The Citizen-Blyth Festival, 1999-06-23, Page 27BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1999. PAGE 7.
Belshaw loves playing worldly-wise Mrs. Crump
By Janice Becker
Citizen staff
Her enthusiasm is infectious as
she describes the wonderful
character she will portray in David
French’s That Summer.
Diana Belshaw will help create
the role of Mrs. Crump, the
smoking, drinking and world-wise
teacher who lives next door at the
summer cottage.
“She is a great, dynamic
character,” says Belshaw. With her
cigars and drinking, she is a very
lively older woman who is able to
talk to the teen girls staying next
door about her memories of first
love and sex.
“She is not trashy. She has more
depth and perception. She just
loves life, like the young do.”
Befshaw is also very happy
about the way Mrs. Crump has
changed from the original reading
of the script. As the writer
continues to refine the work and
the actors put in a few “little
suggestions”, Crump is no longer
as prudish as she started out,
Belshaw says with a winning
smile.
It is that creation of the character
that Belshaw finds the most
exciting.
“It is our job to bring the
character to life in a believable
way and remaining aware of how
they fit into the play. I don’t just
do the part as it should be, but how
it feeds the scene and connects.
You have to see the big picture and
be part of the jigsaw.”
Belshaw says she adores
working on new plays, a common
theme to Blyth productions, as “it
Diana Belshaw takes the stage in Blyth
for the first time in 10 years.
is the most exciting place
to be in theatre”.
“With a new play, it is
the actor's role to serve
the play and the writer's
vision while giving the
writer and the director as
much truth as possible so
they can figure out where
the script needs
adjustments.
“I give it my heart and
soul. I fight for what is
important, but don't cry
when it is cut.
“This is a really lovely
play, funny and
touching.”
She describes the story
as a memory play as a
character comes back to a
summer place after 40
years, the place where
she first fell in love.
It is a play about love,
all kinds of love she says. “About
unexpected love and what love
means in life. We can see what a
treasure love can be even if it is
not fulfilled.”
If Belshaw’s enthusiasm for the
play translates to the stage, it is
sure to be a memorable
performance.
Absent from the Blyth stage as
an actress for 10 years (she
directed the acclaimed Thirteen
Hands last season), Belshaw says
she came back because she fell in
love with That Summer.
“It is a pleasure to work with
David French. It is a great gift.”
Belshaw spends much of her
time teaching at Humber College
as well as directing. A year ago she
helped co-found a theatre in
Windsor which develops new
plays, especially ones which reflect
that area.
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