The Citizen, 2018-6-7, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018. PAGE 19.
Entertainment & Leisure
`Pigeon King' triumphant in Festival return
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Back again
The Pigeon King is back on the Blyth Festival stage for a limited run of shows to kick off the
Festival's 2018 season. The show is on stage until June 15, before it will make its way to
Ottawa to be part of the National Arts Centre's 2018/2019 season. The remount is just as good
as the original, which exhibits the best of what the Festival has to offer. From left: Jason
Chesworth, Birgitte Solem, J.D. Nicholsen, Rebecca Auerbach, Festival Artistic Director Gil
Garratt and George Meanwell. (terry Manzo photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
The Pigeon King truly is the Blyth
Festival at its best. The show
showcases much of the Festival's
greatest achievements in the world
of Canadian theatre all in one show.
The Pigeon King, last season's
runaway hit, is opening the 2018
season with a three-week run before
the season officially begins in late
June with the world premiere of
Mark Crawford's The New
Canadian Curling Club.
While The Pigeon King tells the
story of Pigeon King International,
its founder Arlan Galbraith and his
multi -million -dollar scheme, it's
very much about the farmers who
wanted to believe Galbraith. Like so
many Festival shows before it, The
Pigeon King tells the story of
disenfranchised Canadians whose
tales aren't often told.
The portrayal of farmers' lives on
the stage has been a Blyth tradition
since Paul Thompson brought a
group of Theatre Passe Muraille
actors from Toronto to Goderich
Township for what would eventually
become The Farm Show. Now,
decades later, the Festival is
established as one of Canada's top
theatre centres and Thompson's
daughter Severn is lending her talent
and vision to directing shows like
The Pigeon King, bringing her
award-winning style to shows of
national import and bringing that
storytelling legacy into the next
generation.
The show stars Blyth Festival
Artistic Director Gil Garratt as
Galbraith, another great Festival
tradition that sees the Festival's top
professional flex his/her muscle,
either on stage or behind the scenes
directing a show every season.
The complete cast of creators has
returned from last season, including
Rebecca Auerbach, J.D. Nicholsen,
Jason Chesworth, Birgitte Solem,
George Meanwell and Garratt, and
will soon take their show on the road
as The Pigeon King will close out
Ottawa's National Arts Centre's
2018/2019 season.
The show really does have it all.
The jokes are quick and witty, the
music is profound and well -
composed and the emotions are very,
very real. You can see why it's the
first show in years to be remounted
and why it turned the head of Artistic
Director Jillian Keiley at the
National Arts Centre.
The story of Pigeon King
International starts innocently
enough and the audience feels as if
they're on the roller coaster ride with
the farmers Galbraith would
eventually defraud.
The pitch sounds good and
Galbraith is a hell of a salesman.
Optimism abounds in the first half
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until a plucky, young reporter starts
asking questions about the
company's end market and the
cracks soon start to show.
The audience then follows the
story through Galbraith's bizarre
trial and walks alongside the farm
families left to pick up the pieces of
their lives once Pigeon King
International has abandoned them.
The Festival is truly blessed to
have assembled a team of theatre
professionals so talented and so in
love with Blyth. This team, its talent
and collective potential could be a
winning combination for the Blyth
Festival for years to come.
Like so much great storytelling,
especially that on stage, The Pigeon
King excels most when focusing on
the human side of the story. Whether
it's families left in tatters after
wholly trusting Galbraith, former
T
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for
Josh Wesselink
Jessica Bentley
June 9,2018
BMG Community Centre
Brussels, ON
8 pm - 1 am
Fun, games & more
Tickets $10
employees disheartened to discover
they were part of an illegal operation
or the downfall of Galbraith himself,
The Pigeon King is a master class of
exploration of the human condition.
Auerbach is stunning as always,
gracing Memorial Hall not just with
her acting prowess, but with her
incredible singing voice. Nicholsen
is equally excellent, whether it's on
the guitar, on the drums or as an
injured old farmer optimistically
looking ahead to easy days on the
farm.
Chesworth is a force on the guitar
and heartbreaking as a young farmer
who goes to the "Bank of Mom and
Dad" to make his pigeon dream
come true, while Meanwell
embodies the true multi -
instrumentalist, impressing with
everything from the banjo to the
steel guitar to the violin.
Solem is smart and economical as
the dogged reporter who breaks the
case, unknowingly stepping into the
story of a lifetime — all stemming
from a reader's question.
The real standout, however, is
Garratt, whose Galbraith will go
down as perhaps his greatest role on
the Memorial Hall stage. He's funny,
believable and tragic, all at once.
And they all excel under Severn
Thompson. An accomplished actor
herself, Thompson has demonstrated
the talent and ability to direct the
Festival's biggest shows and
toughest challenges.
The Pigeon King is truly a show
that's not to be missed for fans of the
Blyth Festival's work. If you made a
list of what's great about Blyth
Festival shows, all of those boxes
would be ticked with The Pigeon
King.
The Pigeon King runs until
June 15.
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