Gabriola players find a home, look for a place
By Bruce Mason, Gabriola Sounder
Monday, March 17 2008
“Women want more say!” said Lorna Pentz, with a heartfelt laugh, after the Sunday matinee performance by the Gabriola Players.
“It was very good, in fact extraordinary, that here on our island - which is so much like a village - that we have so many people who can act so well,” she added.
“Extraordinary,” it is.
For its eighth highly successful production the island’s amateur theatre group staged six short works and The Roxy was sold out for all three performances, including a Sunday matinee that appealed to many older residents, some of whom prefer afternoon events.
The ambitious undertaking brought home the fact more than ever that the popular Gabriola Players need room to grow - a place to rehearse and to store props and sets.
Director Dandelion conceived of the idea: “Let’s Hear It For The Women! Selections from the drama of our lives; some poignant and lively theatrical vignettes to honour International Women’s Day and to entertain women and men alike.”
The most outstanding feature of the production that was enjoyed by so many, was the range of material itself, a testament to Dandelion’s uncanny ability to find unfamiliar material for local actors that resonates so well with the community.
“I read plays all the time,” she said. “When I decided to honour International Women’s Day, I discovered I had found several short works and tried to also find a way to strike a balance between relevant contemporary social issues and some upbeat material.”
The decision to include Nanaimo-based singer Joan Wallace in the program was just one of many inspired touches. She has created a fan base on Gabriola with numerous appearances at the monthly Coffeehouse and provided poignant and elegant moments in three musical compositions grouped together as “Women in Song.” She also brought along the two other members of her group Mama’s Kitchen for the two evening performances.
Truly inspired was the upbeat ending “Modern Feminist,” a Michelle Porter take-off on Gilbert and Sullivan in which Shelagh Huston had the crowd in stitches in an impressive staccato delivery of what seemed to be endless and difficult lines, while Carolyn Wilkinson, Ruth O’Neill and David Soy provided the perfect foil with a delightfully madcap chorus.
Three short pieces formed the theatrical body of the production, including the classic and definitive scene from Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” in which Nora - played perfectly by Caroliz Perez - announces that she will no longer be a doll and is leaving her incredulous domineering husband. Apparently Oscar Reeves, who played Torvald, worried that people in the audience would throw things at him in the highly charged moment.
Sunday - and presumably during the other performances - was tough for husbands, including an equally incredulous Don Whitton as a ghost, the deceased husband of a wife portrayed by Jean Wyenberg who, despite weariness, soldiers on in a journey of self discovery away from the confines of their now lonely home place.
The two actors created a timeless and universal scene in “Juice of Wild Strawberries,” a Canadian play that many would assume was written in the Deep South, through humour, tragedy, familiarity, respect and enduring love that is integral to a long marriage.
“Landscape with Pigeons” also brought the world home through a heart wrenching and compelling conversation between two mothers of gay lovers in the shadow of a New York hospital in which one has just died.
B.J. Godson and Catherine Andersen delivered the stark contrast between characters from Hamilton and Montreal respectively, and the universal theme of acceptance, including lost opportunities to achieve it.
For my money “The Drum Lesson” said it all and did so in remarkably few words. Apparently when Dandelion found the Caroline Cage work she wondered aloud if there were enough female drummers on Gabriola to pull it off. No problem here.
With Rose Topp and Valerie Mermet as bookends the five women - including Judith Roux, Valerie Walsh and Carol Martin - provided exceptional insights into character with little more than gestures and body language. And in the end came together in a drummer’s equivalent of a group hug.
Six plays, 16 performers and a crew of almost 25 made for some complicated juggling of times and spaces. Dandelion reported that the Gabriola Players are looking for directors and lighting technicians as well as their next project. But most of all they need some space.
In a relatively short time, our amateur theatre group has given us so many memorable moments and high quality performances and productions, including dinner theatre and outreach programs.
Somewhere on Gabriola there is an under-utilized building to rehearse in and to store the growing number of sets and props. Don’t keep it a secret, contact a member of the Gabriola Players. Many of us are looking forward to their next production.
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