoon visits to village ladies where multiple cups of tea were consum­ ed, while the real purpose of the visit could not be forthrightly mentioned. But, miraculously, by the time Anne returned from the bathroom prepared for another round of tea at the next home, a cheque for $25 or $50 had usually appeared. By the end of June, sufficient funds had been raised for us to claim our full grant, but there remained the question of whether anyone would want to see the plays we were about to present, and where we would ever find enough of an audience in such a rural area to make even a small dent in our 400 seat capacity. “The Mousetrap” should attract some of the cot­ tagers from the shores of Lake Huron, 15 miles away, but who would come to see “Mostly in Clover” even if it did strike a chord in lpcal residents? 1 was young enough to proceed on blind faith, only to have Keith and others of the Board confess afterwards to many sleepless nights spent wrestling with worry. The problem was solved for opening night at least. One day late in June the village clerk surprised us with a brilliant idea. Since the Hall had undergone major repairs, and since it had originally been built in memory of those killed in the first war, he reasoned that opening night of the new theatre season would be a perfect occasion to rededicate the Hall as a war memorial. That meant that the village council would need to purchase a block of 250 seats to be * distributed amongst the members of the Canadian Legion. Spouses who did not belong to the Legion would have to buy their own tickets. We were thrilled by the scheme; itwouldbeeasy enough to sell the remaining seats to the Guaranteeing the first audience curious and the small group of supporters we had acquired. Opening night arrived, inevit­ ably as always. I tried not to think how much the future was riding on the performance. Watching400 people find their way to their seats did have a momentary calming effect at least. Suddenly, Norma Clarke, our OAC Theatre Officer turned up and, to our horror, was trapped in the Legion colour party as it trouped into the auditorium. We extricated her from the procession with some difficulty, and the rededication began. As the actors waited nervously behind the curtain, the ceremony went on and on and on. Each of the local ministers participated - at length. Sodid more dignitaries than we knew a small village could have. The speeches were supplemented with “OhCanada” and ‘ ‘Reveille’ ’ played on a portable cassette player thatwas barely loud enough to reach half the auditorium. We began to notice that the tempera­ ture in the Hall was rising rapidly as 400 bodies added their calories to the already hot Ontario evening. It stopped just short of the suffocation level where it would remain for the rest of the evening and every subsequent warm sum­ mer’s evening until air condition* . ing was installed four years later. Half an hour later, the audience sat stone faced and sweating. They were there out of duty, and that duty discharged, they still had to watch a play before they could be dismissed. “Mostly in Clover” began. The silence in the house wasbroken only by the sound of people ripping their shirts and blouses away from the melting varnish on the backs of their seats. (No one knew till then that the roofing contractor had used cheap varnish to cover water damage on the wooden seats.) Suddenly, a few minutes into the performance, there was a laugh. Then another and another. They loved it! We flew through the show, and the applause when it was over seemed endless. There were people on the stage congratulating the cast, in the house congratulat­ ing Keith and Anne and I and the rest of the Board, on the front lawn congratulating each other for bringing the Blyth Memorial Hall back to life. They even forgave us their damaged shirts. We had a hit, and a theatre company was born. After only two or three perfor­ mances, the entire run of “Mostly in Clover” was sold out. Audiences came from as much as 50 or 60 miles away: perhaps because local winters are so severe, they had saved up their travelling time and thought nothing of spending an hour or two on the road to attend a worthwhile evening’s entertain­ ment. “The Mousetrap” drew respec­ table audiences but trailed dis­ mally behind “Mostly in Clover”. Clearly the Blyth audience was most interested in dramatic mater­ ial about themselves and their lives. Unlike “sophisticated” the­ atre audiences, they came with no preconceptions that plays from other cultures were inherently more insightful or that their lives and concerns were less worthy than those in other countries. In response to what I learned in that first season, the theatre’s artistic policy was fixed on the production of plays that directly reflect the people and region of Western Ontario, and with that, the uniqueness of the Blyth Summer Festival was assured. CHRYSLER & BRUSSELS MOTORS LTD TEAM UP TO BRING YOU SOME SUPER “NEW DEALER” VALUES $3000 $750 NEW DEALER DISCOUNT , SAVINGS WITH YOURPRESIDENT’S NIGHT COUPON M $3750 TOTAL SAVINGS 1 Q 1988 CHRYSLER NEW YORKER c* $1000 NEW DEALER DISCOUNT $1000 CHRYSLER REBATE $1070 EQUIPMENT DISCOUNT $3070 TOTAL SAVINGS $1000 $1000 $750 $2750 NEW DEALER DISCOUNT CHRYSLER REBATE EQUIPMENT DISCOUNT TOTAL SAVINGS $750 $750 $1100 $2600 PlymoutH Dodge Trucks CHRYSLER NEW DEALER DISCOUNT CHRYSLER REBATE EQUIPMENT DISCOUNT TOTAL SAVINGS Offer expires Thurs., June 30,1988at9:00p.m. NORTH END, BRUSSELS 887-6173