The Citizen, 1989-02-22, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1989. PAGE 5.
Small beginnings
Actors from early years recall how
the Bly th Festival began 15 years of success
Jim Schaefer [left] and Ron Barry perform a scene from “Mostly in Clover” the adaptation of the Harry J. Boyle books
that opened the first season of the Blyth Festival in 1975.
Believe it or not, the Blyth
Festival which seemed only yester
day to be struggling to get off the
ground with a good many local
doubters, will this year perform its
15th season.
The Festival has now become a
Canadian institution, one of the
most respected theatrical institu
tions in Canada but for local people
who have been among the more
than 200,000 who have attended
plays at the Festival it’s often the
people who are remembered more
than the plays themselves. Over
the years hundreds of actors,
technicians and writers have come
and gone in the gypsy world of the
theatre but some stand out more
than others. As part of the 15th
anniversary of the theatre, Festival
staff have been contacting some of
the prominent people who have
been at the Festival for their
memories.
Jim Schaefer, now artistic direc
tor of the Port Stanley Summer
Festival was one of the hardy band
of people who arrived in Blyth in
June 1975 for the very first season
of the Festival. He recently recalled
some of his memories in his own
inimitable style.wW W hat a time we had!
’ " Four actors, a stage man
ager, two directors and someone to
handle the business.
And 860 citizens of Blyth wond
ering just what the hell we were
doing in their Memorial Hall. Were
we perverted pinko drug-crazed
hippies from Taranna?
Or were we high-brow ed-u-
cated snobs coming to ram kulture
(like that opera stuff) down their
parched country-style throats?
We opened our “risk” produc
tion, a show based on some books
by local novelist Harry Boyle. It
was called “Mostly In Clover”
after one of the titles.
We used a lot of improv to create
scenes, speeches and moments and
it was scary, downright scary. And
we thought we’d never remember
the new lines, cues,
sub-text we’d just
minutes ago.
But somehow, we
so did the audience. And
audience loved us and we loved
them.
And that was the beginning of
our love affair with Blyth when our
energy and their spirits suddenly
connected.Hcnc***
So, there we were: fodr actors, a
stage manager, two directors and
someone to handle the business,
and
15
blocking
put in
survived and
the
together, in a little Japanese car,
hurtling our way down some gravel
road, deep in Huron County ... (or
at least that’s the way I remember
it) ... and James Roy, Artistic
Director, is at the wheel. And,
we’re going around bends and
across paved roads and down roads
that got no sign.
And as we go blowing down
some road, there’s a flock of
just-shorn sheep grazing away on
our right and actor Ron Barry grabs
at James Roy’s arm and says,
“What’s that?”
And James, without turning his
gaze from the gravel road in front
of him, says, “Why, Ron, that’s a
herd of cattle you’re looking at.”
And there is silence for a while
as we all ponder this. Then Barry
says, “they seem awful short for
cows.”
And Roy says, “It’s anew breed,
shorter legs, they’re closer to the
feed. Not so much food wastage per
pound.”
And Barry says, “Yeah, and
they’d be easier to ship to market.”
*****
Food.
Now, that’s what bound us
together that first summer. City
actors and country folk.
When they found out we liked to
eat, well, we’d found a common
bond. People started to tell us
things like when the baking got
done at the Triple K and when the
next church supper or dinner or
bazaar was to occur. Plus how to
get there. And that’s when we met
Mrs. (Evalena) Webster and she
had us over for one of her famous
casseroles and talked to us and she
soon set everyone straight.
And one morning during rehear
sal break we were sjtting out front
drinking coffee and Jimmie Lawrie
rode by on his bike. And he
stopped and gave us the hairy
eyeball and then winked and was
off down to the post office, chuck
ling as he went. He knew. And I
think we knew, we were in.*****
It was about then 1 started
drinking coffee every morning with
Doug Whitmore and Larry Walsh.
If we were lucky we could have an
early one at McClinchey’s and then
go across the road for another
break at about 10:15.
And we’d talk about everything
under the sun and lie and argue the
way coffee brings out the best in
you early in the day. Sometimes
Doug would have his daughter
Janie with him. She was about two
then and she’d be regally carried
across the street on her father’s
shoulder. And Larry was always
late for a meeting and he’d rush off
and then we: Doug, Janie (back on
her father’s shoulder) and I would
saunter back across the road and go
back to work. He at his printing
shop and me up the street, at the
theatre.
What’s this all got to do with the
beginning of a great theatre? I
think you know.
