The Citizen-Blyth Festival 2002, 2002-06-05, Page 22MEDIrchalr
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Fax: (519) 523-9189
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PAGE 22. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002.
Blyth Memorial Hall a centre of entertainment
Then and now
Blyth Memorial Hall (above) as it vas shortly after completion in 1920, and (below) as it is today.
Though it went through some tough times, today the building welcomes thousands of people a
year from all over the region, not just for theatre but for concerts too.
The community worked together
to raise the money to build the
magnificent new hall which
contained a theatre seating well over
500 (modern safety requirements
have shaved the number of seats)
plus a downstairs meeting hall.
In the decades following the 1921
opening, Memorial Hall was a centre
of community life. By the 1970s,
however, the use of the theatre
portion of the building had declined
to the point it was often used only
two days a year, one of these being
the annual Remembrance Day
ceremony.
In 1972 a group of local citizens
worked to spruce up the hall, using
volunteer labour. But concern for
safety, first because of a lack of fire
escapes, then over the safety of the
roof, stopped the efforts to put the
building back in use. An enginees
report said the roof needed either to
be replaced with a stronger
structural design, or needed to be
supported by pillars in the middle of
the auditorium. With the limited use
of the theatre, it was tempting to just
close that part of the building and
save the money. But urged on by
Liona Boyd, Maureen Forrester,
Haygood Hardy, Murray
McLaughlin, Valdy, Andre Gagnon,
LorEena McKennitt, Veronica
Tennant, Timothy Findlay, Irish
Rovers, Frank Mills or Catherine
McKinnon and Don Harron (alias
Charlie Farquharson) . . . the list of
performers who have performed at
Blyth Memorial Hall reads like a
who's who of Canadian
entertainment.
Memorial Hall has developed,
over the years, to be the
entertainment centre of Huron
County. All summer long it hosts the
Blyth Festival, one of Canada's top
professional theatres and a creator of
many popular plays seen not only in
Canada but around the world. In the
winter, however, it becomes a
concert hall, a favourite place for
both performers and viewers.
The hall is a spectacular place to
attend a concert, particularly for
those performers who depend on
natural acoustics instead of decibels
of electronically amplified sound.
When Sylvia Tyson and her group
"Quartette" played Memorial Hall
the performers stopped several times
between numbers to comment on the
glorious acoustics of the building.
Internationally famous classical
guitarist Liona Boyd likes to include
a stop in Blyth on her tour schedule.
Memorial Hall is attractive
because it seats nearly 500 people in
a community that, because of the
Blyth Festival, has become known as
the entertainment centre of the
region. Despite the large seating
capacity, the hall is a very intimate
space (only 50 feet from stage to
back wall) that allows the audience
to feel more like they're in an
impromptu concert in someone's
living room than in a concert hall.
All this is possible because of the
vision of community leaders
following World War I. At the turn of
the century the village had no place
to hold concerts that could attract
large audiences. Unlike other
communities which had built town
halls with second-floor auditoriums,
Blyth depended only on smaller
halls above stores. But when the
village looked for a way to honour
the men of the community who had
served and died, in World War I,
people agreed that a community hall
would be a lasting memorial.
some members of the community,
particularly senior citizens who
obtained a special grant to help
restore the building to its former use,
village councillors voted to replace'
the roof structure in the fall of 1974.
By the next summer, professional
theatre arrived with the Blyth
Festival.
Since those make-or-break days,
the Blyth Festival has twice
expanded the building, providing
dressing rooms and added back-
stage space as well as a larger lobby
and many more washrooms. The
Festiva'. has also equipped the hall
with modern lighting and sound
equipment, making it an attractive
venue for touring performers.