The Citizen, 2003-08-13, Page 23THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2003. PAGE 23.
Entertainment $ Leisure
Theatre review
Ovation deserved for Blyth’s ‘Hope
our
theBy Sarah Mann
Citizen staff
celebrates the harmony of
relationships while exaiming
roots of discord.
All actors involved in
Having Hope at Home
Dinner’s on the table but no one is eating it in this scene from Having Hope at Home, written
by David S. Craig. From left: Russell (Jerry Franken), Jane (Michelle Fisk), Bill (Ross
Manson), Carolyn (Mary Krohnert) and Dawn (Caroline Gillis). (Courtesy photo)
grandfather.
Franken uses his body language,
posture, voice, and great acting
ability to add many thoughtful
insights.
The slightest movement of his
Having Hope at Home is literally
about having hope at home.
The play, written by David S.
Craig, had its world premiere
Thursday night at the Blyth Festival
and it ended with well-deserved
standing ovation.
The fourth offering in this year’s
season. Having Hope at Home
centres around a family’s ability to
accept choices made.
Carolyn, a university dropout, and
her dairy-farming boyfriend Michel
live with her grandfather Russel in
the farmhouse where he was bom.
To them the farm represents
“space, stars, and quiet” but to
Carolyn’s parents it’s the “face of
poverty.”
Carolyn’s father Bill is the head of
gynecology at a local hospital and
her mother. Jane, has raised millions
of dollars for that department.
Carolyn and Michel are having a
baby and have made the decision for
a home birth with a midwife.
Aware that this decision would not
sit well with her hospital-loving
parents, they attempt to keep it from
them.
To prove her maturity Carolyn
invited her parents over for a turkey
dinner, a dinner that will prove to
them she’s an adult
But, on the evening of the big
dinner, just before her parents
arrived, she begins to have
contractions and something else is
ready to come but of the oven.
Carolyn wanted to hold off the
birth long enough to feed her parents
dinner and the perfect rhubarb pie
hut it soon became apparent that she
was going to have to tell her parents
the awful truth: she wanted to have
her baby at home.
Craig has written a story that does
what artistic director Eric Coates’s
program notes promises it
this
production played their parts with
precision.
Mary Krohnert as the independant
Carolyn, plays the gentle loving side
of Carolyn as well as the rebellious,
defensive side she shows to her
parents.
Played by Shawn Mathieson, it’s
easy to giggle at excited father-to-be,
Michel, whose mullett hairstyle and
broken English add to the humour.
As Bill, Ross Manson did an
excellent job of taking on the role of
a stubborn but caring father who has
his daughter’s best interest at heart.
One would think it would be easy
to laugh at the man when he makes
his case for not having a baby at
home but he acts the part so
convincingly it’s easily understood
he’s not joking.
Michelle Fisk had smarmy Jane
totally figured out, playing a clueless
mother who thinks she’s got all the
clues in figuring out why her
daughter chose a modest way of life
while Caroline Gillis added a breath
of relaxation with her character
Dawn, the midwife.
As Russell, Jerry Franken added
many dimensions to the role of the
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eyebrows or waver in his voice
showed just how vulnerable a man in
his position can feel.
“I’m just a burden and when
Carolyn has her baby it will be
worse,” he observes at one point.
Although some of his lines could
have easily come off as cheesy
(“rhubarb pie is sweet and sour, just
like life”), one gets the feeling of
how much thought was put into them
because they’re said with such an
innocent quality.
He made me laugh hysterically,
brought tears to my eyes, and gave
me an overwhelming urge to give
him a hug.
While everything comes together
in the end I was left thinking about
something Russell shared earlier in
the play - “lots of things change but
they don’t always get better.”
I would love to see what the
family was like the next day.
Having Hope at Home runs until
Aug. 24.
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receive a free lunch,
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.Love your family.