The Citizen, 1994-07-27, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1994.
Opening nights can be an electric experience
Part of the magic of
attending the Blyth
Festival is the chance
to share in a new play
being born. There
have been several very
special opening
nights when the
audience sensed big
things were
happening.
BY KEITH ROULSTON
Part of the excitement of attending the
Blyth Festival is the feeling of being there at
the beginning of something big. Nowhere is
that more evident than at the opening night
of one of those special plays that have not
only thrilled Blyth audiences, but gone on to
make their mark around the world.
The most memorable opening nights I
recall were for I'll Be Back Before Midnight
and Quiet in the Land.
Midnight was the first Blyth play to make
a big impression on the rest of the theatre
world back in 1979. That opening night was
literally like the first nights of plays as
depicted in movies. The cast and crew had
retired to a country house near Belgrave (the
kind of house that had inspired city-born
playwright Peter Colley to write the play
about a spooky country house) for a party.
Everyone was thrilled about the reaction of
the opening night audience who had
screamed in terror at the climactic scenes.
No one was prepared, however, for the
arrival of London Free Press theatre critic
was performed again in 1992).
Word spread like wildfire through the
theatre community. Peter Colley was soon
deluged with offers from producers wanting
to make a movie of the play (it took years
and the movie that eventually was made was
nowhere near as thrilling as the play).
Productions of the play sprang up across
Canada and into the U.S., England and even
Romania.
For me the other most thrilling opening
night was for Quiet in the Land. As General
Manager of the Festival, I was helping out a
beleaguered staff serving wine at the
opening night reception in Memorial Hall
basement. Everyone in the audience seemed
to stay for the reception that night, not
wanting to leave after a magic premier of
Anne Chislett's drama about the western
Ontario Amish community at the time of
World War I. I could hardly pull the corks
from the wine bottles quickly enough to fill
the demand. To tell the truth, I missed much
of the reception, but I couldn't miss the
excitement in the Toom. Our Blyth audience
knew they were seeing something big being
bom and they wanted to be part of it.
The play went on to win the Governor
General's Award for Anne Chislett and was
produced in most of the larger theatres
across Canada and in a famous New York
off-Broadway theatre.
But the thrill of the very first opening
night perhaps tops all other opening nights, a
thrill that is perhaps faded even in the
memories of even those select 400 who were
there. At the time, after that July 9, 1975
opening, I wrote the following in the old
Blyth Standard:
"Remember those old movies during the
war years, the ones where everyone breaks
out singing at any moment?"
"You know the ones: a young bunch of
struggling entertainers manages to put
together a show that goes on to be a big
Broadway hit and they all live happily ever
after. One of the stock scenes from all those
movies was the scene after opening night
the imagination of some script writer, yet
much the same kind of sentiments were
flowing last Wednesday night at th luncheon
that followed the opening of the Blyth
Summer Festival. Oh it was coffee not
champagne and styrofoam cups instead of
crystal, and sandwiches, not caviar, but the
emotions were the same. There was the
feeling of both ending and beginning; the
feeling of accomplishment but of challenge
ahead; but most of all the feeling of great joy
and elation."
"The luncheon was provided by village
council for those who had taken part in the
opening of the festival and the re-opening
and rededication of Memorial Hall. But
somehow by that time of night the talk was
all about Mostly in Clover. Members of the
cast, though tired, were floating on a cloud
because of the tremendous reception show
by the near-capacity audience. They had
received a standing ovation, something that
every actor dreams about on opening night."
"Those in the audience had a tremendous
teeling too. There is a magic in being
involved in an exciting theatre presentation,
particularly being there for the very first
presentation of the play. This time there was
the extra elation of being involved at the
very beginning of something that is going to
last a long lime and grow and grow: The
Blyth Summer Festival."
"The scene in the basement of Memorial
Hall is really hard to describe. Members of
the cast were being greeted and
congratulated by new-found friends who
they've made since coming to Blyth a month
ago. They were having their hands shaken by
people who they'd never met before but who
had enjoyed the first night. The director,
James Roy and writer, Steve Thome, were
surrounded by people congratulating them.
And everyone in the room was smiling."
"That, in itself, is something to
experience: to be in a room were everyone is
happy at the same time; where no one is
bearing someone else a grudge; where a
love-thy-neighbour policy seems to be real.
Those present will remember that feeling for
a long time."
Take a bow Blyth
Festival for bringing Seasons of Canadian^sj
Theatre to the stage
A hearty welcome to our Blyth 523-4700
visitors and friends Peter & Carol Irwin
Doug Bale who brought with him a copy of
the review he had telephoned in to the paper.
He predicted the play would end up on
Broadway (not quite, but it did have a New
York production).
By the end of the week the telephones in
the box office were ringing off the wall and
where everyone involved (and just about
everyone in New York it seems), took part in
a party until the wee hours of the morning.
They waited impatiently and a little
frightened, until the morning papers were
rushed in with the reviews of the critics. The
show, of course, was always pronounced a
There was magic in the air for the opening of I'll Be Back Before Midnight in
1979. The production was repeated in 1980 with Tom Arnott and Anne Anglin.
A Standing Ovation for
Blyth Festival
as they celebrate their
20th Anniversary Season
Gary, Christina, Michael, Elisha,
Nicholas, Brett & Staff
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