Show Times
Masonic Lodge
24 Queen Street, Baddeck
Shows on October 21, 22, 23, and 28, 29, 30.
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at
2:00 pm.
St. Alban's Hall
27 Saint Alban's Avenue, Whitney Pier
Shows on November 4 and 5 at 7:00 pm,
and on November 6 at 2:00 pm.
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Tickets
Tickets are $15 at the door, or you can buy in advance
at these retail locations:
- Baddeck Performances
Bean There Café (295.1634)
- Whitney Pier Performances
Whitney Pier Pharmasave (564.8250)
Cape Breton Curiosity Shop (564.4660)
- For reservations or more information, call
+1 902.929.2426
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Selected Reviews
Praise for The Ship's Production of Out the Meadow
Reeeaalllly enjoyed Out the Meadow last night. What
a magnificant script.
Congratulations! — nfc (Nate Crawford)
I so loved Out the Meadow Saturday night. A play that's
really about something, real people, real lives, real tragedies
right here in our own back yards. The three-dimensional people
that we are, his demons and his birds. Thank you and for the corn
flour tip :) — Lenora Steele
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It's been a long time since I've felt so invested in what happens
to characters in a play, but Bev Brett's depth of writing
and remarkable performances by Natasha MacLellan, Graham
Percy, and Lee J. Campbell made me really wish for a happy
ending to Out the Meadow. I won't reveal if my wish came
true, but let's just say that this play—the story of the love
between Lisa, a tough and tender come-from-away singer, and
Archie, a charming down-on-his-luck Cape Bretoner—is
equal parts comedy and tragedy. The chemistry between MacLellan
and Percy makes it totally believable and understandable that this
seemingly mismatched pair could forge a love that lasts through
shaggy-dog stories and alcoholic rages. A spot-on performance by
Campbell as the literal and figurative shit disturber Malchie is the
icing on the cake. Out the Meadow only runs until Sunday,
and you won't want to
miss it — Kate Watson
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Out the Meadow Worth a Trip
Ship's Company version dazzling and memorable
By ANDREA NEMETZ, Entertainment Reporter
Wed, Jul 6 - 4:54 am
 Natasha MacLellan and Christian Murray
star in Bev Brett's Out the Meadow. The Ship's Company
Theatre production runs till July 24 [2011] in Parrsboro.
You know Archie MacLean is bad news from the first time he
swaggers onstage in Out the Meadow. But, like Lisa Brennan,
you can't help falling for him or for the community of Cape Bretoners
populating the Ship's Company Theatre production that runs till
July 24.
Few people had the chance to see Bev Brett's dark and funny
play when Forerunner Theatre staged a short run at the Bus Stop
Theatre in Halifax in 2009. It's worth the trip to Parrsboro to
see this new, technically dazzling production of a play that makes
you part of the lives of three memorable characters and leaves
you recalling their stories long after you've left the theatre.
Director Mary Vingoe, who was also involved in the first
production, says the play has evolved. Vingoe says it is shorter
and more focused, with more music from ECMA-nominated
singer-songwriter Erin Costelo.
Costelo's haunting tune The Birds That Wake Day,
created for the earlier production, has been augmented with
music from her CD Trouble and the Truth, and the lovely
vocals put the audience in the mood for this intense story.
Natasha MacLellan has returned in the role of come-from-away
singer-songwriter Lisa. Lisa's first CD was a hit, but her sophomore
album tanked. Now she just wants to write songs for other people
to sing and to be free from gossip and speculation.
Christian Murray steps into the role of the divorced, unemployed,
alcoholic, bird-watching Archie, who is anguished over being
prevented from seeing his son.
And Lee J. Campbell is back winning hearts and laughs as the
foul-mouthed yet lovable Malchie MacKenzie, one of Archie's
best friends.
Playwright Brett has lived in the community of St. Anns Bay,
where the play is set, for more than 30 years, and immediately
puts the audience into the heart of rural Cape Breton, capturing
phrases and a way of life that make the audience feel like
honorary Capers.
Brett throws in references to legendary local musicians Sam
Moon and Matt Minglewood, and tosses in stories about Kelly's
Mountain and Bay St. Lawrence, recounted in much the
same way that people would regale their buddies over a pint in the
pub with hints of sauciness and not a little embellishment—all
for the sake of the story.
Andrew Murray's gorgeous sets and props establish a homey
Cape Breton setting, as does Ingrid Risk's beautiful lighting. Lisa lives
in a rustic wooden cabin surrounded by live pine trees, next to
a little lawn with park bench and surrounded with the bird feeders
that Archie installs near the beginning of the 2½-hour production.
It's easy to put yourself into Lisa's shoes—every time she
hires a carpenter, he abandons her for greener pastures in Alberta.
