20 — Friday, April 30, 1999 - North Shore News

Cho

Sing

play winners

@ North Shore Zone of
Theatre B.C. Play Festival
at Deep Cove Shaw Theatre
May 3-8. Reservations and
information: 929-3200.

Martin Millerchip
Curtain Call

martin@nsnews.com

IT’S time once again in
the local theatre season
to compare apples to
oranges.

The annual North Shore
Zone of Theatre B.C. play
festival runs all next week
Deep Cove’s Shaw Theatre
— a departure from a run of
several years at Presentation
House.

Local community theatre
groups submit plays for adju-
dication and the one deemed
“Best Overall Production”
will represent the North
Shore at the provincial finals
“MAINSTAGE” festival.
This year the finals will be
held in Nanaimo during the
week of July 2-10.

Buz how do you compare
a local original one-person
play with an American family

drama, or an English classic
by Sheridan with a Canadian
two-hander?

Well-known Vancouver
director John Cooper is the
protessional both in the spot-
light and on the spot for
making those tough deei-
sions,

And make no mistake, the
decisions are nor easy.
Besides the choice of best
production, another play may
be chosen tor workshopping
or developing with the aid of
professional directors during
MAINSTAGE. Other awards
for acting, directing and pro-
duction values are all hotly
contested.

Theatre B.C. is the
umbrella organization that
binds together community
theatre in the province and
offers training and support in
the hopes of maintaining, and
raising skill levels in all
aspects of theatre produc-
tion.

The North Shore zone
has long been one of the
strongest in the province and
whichever play is chosen

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

PAUL Kloegman (left) and Darien Edgeler are fea-
tured in Deep Cove Stage’s Not About Heroes.

PRESENTATION House Productions has entered The

NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge

School for Scandal in the Theatre B.C. festival.

Sexy but

no lace.

Blundstone 500's. Just $159.95
and no etring attached.

NEWS photo Brad Lodwidge

NICKI Daroza (from left), Connie Saari, Nancy Ebert and Marianne LaRochelle are the family members in
independence, one of two festivai entries from Deep Cove Stage.

wecek’s festival will

be in close con-
tention for cop provincial
honours.

Having seen owo of the
five plays in competition I

Cooper his selee-
tion difficulties.

The School for Scandal b
Richard Sheridan has alread

n reviewed in these pages.

a colourful and entertain-
ing production with many
excellent actors.

In fact I could name three
or four male actors from this
one production who will be
in contention for Best Actor.

Problems noted in the
review two weeks ago may
well have been rectified for
the festival, Certainly diree-
tor Barry Duffus has already
adjusted some of his set
design.

Not About Heroes bv
Stephen MacDonald
of owo cutries from I
Cove Stage.

I caught a performance
two wecks ago and was again
impressed by local actors and
directors.

It’s the second time |
have seen the play. The first
was a presentation by the
popular English Suite:
Company at a Fringe
several years ago.

I thought Deep Cove’s
the better of the two produc-
tions although trimming the
play to a shorter 90 minutes
without intermission would
make it stronger yet.

The play chronicles the
blossoming relationship of
First World War pocts
Wilfred Owen and Siegfried
Sassoon.

They meet while conva-

3111 Highland Bivd,,
North Vancouver
984-7270 |

lescing from injuries sus-
tained as soldiers in the
bloody trenches of France.
Sassoon is the published
poet, Owen the neophyte
writer, lacking contidence i
his poetic ability and his
courage as a soldier.

As Owen finds his voice
he sue in cracking the
protective shell with which
Sassoon has surrounded him-
self like a sandbagg:d
redoube.

The nicely-paved produc-
tion, directed by Norman
White and Elizabeth
Lambert, does an effective
job of recreating the horror
ofa war that begat poctry
and slaughtered poets.

The seript’s challenges are
all in nuance, since there is
precious little action and not
a iot of tension.

Fortunately actors Darien
Edgeler as Owen and Paul
Noegman as Sassoon are
both capable of revealing
inner turmoil with subtlery
and control. [ was rotally
engrossed by everything they
did even while questioni
the seript’s limited
build.

If] was co challenge the
actors it would be to ask how
much further the love they
share could be claritied.

The production employs
better atmospheric lighting
than usually displayed in the

See Theatre Page 24

‘e s al 3

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

SCOTT Campbell and Tammy Dee Dollimount in Sailt-
Water Moon, entered by North Van Community Players.

Collection Depot Accepts Flammable
Liquids, Paint, Pesticides & Gasoline

The following Consumer Product Stewardship Program
depot is now open to serve North Shore residents:

NORTH SHORE TRANSFER STATION

An industry-run
program for the
collection, recycling
Senvironmentally
responsible disposal
of leftover household
solvents, flammable
liquids, pesticides,
gasoline & paint.

30 Riverside Drive, North Vancouver
Phone: 929-0372
Open Mon-Sat 8a.m.-5p.m., Sun 10a.m.-Sp.m.

For more information, ask your retailer for our “Protect
Our Environment” and “Eco-Fee” brochures, or cal! the
CPSP’s toll-free information line at:

1-800-505-0139