The Lucknow Sentinel, 1987-07-22, Page 11Balmoral hit of season
By Lou -Ann Hope
If you have tickets to see "Miss
Balmoral Of The Bayview" at the Blyth
Festival this summer, congratulations,
you're in for a real treat.
If not, well you could try standing in line
for one of the 10 rush tickets sold prior to
each performance but don't count your
blessings.
"Miss Balmoral" is destined to be this
year's hit of the Blyth Festival.
The play, by Colleen Curran ( "Cake
Walk" and "Moose County" author ), was
entirely sold out prior to its opening night
performance of July 14. This is the first
time in the history of the Blyth Festival
that the entire run of a new play has sold
out even before the play opened.
"Miss Balmoral" is a comedy. A light
yet brisk comedy in which practically
every other line has the audience smiling if
not laughing.
From the opening scene to the almost too
abrupt ending, "Miss Balmoral" grabs the
audience's attention and holds it. Not once
does the cast let their audience drift away
from the action on the stage.
The play's title character is a strong-
willed Scottish lady who, after having lost
in the game of love, quits her teaching
position at an uppercrust private school in
response to an advertisement for what she
assumes to be a hotel manager.
Upon arriving at The Bayview, an old
inn which was saved from the wrecking
ball after being deemed a historical site,
she gathers a varied hotel staff . who,
together, hope to refurbish the old inn.
Judith Orban, as Miss Balmoral,
manages to pull off the characterization of
the title character with ease. She is con-
vincing as the strong-willed, stern Scottish
lady who, throughout the course of the
play, changes her personality to that of an
approachable, caring, and, most impor-
tantly, likeable woman.
However, Beth Anne Cole, as Miss
Balmaral's assitant Patsy Cherubino,
steals the show with her antics. Cole plays
the role of the eccentric, meddling Patsy to
the hilt. Not once does she slip out of
character and, more often than not, it is
from her remarks that the audience
responds the most. It is, perhaps, her
boisterousness that keeps the play "up".
Goderich actor Kevin Bundy fills the
role of the blundering hotel management
trainee Shane Dempsey with few pro-
blems, a real change from his role as Jim-
my in the Blyth Festival's "Bordertown
Cafe".
Jerry Franken, as the quiet,
philosophical carpenter Dominic
Cherubino, is really the only stable
character in the play. As the widowed
brother-in-law of Patsy, it his Dom who
ends up becoming Miss Balmoral's love
interest.
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The villain of the plot, Stephen St.
Stephens, as played by Stan Coles, doesn't
appear to the end of first act, yet he is cen-
tral to the play's development. Cole plays
Miss Balmoral's ex -suitor who travels to
the inn to propose to Miss Balmoral which,
if she accepts, will make him headmaster
at the private school where the two
characters taught. Cole makes the role of
the blustering, aloof, nasty professor come
alive yet, in the end, the professor seems
confused by the results of his endeavors.
Goderich native Shirley Hall plays the
aggresive, intelligent Dehlia Abbott, the
local librarian on a crusade to end book -
banning. As Dehlia, Hall has, perhaps, the
most difficult role in the play. Because
Dehlia is so simple and straight -forward
and has only one or two humorous lines in
the play, there is little, if any, room for im-
provisation. And, it is hard learning to
follow such a rigid role. However, Hall
does carry the role off well.
There are two sub -plots in the play, one
of which is the love interest between
Bundy's Shane and Hall's Dehlia. While
the scene does slow the play down, it is in-
teresting to see how the slightly goofy
Shane reacts to the adoring Dehlia.
The second sub -plot involves the rela-
tionship between Dom and Miss Balmoral.
While the audience is led to believe Miss
Balmoral and Dom do fall in love, the play
ends to abruptly for the audience to know
for .pure what does happen. Although, he
is, in the end, her knight in shining ar-
mour, a single kiss or a marriage proposal
would have been nice.
However, the play is a hit in spite of this
one factor. -
Also to be commended are the three men
who formed the Ersatz Renovation Com-
pany and acted as scene changers. The
men helped in making the scene changes
quick yet interesting since the audience
could see what the men were doing. Pos-
ing as a renovation company, the men
changed the setting from that of a dusty,
dilapidated hotel to a clean, homey inn.
The entire play is set in the lobby of the
Bayview Inn during the month of
September.
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Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, July 22, 1987—Page 11
The comedy of "Miss Balmoral Of The
Festival. Here, left to right, Stan Coles
sey), Shirley Hall (Dehlia Abbott) and,
a scene from the play.
Bayview" is destined to be the hit of the 1987 Blyth
(Stephen St. Stephens), Kevin Bundy (Shane Demp-
in front, Beth Anne Cole (Patsy Cherubino) rehearse
yy
•