That is, until Archie arrives and sweet-talks her into the job. Lisa
senses she might be being conned, but Archie as portrayed by
Murray is so much fun with his charming stories, easy smile and
infectious enthusiasm that she lets him into her house and her
life. Not surprisingly, they fall in love over fishing trips and
bird-watching. Malchie is a barely tolerated thorn in Lisa's side
with his schemes, including one to run for council as part of a
patronage heritage party in which he would invest money in booze
to buy votes, a nod to both patronage and the Cape Breton heritage.
The first act is full of laughs, but you sense secrets lie ahead
that will destroy the bucolic existence. And they do. The laughs
give way in the second act to increasing desperation, fights
between Lisa and Archie and Archie and Malchie that reach a
frightening intensity and an ultimately tragic ending with hints
of beauty and of life lessons learned.
MacLellan's multi-layered performance shows Lisa as a woman
who is on a journey of her own. While Archie spirals into despair,
she grows stronger, more confident and more alive. Campbell, in
addition to providing most of the laughs with perfect comic timing,
proves an unexpected rock. Both he and MacLellan are people
you'd be proud to claim as friends.
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A Poetic, Authentic Meadow
Brett injects lots of heart, humour into
homegrown story
By ELISSA BARNARD Arts Reporter | Theatre Review
Fri. Apr 3 - 7:29 am
Graham Percy stars as Archie
MacLean, a storyteller, charmer, liar, injured carpenter
and bird watcher, seen here pointing out a bird to his
girlfriend Lisa. (Eric Wynne / Staff)
Bev Brett captures the land and character of Cape
Bretoners in a tragic but highly entertaining new play.
Out the Meadow, set in St. Ann's Bay where Brett
has lived for 30 years, is a love story that in the first act
soars with the buoyancy of Archie MacLean and the joy he
and singer-songwriter Lisa find in each other.
In the second act, Archie's demons get the better of him
as his traditional world changes in a way he can't fathom.
Divorced, unemployed, faced with separation from his son,
he can't make the old ways of barter and bluster work. As
he loses his battle with the bottle, he starts to lose Lisa.
Playing through Sunday at the Bus Stop Theatre, this
Forerunner Playwrights Theatre production is one of those
thrilling experiences of theatre made in Nova Scotia about
Nova Scotia.
Brett has a wonderful ear for the way Cape Bretoners speak,
and she revels in the island's character without romanticizing
or satirizing it. This is an honest play with great heart.
Graham Percy, master of a rapid, physical acting style,
crackles within the colourful character of Archie, a chatty,
charming storyteller and a warm-hearted man whose vitality
is a force field. A carpenter and friend to all in the community,
he is passionate about birds and keeps grabbing the binoculars
to identify them.
Percy, with his glittering eyes, plays this larger-than-life
character with all the necessary gusto but without overdoing
it. Though far from a typical romantic figure, Percy's Archie is
magnetic and loveable. His descent is very convincing.
Natasha MacLellan plays the soft-spoken Lisa in an understated,
wonderfully natural way. With her loose, long hair and casual
cardigan and jeans, she fits very comfortably into Lisa's cottage.
Archie arrives in Lisa's life when she has given up on her career
and withdrawn from the world. He recharges her by encouraging
her to write songs and share his love for birds. It is wonderful to
see Natasha's Lisa, a strong, contrary, earthy character, glow in
love and later, when things go dark, turn to stone.
Lee J. Campbell, as Archie's friend Malchie, is initially a purely
comedic character telling the couple all about the goings on at
the World Village, a rural Cape Breton theme park funded by the
government and owned by American millionaires. Upset that his
power's been cut off, he starts an unusual, "transparent" political
party with a "heritage" platform of handing out booze for votes.
Campbell, also completely natural in this part, transitions his
character from an idiot savant, nut bar to an honest friend and
a man who grows.
Both Malchie and Lisa grow in this play, but Archie can't. He has
no place and therein lies the tragedy.
Mary Vingoe directs Out the Meadow with empathy and
efficiency. The play lumbers a bit towards its wonderfully poetic
and exalted ending.
While substance, not style, is at the core of Out the Meadow,
this production is blessed with strong design elements in an expressive
and focussed lighting design by Ingrid Risk, a wonderfully detailed and
familiar-looking cabin with a wooden floor and curtains for doors by
Andrew Murray and eloquent, spiritual strands of song, more gospel
than Celtic, in singer-songwriter Erin Costelo's subtle sound design.
Brett is gifted at comedic writing and authentically conjuring place.
She also has a keen insight into the paths of the human heart and a
poetic sensibility. At $20 for two-and-a-half hours that speed by,
Out the Meadow is a bargain for a good story with a lot of
laughs and a darker undercurrent about the challenges facing rural
communities today.
Out the Meadow runs through Sunday, 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees
on Saturday and Sunday at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St.
Tickets are $15 and $20. Seating is limited. To reserve call 449-5317 or
email thebusstop@live.com.
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