Primarily this is a music-themed column, but since the name “Centre Stage” applies just as well to live theatre as it does to where a lead vocalist usually stands, it seems not only appropriate, but essential to devote some space to the banquet of live comedy and drama happening across northern Nova Scotia this summer.
Let’s start with Theatre Baddeck since its current production Matt Murray’s Myth of the Ostrich is well underway in the company’s new Greenwood Arts Centre, and runs until Saturday, July 25, and the online word has been nothing but positive for the comedy about Pam and Holly, two moms coming to grips with their teenagers’ behaviour, and Cheryl, the best friend from Cape Breton who stirs the pot and sheds some light on the farcical sequence of misunderstandings.
With the expert hand of Mary-Colin Chisholm guiding the goings-on from the director’s chair, and the capable cast of Genevieve Steele as Holly, Hannah Ziss as Pam and Christy MacRae-Ziss as the irrepressible Cheryl, the prospects for a memorable night of summer comedy are very good indeed.
Samantha Wilson takes on the directing duties for Theatre Baddeck’s August production The Golden Anniversaries by Mark Crawford, about a desperate husband trying to determine why his wife has given him the boot on the eve of the long-planned celebration for their marriage’s big 5-0.
Casting hasn’t been announced for this comedic look at what it takes to make love last over several decades, but it runs from Aug. 6 to Sept. 4, so there will be no end of opportunity to check it out in the latter half of the season.
For full details, visit www.theatrebaddeck.com.
Ok, so this column’s timing wasn’t great for the start of Theatre Baddeck’s summer season, but regular readers might recall there was a reveal of its announcement back in the spring. We’re also down to the wire for Mulgrave Road Theatre in Guysborough, which officially debuts its new Mulgrave Road Theatre Centre for the Arts facility on the very day this sees print.
Laura Teasdale’s For Love Nor Money has a limited run starting on Wednesday, July 15, continuing to Saturday, July 18 and wrapping up with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. on July 19.
Chosen for its Guysborough setting, the play about a young couple embarking on their new life together in 1865 was a hit last year at Festival Antigonish (more about them in a moment), with mostly sold-out shows, so this is a rare chance to experience it again in-person, with Maude McInnis and Liam Oko ably directed by Mulgrave Road Theatre’s executive & artistic director Emmy Alcorn.
I’m guessing that tickets may be hard to come by at this point, but it’s worth a shot checking in at mulgraveroad.ca to see about seats or a waiting list for this landmark production.
Another show you should act fast to get tickets for at Mulgrave Road Theatre is the opening night of the Stan Rogers Folk Festival Roadshow, a production inspired by Stan himself called A Matter of Heart on Monday, July 20. His daughter Beth Rogers is joined by a talented group of singers and musicians to celebrate the folk icon who shared his love of the region nationwide with songs like Fogerty’s Cove and Guysborough Train, and you can find out more about the show (and the Roadshow schedule) at stanfest.com.
Meanwhile, one of the province’s longest-running companies, Festival Antigonish Sumer Theatre is just out of the starting block with its first play of the season, Murder at Ackerton Manor by Steven Gallagher, which runs until Saturday, July 25. It’s a comedy take on the classic whodunnit murder mystery, with Belgian detective Pierre Pierrot as the thinly veiled parody of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, that is the perfect kind of carefree summer theatre fare.
Directed by Andrea Boyd with a cast that includes Karen Bassett, James MacLean and Theofani Pitsiavas, Murder at Ackerton Manor is fast-paced and full of surprises, suitable for ages 14 and up.
From Aug. 5 to 8, Festival Antigonish teams up with Theatre New Brunswick for Ian Kershaw’s modestly titled The Greatest Play in the History of the World. Directed by Dean Patrick Fleming and performed by Amanda Kellock, the piece considers what life might be like if the world came to a complete halt, with cosmic implications and a warmly human contemplation of love and loss at the end of history (suitable for ages 13 and up).
Theatre for young audiences (ages 3 and up) also returns to the Bauer Theatre in Antigonish with The Biggest Little House in the Forest, based on the Djemma Bider book, with puppetry and stage magic unfolding the story of what happens when one very large bear comes to live with an assortment of smaller woodland creatures. It runs from July 29 to Aug. 8, and you can find out more at www.festivalantigonish.ca.
The Biggest Little House in the Forest also comes to Pictou’s deCoste Performing Arts Centre for one family show only on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 2 p.m.
Also, at the deCoste Centre this summer, comedian Syd Bosel brings a theatrical flair for storytelling to her tour titled Hot Flash Comedy, with friend and MC Helen Schneiderman, which arrives in Pictou on Tuesday, July 28.
The B.C.-based comics also cross the Canso Causeway for the first time for a Sydney show at Highland Arts Theatre on Friday, July 31. You may have heard Bosel on CBC Radio’s The Debaters, but her unfiltered journey through the foibles of getting up there in years – without getting down in the dumps – should really be experienced in person.