Blyth Festival 2024/ 50th Anniversary Season featuring world premieres by Birgitte Solem, Beverley Cooper, Gil Garratt and Mark Crawford, Margaret Stephens Stage, Blyth Memorial Hall, plus The Farm Show, Harvest Stage, Blyth ON; tickets here.
During its 50 year history, the Blyth Festival has featured plays anchored in the sensibilities of SouthWestern Ontario and Huron County in particular. Although geared to local small town and rural audiences, a significant number of these plays have found a wider public in theatres across the country, even winning the prestigious Governor General’s Award for Drama, such as Anne Chislett’s masterpiece, Quiet in the Land.
For this very special 50th anniversary season, the festival is mounting a staggering five world premieres, all of which have been commissioned and developed at Blyth. With a nod to the past, the festival is also presenting The Farm Show, a landmark play from 1972.
On the so-called Bonanza Weekend, I caught five of the productions. Three have now closed, and two continue until the end of August. The sixth play, Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes, opens on August 14, which is a joint commission between Blyth and Fourth Line Theatre. If it sounds familiar, I saw the play when it had its run at Fourth Line and that review can be found here.
What follows are mini reviews of the five productions showcased on the Bonanza Weekend, beginning with the two that are currently running.
The Trials of Maggie Pollock
By Beverley Cooper, directed by Ann-Marie Kerr, Margaret Stephens Stage, closes Aug. 29.
This play has a fascinating premise but needs work.
As hard as it is to believe, Blyth farm woman Maggie Pollock was charged with witchcraft in 1919. The ancient law was designed to punish so-called fortune tellers who were making money from gullible people who sought their services.
Apparently Maggie (Caroline Gillis) did have a genuine gift of second sight, and really did help people for a 50 cent “gratuity”, as she called it. Nonetheless, a self-righteous, unbelieving constable (J.D. Nicholsen) goes after Maggie to stop this practice. Luckily, Maggie does have the support of her loyal brother (Cameron Laurie).
Cooper has structured the play on three levels. First, we see what is happening to Maggie in the real world of law courts and prosecutors. Second, Cooper has also included flashbacks to Maggie’s childhood and how she coped with the gift.
There is also the spirit world where we meet Maggie’s two guides who give her advice. One is Kate (Amy Keating), an American woman who had a successful career as a famous medium/seer. The other is Sarah Wildes (Susan Stackhouse), a real historical figure who was executed during the Salem Witch Trials.
The creation of the spirits is a clever way of fleshing out the play, and it gives Cooper a chance to touch on the plight of women through the ages. Sarah Wildes in particular, is given a fierce feminist polemic.
Unfortunately, what is missing is any dramatic tension as the play gets bogged down in the back stories of the spirits. In fact, the spirits almost take over the play. As well, the appeal court judges are played as farce, which, while amusing, is a jarring insert. It is almost as if the playwright is throwing a lot of writing styles at the audience to see what sticks. It doesn’t help that director Ann-Marie Kerr’s glacial pacing slows everything down.
While the acting from everyone is strong, particularly Gillis, Maggie’s actual plight gets lost in the morass of too much information.
On a positive note, Cooper is one of our most adept writers, so I’m sure the play will continue to be developed.
Resort to Murder
By Birgitte Solem, directed by Randy Hughson, Margaret Stephens Stage, closes Aug. 31.
Murder mysteries are a lot of fun and this play has a lot going for it.
A couple (Jamie Mac and Fiona Mongillo) are turning the husband’s island country home into an inn. Brett, the husband, wants to try out the idea of an escape room as entertainment for future guests. He plants clues in the room, which, when found, will reveal the code to open the locked door.
To conduct the experiment, he ropes in his wife and the inn’s staff. There is Josh (Landon Doak), the genial boat operator, Gayle (Hallie Seline), the cynical restaurant manager, and Silas (Geoffrey Armour), the enthusiastic chef.
Much to the disgust of Viv, the wife, the mystery that Brett choses to solve is a real life one — the disappearance many years ago of a family — the parents and their son — in a boating accident. Viv is upset because it involves real people who have been turned into characters in a game.
Playwright Solem is a master at writing snappy dialogue which really denotes character. She also is a deft hand at revealing clues, layering on complications and throwing in red herrings.
The director is that peerless actor Randy Hughson, who shows he is able to deal with comedy and tragedy in equal measure. In his capable hands, the play rollicks along at an enjoyable pace, propelled by a talented cast.
Even though the ending seems a little too pat, and there are some questionable character flaws, Resort to Murder fits the murder mystery genre to a tee, and one can see a shelf life for this entertaining play in regional theatres and summer stock companies around the country.
Saving Graceland
By Gil Garratt, directed by James MacDonald, closed Aug. 3.
Blyth artistic director Gil Garratt has turned into a very accomplished playwright and his troubling Saving Graceland is ready for prime time. This is one of those Blyth plays that can appeal to a wide audience.
The subject matter is very timely. A couple has to take custody of their granddaughter because their daughter is an addict who disappears for weeks at a time. There is also an amusing subplot involving Elvis Presley. The couple is obsessed with Elvis, and the husband is an Elvis impersonator, which offsets the harrowing nature of the central tragic events.
