The Rural Voice, 1985-07, Page 32The Farm Show returns
by Phyllis Coulter
It's been more than a decade since the original production of the Farm Show, and a
new generation will enjoy seeing the characters of their relatives, neighbours, and
frienTds on stage.
he farmers of Goderich
Township, Huron County are
quite an entertaining group. A
play about them and people like
them, "The Farm Show," entertain-
ed Canadians across the country and
even toured abroad. As part of the
township's sesquicentennial celebra-
tions, this play, with most of the
original cast, is returning to its bir-
thplace from July 11 to 19 for 10 per-
formances.
The interesting saga of "The Farm
Show" began in 1972 when Paul
Thompson, a native of Listowel who
was educated in Toronto and
established a promising career there,
arrived in Clinton with six actors.
Thompson had expected that the
group would board with local
30 THE RURAL VOICE
farmers. Instead he was lucky enough
to meet Ray and Sally Bird, who of-
fered the actors a vacant farmhouse
to live in. Members of the community
were soon pitching in to help the ac-
tors get settled, recalls Thompson,
who like each of the actors has con-
tinued on with a successful career.
The actors have often called upon
their experiences living near Clinton
as "rich sources" of character
material in other productions they
have undertaken, Thompson says.
As director of the play, Thompson
was recently back in the
neighbourhood making some ad-
vance prepai ations for the produc-
tion and replanting the tomato plants
at his summer home near Listowel.
Thompson, wearing a grey bushy
beard and with matching hair, was in-
terviewed at a snack bar in a Listowel
grocery store. During the interview,
he was occasionally interrupted by
greetings from old friends. He seem-
ed to absorb the atmosphere as if it
would be one of many snippets to be
used in writing, directing, and acting.
Thompson smiled when he recalled
the summer in Clinton 13 years ago.
Most of the actors were not raised in
farming areas and some comical ex-
periences arose. For example, one
summer day, David Fox, an actor,
was to help farmers haying. He went
to the field, introduced himself, and
started to work. Farmers don't talk
much when they are working,
Thompson points out. It was only at
the end of the day when Fox was hav-