May 9/01
LAND O'LAKES -NEWS & VIEWS HomeOur Town plays Sharbot Lake
The North Frontenac Little Theatres (NFLT) production of Thornton Wilders Out Town played to three very enthusiastic houses in the Sharbot Lake High School auditorium over the weekend.
Peter Platenius as the
Stage Manager in the North Frontenac Little Theatre production of Our
Town
On the night before the show opened, I attended a dress rehearsal. Your reporter was an appreciative audience of one joined only by occasional friends and relatives of the cast, and the attentive but largely unobtrusive presence of director Inie Platenius and producer Nina Jenkins.
From the time that Peter Platenius, as the narrator / Stage Manager, appeared on the stage and started telling the audience about his town, Grovers Corners, to the end, when he again stood alone as the town slept and wished everyone a good night, the dramatic performance, complete with sound, lighting and stage effects, went smoothly.
Theatre creates many dramatic effects and magical moments, but for me, the illusion that I had my own production -- a cast of hundreds for an audience of one, stands right up there alongside my memory of seeing South Pacific on Broadway with the original cast.
In Our Town, Wilder portrays a small town that anyone who has ever lived in one can easily recognize. The Stage Manager, on a bare stage with only a table and two chairs, introduces the town to us; explains the history; describes the buildings and where they are located; and most importantly, selects scenes from the lives of the townspeople which represent some of the defining moments in life, from birth to death.
The central figures are Emily (played by Hannah Kent), who is the daughter of Mr. Webb (Brian Robertson), the local newspaper editor, her mother Mrs. Webb (Martina Field), George (Arthur Cota), the son of Dr. Gibbs (Norman Guntensperger), and Mrs. Gibbs (Andrea Jones). Emily and George progress through early adolescence (age 12), through graduation from high school and marriage, to their life as farmers, and Emilys death during childbirth at age 26.
Hannah Kent and Arthur Cota had two very difficult parts and they created them very artfully. Neither one of them were type cast for their roles. Arthur, who in real life projects the image of a young Canadian intellectual, played an all-American boy who was a star baseball player, and over the course of the play became a farmer and a father. Ageing on stage is difficult enough, but Arthur carried it off very convincingly. Hannah also had to be transformed from a tearful young girl to a mature wife and mother a challenge even for an experienced actor, and one usually given to an older woman. She was magnificent.
George (Arthur Cota) and
Emily (Hannah Kent at their wedding in Our Town
Peter Platenius seems to have found a part, that, although extremely difficult, fit him well. It could very well be hard for him to escape the role of the wise older man who wants to share his reflections on life with the audience. Just as Raymond Burr is forever Perry Mason, Peter might always be the Stage Manager in our minds. He looked the part and acted it to perfection.
The whole cast, along with the stage, sound and lighting crews, worked hard to produce a difficult play that came together on the stage. However, four supporting roles stand out: Norman Guntensperger as Dr. Gibbs (fresh on the evening of the rehearsal from fighting brush fires all afternoon as a volunteer fireman), Andrea Jones as Mrs. Gibbs, Brian Robertson as the Mr. Webb, the editor, and Martina Fields as Mrs. Webb. In one scene, Mr. Webb asks his wife if there are any mistakes in the paper (something we re-enact at the News every week). The scenes where Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb discuss domestic life, and their hopes, fears, and aspirations were highlights and very well acted.
Grovers Corners comes alive on stage in part because Wilder uses small town stereotypes we all recognize: the troubled alcoholic in the person of the church organist (John Pariselli), the town gossip (Linda Boulter), and the undertaker (John McDougall). Universal themes are also brought into sharp relief: for instance, married couples who look past each other; for instance, Mrs. Gibbs (Andrea Jones) who yearns to go to Paris and cant get her husband, who is obsessed with the Civil War, to understand how important it is to her. Sibling relations are also touched upon -- one of the best of the minor scenes in the play is when Georges sister Rebecca Gibbs (played wonderfully by Alicia Cota) attempts to talk with her older brother about lifes wonders, and he tries to bring her down to earth with practical realities.
In the last act, we see dead townspeople sitting by their graves. Emily who has just been buried, goes back to life for her 12th birthday, and when she comes back to the graveyard says (of the living), Theyre sort of shut up in little boxes arent they?. Later she adds, I never realized before how. how in the dark live persons are. Wilder introduces the notion that life is wasted on the living; that few people can rise above their individual passions and live it to the fullest.
We are left with the thought that the dead have to prepare for an unknown, but certain eternity, by forgetting life.
Mrs. Gibbs (Andrea Jones) and Mrs. Webb
(Martina Field) talking while they do domestic chores.
Inie Platenius said after the performance that, Our Town is my favourite play and I love community theatre. It is not hard to see why directing this play would be so fulfilling for her, as it is about the complexities that lie below the surface of a small community and was produced by a community theatre group. This production by the NFLT was able to meld young and old, inexperienced and experienced, into a group who all worked together to enchant an audience and share in the magic of the theatre.
