The Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-04-19, Page 17IIThe .10 r
crest Coritoderat . b
a
Theatre PA Mural; bait; a
fancy die -but it it devoted to a.
dellnitelx un--cy thorns,
tre presents what it bas dub
"'l < rarm ,Show'! ---and
is exactlywhat it Is* Ttiitit's a ,
farm shOW with a diff er
The firSI. time. heard ,„.of
Theatre Passe Muraille::w,as
d at- Clinton, where..so;e
of
Colleagues. in. the. w
newspaper fleld• were trttilting of
the rollicking .show ,wide, had.
produced, by a: ;group, pf,
oronto .actors., Accord to
these'p p�a tt vas a°'riot from,.
:' tart<to i nishe_ •
•
Clinton PeopIe bad ore than a
'interest id 'theshow be-
cause the ..production Was :n don.
iris t in them own back yard.
m n va"s ,born in; .
once dward'and. but:tspent;
several years, Intowel
he attended high school and,
facti worked at The Banneroft1 e
tfor a time,
Intent on be00Ming a irreneh
tom
a few years back and in :� e
course of his stay ;thread became..
dgePlY interelited in theatre and
its possibilities,
'. ith the . ,,usual . arti
regar0:for the convention
comes' t you,:,,looking for,,
world a h al
the prophet
except that wears a'' chei
sort" and`earries a' great sat
over .his she ilder; 'Thad; .>k a
suspect, is his office,
• head of curly hair atnd
v`est-time crop, of 'hi,
grvr beard provtde',the
ting for a pair of twinklii
st summer Pal l
,
of s. eery.
Toronto andlirtiVed Clin-
ton area, where they opt up head
quarters in a 0101110 `e ppty
farmhouse, 'crated to the cause
by a •
egdty e + ]/,'Q
Naturally ally T
T
deal of curlity in .the a coag
munity about
were doing dow0aL: �e odd' ba
fore long.they` found, the
.at.e;countr�tvo 'mnaekw
omen were 'human,
e thei
laked:` when el+ . and y
tvited, to a ,preview,. r
one, Sunday after -1n
tilts. had. ,the neigh
--mot in. the uisie heli
t►eir seats were on nr
bales of straw and gold m.
stools at they saw w
solvesr , , the life per.
community :ase d
traced." by the actors:
characterAs a ` !
Fox aamatter
who were trord :tic
' nized most. of then:
thew s owls of
bald„°<
�groa�ns �of�.esa
contiiaaaly °fr(
blehers : aY
a
Anac�s pnieht► tied'' actor,
, manag , wb' e
characters :of ,the'comptity fib;
alltt � t to offen �'
ionall,i
{ et?!t;]uotektt7t
riot toybealr false witless° of t
)ers�aona ltj of t of t ,ne
ound`!. '.lends, .... r fy S • 45j Y. .'
THERE WERE N9. AISLES—When 'heatre. Passe
Murapresented ille i
p e t� first version of
The Farm Show at
Clinton last summer, there were no aisles to roll in. The
audience, which included not only nelghboring farm
families but' serious theatre -goers from Stratford and.To-
ronto,. was seated on bales of .straw, oldA crates and the
beams of Ray Bird's barn which became the theatre for the
production. When it plays Listowel on April 26, 27, The
Farre Shor r will, be presented in The- Listowel Livestock
Sales Barn on Wallace Ave, north, '
ro gh a.,trap
overhand Paul
vi aUdiencetts
e some refreshments
the actors. This
ce . fol. discussion between
and audienee.was as much
=appreciated byy one group as by
the Other, for the six actors
wanted to.know whether;their
initiretationshad been .success -
in the operons of those from
whomthey had received their in-
formation.
Perhaps .one of the seldom
e'ntioned but basically . impor-
t., consequences of the show
:was that farm folkand long-
haired
.� types mutually learned
'at all were, after all, human,
lovable and good-natured.
THIS IS A THEATItet Shakespeare himself might have
.. g Pi�r'rr1 Show, Expensive stage settingsand •. props were total -
been
delighted with the adaptabillfy of the Theatre Passep ps
. ly lacking; an. unused bairn was all they n
Murnllle. aeiors who prented the original version of The ` 1� y ceded.
i'�Ifw BCj. S7"f.L. A box stallmein
f f'k
-•-�w -� the dressi g r t
r1 oom� #dor ti'e-seors,w
The Farm Show to a delighted audience ;.at Clinton during u g c'
summer. City audiences ,were lust' as delighted as their Country cousins;
moved to Toronto. Shown standing on the left is Theatre Passe Mi rail ei
who Wrote the show:
s�►
aysee
ea asse uraille s pro- effect is quite hu more, s in some,
duction of "The Farm Show" has • touching in others others and::totally.
an obvious and direct appeal to credible."
rural people—an appeal which "Wide-eyed ; Janet Ainos was
might have lacked any signifi- hilarious as the fidgety; kind of
cance for city audiences. absent mmhded Mrs. Lobb, Miles,
However, the show, written and Potter was exhausting when he
produced by Paul Thompson in told the -story of lifting bales of
the Clinton area last summer hay. David Foxwas pathetic as
seemed to be as captivating for Charley Wilson, a sad man
city sophisticates as for the "hay- because of an unfortunate tick.