Garratt’s structure is a series of both scenes and monologues, but it is in the latter that he shows his true mettle as a playwright. The monologues are filled with insightful commentary on the human condition which gives the play real depth. They aren’t just about the matter at hand — the daughter’s addiction — but range far and wide, which gives us a revealing entree into character.
In the best writing tradition, we hear about daughter Lauren in the first act, but don’t meet her until the opening of the second. It’s a common device, but in this case, it does work to the advantage of the play. Lauren’s monologue, her only one, creates one of the most shocking and surprising moments in the play.
The cast was simply superb, with Caroline Gillis and J.D. Nicholsen as the grandparents, Amy Keating as Lauren, Cameron Laurie as Lauren’s high school friend Ben, and Garratt’s own adorable 8-year-old daughter Goldie as little Dylan.
There are some directors that go beyond the usual of creating movement patterns and presenting character development, and James MacDonald is one. You could sense a fine understanding behind the staging that gave Saving Graceland a greater impact on the audience.
This production was blessed by a rich patina of intelligence.
The Golden Anniversaries
By Mark Crawford, directed by Miles Potter, closed Aug. 4.
At the moment, Mark Crawford is one of the most produced playwrights in Canada, and it is his comic take on life that has made him such a theatre darling.
The Golden Anniversaries is a two-hander about a couple by the name of Golden, who happen to be celebrating their golden anniversary. The problem is that wife Sandy (Janet-Laine Green) has kicked husband Glen (Jim Mezon) out of the house.
The setting is the family cottage where Glen is staying, and he has used trickery to get Sandy to join him there. The play is told through a series of flashbacks, in which we learn details about their own histories, their children, but most of all, the ups and downs of their relationship.
An interesting overlay is how their memories differ, one from the other — or, to coin a phrase, recollections may vary.
The play contains Crawford’s usual clever one-liners and comic situations, and is a light-hearted look at marriage. He does, however, introduce the serious topics of dementia and other health issues which seems a bit of a gerrymander, with the play taking a sharp turn away from the road down memory lane. The ending seems to come out of left field.
This production presented the unusual phenomenon of an actor being too big for the character. While it was a lot of fun watching Mezon in a comic role, including his brilliant delivery and response, his Glen seemed forced. Mezon is one of Canada’s greatest actors, and seeing him as the harried husband, no matter how amusing, was like watching a heavyweight fighting a lightweight.
For her part, Green as the feisty Sandy was perfect. She is a senior artist who uses her many years of experience to enrich the role, while director Miles Potter kept things moving crisply along.
In short, The Golden Anniversaries seems like two plays where the comic and serious elements have trouble fitting together.
The Farm Show: Then & Now
Written by Ted Johns, after the Theatre Passe Muraille Collective, directed by Gil Garratt, closed Aug. 4.
When The Farm Show debuted in 1972, it set the Canadian theatre community on its ear. The iconic play was one of the country’s first forays into creative creation through improvisation.
On the whim of Paul Thompson and Ted Johns to find a farmer who loved his tractor, a group of actors from Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille went to Clinton, Ontario to create a show based on interviews with local farmers.
When needed, the actors also lent a hand doing farm work. Then, through improvisation, they built a show, which several years later, was set down in script form by Johns.
The Farm Show is mostly a series of monologues that touch on all aspects of life and include marriage, death, families, religion, politics, and detailed description of farm work, both from a man’s and woman’s point of view. The brutal honesty of these candid interviews continues to be astonishing even after five decades.
The actors also created a host of original songs, as well as becoming their own props using physical theatre conventions. They also made their own sound effects.
In the Blyth remount, the actors added an introduction, giving the background to the play. Apparently, they also met with the original actors and surviving members of the farm families to give depth to their performances.
Garratt came on stage near the end to give a beautiful tribute to the late great actor, David Fox, written by fellow actor, Miles Potter. Fox, of course had been one of the original cast.
In short, this production of The Farm Show, performed on Blyth’s beautiful outdoor Harvest Stage, was a loving tribute to the original, specifically in how they used their bodies to create various props and animals. The talented company were the same actors who are in Resort to Murder.
Even though this show was created many years ago, the plight of the farmer has only worsened, so many of the monologues still land a punch.
Final Thoughts About the Blyth Festival 2024
Garratt’s programming for the 50th anniversary was both gutsy and brilliant.
In the former category, featuring five world premieres which Blyth commissioned and developed is a real leap of faith. Some are going to be better than others.
On the other hand, Blyth is a cradle of Canadian plays having presented 106 productions in their 50 year history. Mounting five new plays is a tribute to the storied legacy of this festival.
The brilliance is in bringing back The Farm Show, which had its first showing in Ray Bird’s barn, just down the road from Blyth, where the local audience sat on hay bales and watched actors bringing their stories to life.
As a final note, and this may be a strange one, I should mention the fact that the lighting for the four plays at Memorial Hall was notable, with all the effects contributing to the specific atmosphere of each production.
When one is aware that lighting is adding something positive to the stage picture, that means a very good job is at hand. So kudos to Beth Kates (Saving Graceland and The Trials of Maggie Pollock), and Nic Vincent (The Golden Anniversaries and Resort to Murder).
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