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PAGE 16. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002.
It's back on stage in 2002 for actor/director Layne Coleman
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
Beginning his first season as
artistic director of Theatre Passe
Muraille in Toronto, Layne
Coleman created his own tough act
to follow.
A half hour after he was hired for
the job four years ago, Coleman
contacted playwright Michael
Healey to tell him he wanted to
mount his new play, The Drawer
Boy. The play has since gone on to
win numerous awards and critical
acclaim across Canada and
internationally and been given
recognition by Times magazine.
Genius or luck? Coleman prefers,
"A happy accident in my life."
Coming from a rural background,
and having done a European tour of
The Farm Show, the successful
collective experience created by
Paul Thompson, on which The
Drawer Boy is based, Coleman calls
the story a "wonderful, mythical
retelling" of that time.
"When I saw the play
workshopped in Blyth I adored it,"
said Coleman.
"It engaged my heart, my mind
and reflected my cultural and life's
work, my past. I had to love it."
Coleman knew he had to bring the
play to Passe Muraille. His late wife
writer and critic Carol Corbeil, was
equally enthusiastic when she saw
it. "It was a great privilege for me,
one of the more fulfilling duties of
my artistic life," he says of
producing the play.
While achieving. the level of
success that The Drawer Boy has is
something few can predict, Coleman
says he believed the play would be "
a huge hit."
The Passe Muraille production
was also blessed with the fact that
Continued from page 13
drawn by the horses, makes several
rousing appearances in the show.
Various people and groups have
allowed their buildings to be used
as locations for these vignettes.
There are eight different stories
being told at the different locations
and normally each audience
member gets to see only three of
them. However, after the show was
sold out for its entire 2001 season
before the first performance, it was
decided to bring it back for the
2002 season and as part of that, a
special day-long package was
devised that allowed some people
to see all eight of the vignettes,
plus have supper (provided by the
local Lions Club) and see the
grandstand show in the evening.
Tickets for those special,
weekend-only performances,
quickly sold out.
If attending this play that
sprawls over the entire village is
experiencing a total historical and
theatrical immersion for the
audience, it's also a very different
atmosphere for those creating the
show. "For the actors it's part of
being something that's AN
EVENT;' says Eric Coates who
plays the lead role of Will
Donnelly and, as associate director
of the Blyth Festival, will direct
the community vignettes (along
with Wroxeter-native Emily
Boutet). "The fascinating part is
that we related to the audience
differently because they had so
much access to us, between the
vignettes and as we travelled back
and forth. Suddenly we felt we
were all on a big outing together."
Certainly it's a theatre event
unlike any other and that caused a
huge amount of stir in the
Canadian theatre community last
year and created a heavy presale
for this year. As of early May there
were still a limited number of
tickets available but the show is
heading towards its second straight
might say I have built
my performance on his
shoulders — and
hopefully didn't hurt
him."
Franken, who came to
see Coleman's earlier
portrayal of Morgan,
was supportive, he says.
"He created the
definitive version so it's
a little nerve-wracking
performing in front of
him," Coleman admits.
"But he indicated he
approved. That was nice
and it's going to be interesting to
actually play opposite him:'
Admitting it can be somewhat
terrifying anytime you put yourself
on stage, Coleman says simply that
he just gives each role his best every
time he does it.
"That's what makes this fun. The
magic doesn't always happen but
the magic's always there. It's always
fresh for me."
In the last 25 years Coleman
estimates he's been at Blyth for
about 16 summers. His first season
was in 1977, when he performed in
all five shows put-on by the Festival
that year, starting with This Foreign
Land a collectively-created show
that told the story of immigrants
who had come to Huron County
since the Second World War. He has
both directed shows (last year's
McGillicuddy) and acted in them.
He's even been a playwright,
contributing scripts for two shows
produced in Blyth, the most recent,
The Barbershop Quartet, in 1991.
The first show Blue City was first
presented in Blyth, then played
in Toronto and finally became a
movie that was shot in and around
Blyth.
Coleman said living in Blyth for
sold out run.
the summer allows him to cope with "As I get older I enjoy it more and
living in the city for the winter. more:' Coleman said.
Layne Coleman glad to be back in Blyth.
Jerry Franken was available to take
on the role of Morgan, a character
Healey had written with Franken in
mind. "To think he would be playing
the role Michael had dreamed for
him. It was a simple casting job:'
Coleman's connection with the
play continued, with a twist, the
next year. With Franken contracted
to Stratford Festival Coleman was
cast in the role of Morgan for the
Blyth Festival production in the
2000 season.
Now he's back in the remount of
The Drawer Boy at Blyth, but with
another interesting twist. His
Morgan will be playing opposite
Franken, who is taking on the
character of Angus, Morgan's
friend. "It's a pleasure to be doing
this play again especially with
Jerry."
Though the two are friends,
Coleman says he doesn't recall a
time when they ever acted together.
Arid is he unnerved to be playing
the role created by Franken,
opposite Franken? "I like it. You
learn so much when you watch
someone else and I have seen Jerry
doing it so many times that I've
come to understand the character in
ways I probably wouldn't have. You
More than 40 volunteer actors involved