After a bra?e start with a handful
of actors and a two-person crew to
build sets, hang lights and do all
the work that must be done behind
the scenes, the Festival made a
huge jump the second year, quad
rupling its budget and going to a
fully-professionaltheatre using Ac
tors Equity (union) actors with a
much larger cast.
One of the new actors who
arrived that year and became a
favourite over the next few years
was Lynda (known off stage as
DeeDee) Langford. She played the
lead in the musical “The Blood is
Strong” and in “Shape” the 1976
musical salute to the Montreal
“The Blood is Strong”, the story of Scottish immigrants coming to Canada was a popular early production, first
mounted in 1976 and remounted in 1977. In this scene from the 1977 production Lynda [DeeDee] Langford is seen at the
right along with [left to right] Alf Humphries, Angie Gei, Layne Coleman, Donna Lebo and Diane Douglass.
Olympics written by Jim Schaefer.
Although the show wasn’t exactly a
hit, it did better box office than it
might otherwise have done because
some people bought tickets for
several performances just to watch
the beautiful DeeDee do a musical
exercise number in tights.
Lynda (DeeDee) recently recall
ed those days in the 1970’s,
n
W Brf all my theatre exper-
iences, Blyth was my
most favourite. I made so many
friends there that I’m still very
close today.
In time, a tall, good-looking kid,
all dressed in white arrived. We
knew right away that he was in the
company. We sat across the aisle
from Alfie (Humphries) and he
entertained us all the way to Blyth
with his conversations, jokes and
stories. We think everyone on the
bus was listening.”
James Roy picked us up at the
stop in Clinton and drove us into
Blyth. When I first saw the town, I
was profoundly disappointed. It
was so flat and dusty looking. I
wanted tall trees, lakes and hills.
As time went by, I fell in love with
the muted colours, the yellow brick
houses and gingerbread fronts. I
started to really enjoy living in a
small town, knowing everyone,
saying “hi” to people on the street.
It became a total experience for
me, one that involved acting,
writing, ensemble work, making
lots of friends and learning to live
in a wonderful new way.
It always surprised me that
people seemed to know what you
were doing all the time. Angie Gei
and I used to run early in the
mornings. One morning she fell,
rolled a few feet and got up. A man
in a car stopped and asked if she
was all right. She assured him she
was fine and we continued on our
run back to town. By the time we
got back, everyone knew Angie had
fallen. People were stopping us all
the way to the theatre asking how
Angie was.
Doing “The Blood is Strong”
was like falling in love. I fell in love
with ‘Kate’, my character, with the
play and with everyone involved
with the show. We had a long
rehearsal period which was ideal
for digging deep and exploring our
characters, and for learning about
each other. There were many funny
things that happened in this show.
Opening night, we were very
excited and nervous. I had a very
quick change in the second act out
of a very tight blue dress and into a
beautiful satin wedding dress,
shown in the picture here. 1 pulled
off my first dress backstage and
someone was there to put the other
one over my head. It had a very
long zipper at the back and I
breathed in while the dresser
stuffed my sweaty body into the
dress and quickly zipped it up. I
threw on the veil and ran out for the
wedding scene that involved a few
songs and quite an exuberant
dance number.
I was sitting on a bench facing
downstage while Brenda McKane
sang a song to me. All of a sudden,
I felt quite a breeze on my back and
noticed the shoulders of my dress
slipping off. Trying to control an
hysterical panic inside me, I mo
tioned to Ron Barry whose eyes
were wide with horror to get me a
shawl that was hanging up on
stage. He brought it over and
through the dance and festivities I
tried to keep the shawl on and the
dress up, hoping that no one in the
audience could see what was going
on. We succeeded!
Another incident I remember
quite vividly involved Ron Barry
again as the friendly Indian with
the crystal blue eyes. He wore this
wig that was meant more for
Maggie Muggins than to depict one
of our native Canadians. During
one performance as Ron was
standing on stage, his short little
braid got caught in the curtains.
When he pulled away, the wig went
all askew. One braid was sticking
straight up out of the top of his
head. When I turned up stage to
deliver my line to him, I could
hardly control myself. Ron, of
course, had no idea that he looked
so funny. His face was so innocent
and he was so into his character
that I simply had to control the urge
to just fall apart laughing. I really
had to bite my lip.
Even now as I think of these
times, Ihave that almost uncontroll
able laugh inside. Despite all the
mishaps the work at Blyth was
always topnotch. The company
worked hard with dedication and
belief; the technicians were always
the best. I can see that the quality
has been maintained. I’ve seen
shows since I was in Blyth and have
always enjoyed the productions
very much.
I’m living in Tornto now with my
20 month old son, Daniel. My
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