Anne Anglin, . Fina MacDonell
►npiy early for seeds".
Lynn Slotkin, ,writing in Radio and Paul Thorhpson all added
York, said, "The Farm Show is a their iownpersonal touches to the
ter Safety prime example of how good a evening."
" °
show can be if allthe actors care "Director Thompson has done
ami lagers about what they are doing. The wonders. He's taken a subject
show is great." that most suburbanites and ur-
unting accidents in Ontario "The show is composed of little banites might just scoff at and
a a .declined during the past 10 playlets, each dealing with dif- say, Who cares abotit farm life?'
years. In 1960 there were 146
fertent aspectse of farm life. The and made the subject come alive
neidentt. In 1971 there were 81
aired result of the mandatory p
idents. This improvement is a Farm
Show to
ay
safety training program for new
hunters which began in 1960. - - - - - - -
he program requires new
bunters (and former hunts
'without proof of past hunting e
perience) to pass the Ministry
Natural Resources hunter safet
e amination before they may ob
in hunting licenses. In prepara
titin for the 'examination mos
new hunters take a trainin
Bourse in hunting safety
Qtfalified instructors provid
these courses in local areas in co
■r■�■vw�■
rs
X_ In order to bring The Farm
of Show to rural Southwestern
y Ontario, Paul Thompson turned
down a $30,000 grant which would
have financed a tour through the
t Eastern United States. But feel -
g ing as strongly as he does about
the theatre and how it ought to
e relate to rural people in particu-
lar, Thompson doesn't appear to
Operation with the Ministry pro
k'am.
The busiest time each year for
the conservation officers who
conduct hunter examinations is
during early fall when the hunt -
lug seasons are soon to com-
merie. Arranging for an instruc-
tivn course and arranging for an
' exe►rnination appointment during
thectowded fail schedule takes
titrie, Many new hunters then
With they had taken the exam
earlier in the year,
To, persons who are going to
liltedan examination before fall
hunting this year we recommend
eirran.g it it early. Scheduled
� y ,led
* triltiaitions are conducted
tbinlrdititicughoutr, the spring and
,
regret his sacrifice.
After winding up its Southwest-
ern Ontario tour in the Stratford
Festival Theatre on May 13,
Theatre Passe Muraille is looking
forward to taking The Farm
Show to the National Arts Centre
Studio Theatre in Ottawa in
August. Following that the show
will visit New York State.
Play Dates
The play's tour in this area gets
under way in 'Orangeville where
The Farm Show will be seen April
24, 25.
The next two nights, .April 26,
27, it will play Paul Thompson's
home town ---Listowel, where it
will be staged in the Listowel
Livestock Sales barn On Wallace
Ave. north. Tickets are available
w iflgnam
at The Listowel Banner office and
also from high school students.
Prices for the show have been set
at a minimal $1.50 for adults and
$i for children.
As Paul Thompson notes, he
probably has enough relatives in
the Elma Township area to all,
but fill the barn -theatre one
night; so those wanting to catch
The Farm Show in Listowel had
better get their tickets early.
On April 29 the play moves to
Blyth for one night before going
to Amherstburg for another one-
night stand on April 30.
The Farm Show's dates in
Clinton on May 3 and May 5 will
be split by an appearance in
Wingham on Friday, May 4,
where the show will be sponsored
by the Wingham Kinsmen Club.
Further details about the Wing -
ham showing will be published in
the intervening week.
Following the Clinton showing
on May 5, the show will play
Brussels on May 6 before winding
up its tour with a production in
the Stratford Festival Theatre on
Sunday, May 13.
'and breathe a d
thrive lle,..
made people care about' those.
farmers, about 'their problems
and about their future -Land,
that's' what theatre is all about,"
In praising 'the work, Toronto
critic Urjo Kaneda referred to it
as being "realismof a magic
intensity:"
"It is'difficult to aocount for. the +.
excitement which this production
brings," Kameda wrote in his .re-
view. "Pertly there is the lucid
beauty and ease of Paul Thomp-
son's methodology, and the vivid-
ness
ividness of six actors - Anne Anger
Janet Amos, Fina MacDonnell,
David Fox, Miles Potter and
Thompson himself - performing
with such versatility, tact and
palpable compassion.
"The evening is . filled with
subtle cross-references so that
we come to discover a whole con-
tained world. In The Farm Show,
Thompson and his actors have
helped us to know, understand'
and love a community of people
beyond our sphere of familiarity.
As artists, they can have no
higher ambition."
Writing for The Globe and
Mail, Robert Martin said, "The
Farm Show, playing at Theatre
Passe Muraille, renews one's
faith in the theatre as a positive
force in the community. It pre-
sents a balanced view of a wad► of
life that despite all its problems --
and farmers have many --is in-
trinsically decent, dignified and
downright healthy."
"The Farm Show," noted
Martin, "was a risky undertaking
in the sense that it could have
been a superficial snapshot of
country life depicting the people
as cute and folksy hayseeds,
Playwright Thompson (perhaps
editor is a better word) seems;to
have been aware of that danger.
He . included a sequence on the
dreariness and enToreed insu-
larity of the people in winter that
balanced the bacchanal of the
Orange. Day parade. The troupe
mimed farm accident in which
a roan lost half his fa to ,a
binder and eventually died."
•