Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:28:58 -0330WeeblySun, 29 Sep 2024 12:53:10 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/perfect-closing-night-choiceby Jean Graham

We’ve seen a lot of new plays in the past two weeks, many from new and exciting voices. It has been a true celebration of women playwrights in the province (well, mostly in St. John’s, to be honest, but still). So I can’t think of a better way of ending PerSIStence Theatre’s Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival than with a reminder that women have always been here, creating and contributing.

And what a treat this production was! Joan Sullivan (no slouch as a playwright herself) selected Chickens from Janis Spence’s impressive catalogue of work and put together an A-List cast for an engaging reading. The play is definitely of the 1980s, with its smoking in hospital waiting rooms and land-line telephones, but that’s not a bad thing.

Mary Lewis delightfully reprised her role from the original 1988 production and was joined onstage by Mary Lynn Bernard, Petrina Bromley, Aiden Flynn, Wendi Smallwood, and Berni Stapleton. Yes – all that talent and experience, all those perfect senses of timing on one stage with a fabulous script. I’m sorry you missed it, too, and happy for you if you, like me, had the joy of watching it.

The four women portray lifelong friends, called to another (dying) friend’s hospital room by her of icky kid brother (Flynn), who is just as deliciously repellent as an adult, it turns out. He knows the devastating secret the women share – a booze- and drug-fueled prank that morphed into tragedy – and he fully intends to ruin all their lives by making it as public as he can.

Spence’s skilful script lets suspense ebb and flow, hints at secrets and reveals them at just the right pace. As PerSIStence’s Artistic Director Jenn Deon noted in her comments, the script also gives every actor some very meaty material to work with, and this wonderful ensemble really made the most of it in this production. 

Stella is a formerly promising novelist prone to overdoing it on the booze; Wendi Smallwood finds every nuance of this complicated character, communicating grief, pride, or shame with the shrug of a shoulder or the duck of a head.

Petrina Bromley perfectly portrays Nancy, a too-tightly-wound housewife who careens through the show, barely toned down by a proffered muscle relaxant, cajoling and confessing as she sees fit. Bromley’s expressive face communicates layers of emotions, whether she’s speaking or not.

I would love to ask Mary Lewis how it felt to be femme fatale Barb 35ish years later from the first time she did it. I don’t recall seeing this production then. It was the eighties, though, so, who knows? It’s possible I did. In the 2024 version, Barb is this woman who’s been beautiful all her life, and who takes full advantage of that, but she’s as layered and complicated as can be. 

Berni Stapleton’s Daphne has built a successful clothing company from less than nothing. She’s smart, tough from necessity, used to finding solutions to insurmountable problems. Stapleton is a prolific writer, of novels, plays, non-fiction and her extraordinarily expressive voice conveys every bit of meaning that Spence intended, and maybe even some the playwright didn’t recognize.

Mary-Lynn Bernard brought Spence’s stage directions, and a fairly judgy operating room nurse, to life with aplomb and just enough expression. 

It was an inspired choice to close the festival with Chickens. The play was first produced in 1988 at the LSPU Hall. I don’t have space to tell you everything that’s wonderful about RCA Theatre’s digital archive, but yourself a favour and check it out. Start with the Chickens  page [https://archive.lspuhall.ca/play/chickens/] and go from there.

It’s been a wonderful couple of weeks. The Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival, is, I suppose, a one-time only event, costs being what they are and funding being what it is, and the Year of the Arts being literally just one year of government largesse. 

While that’s a bit of a shame, and I would love it if I were wrong about that, we can at least celebrate what it has been. For playwrights, it’s been a chance to present their work to the public with professional directors, actors, and crew. For audiences, it’s been the chance to see work in development and work that’s already been successful.

Persistence obviously put work into encouraging a range of submissions (or they got very, very lucky) and put off a festival showcasing an arts scene that is diverse, revolutionary, thought-provoking, and well-established.

Congratulations!

]]>Sat, 28 Sep 2024 12:23:15 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/night-eleven-just-wowNight Eleven at the Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival featured Iphis Is a Man, ​written and directed by Cheney Emberg.

At the show, I sat down with my friend Jean Graham who appeared in last night’s Is This the Hill You Wish You'd Died On? I’m pleased to say that Jean will be filling in for me for Night Twelve as I have a wedding to attend. As we chatted, Jean showed me her phone and a Facebook memory from this night seven years ago. I had posted: “I was honoured to be there tonight to watch Persistence Theatre take flight.” It was opening night of Isle of Demons, which we both attended, and here we were, together again, as this Festival of arts draws to a close. So nice. Jean and I watched the young cast gathered for this reading and marvelled at their energy and enthusiasm.

Iphis Is a Man is inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Iphis as recorded by Ovid in Metamorphoses. It’s a “coming-of-age story of a boy trying to navigate what it means to be a man in a 374 BC Greece that looks and sounds a lot like our 21st-century western world.” Only trouble is, at 15, Iphis begins to develop breasts and has a period. 

I can’t say enough about this play. I was completely blown away by its intelligence and humour. It was part mythology, part morality play, part romcom and 100% one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen all week. I laughed out loud, smiled the whole way through, and had several “ah-ha” moments; if the Greek’s wanted their drama to produce a catharis (see, it was the Greeks and NOT Oprah who should get the credit for the “ah-ha!”), then Cheney channelled their inner Aristotle.

More on Cheney later, but first let me congratulate the cast on this staged reading. Leading the pack was Mallory Clarke as both Telethusa and Ligdus, Iphis’ mother and father. Mallory’s performance of both characters was just plain brilliant; as were Murphy V as Iphis and Nonceba Khumalo as Ianthe. Their comic timing was amazing. Nabila Qureshi playing something of the straight man was equally strong as Dmitri, and I loved the delivery of Ophelia Delight as the Goddess Isis. Brandon Cave stage managed and read the funniest stage directions ever and played various roles including a hormonal teen that the audience just died for.

This play is so fresh, so energetic and so positive! There were so many wonderful moments, from Telethusa’s visions of catastrophy (why didn’t I think of that when my kids were teens?!) to references to modern culture (Isis telling Iphis he’s not seeing Elysium but Vegas, baby!) to jokes breaking the fourth wall (…that one’s for all the old biddies in the audience). 

Cheney Emberg is a director, playwright, actor, comedian, and collage-maker from Houston who moved to St. John’s three years ago. This is one of two plays they are currently working on. In introducing the play, Cheney said that the show we were about to see was draft two. Unbelievable. I’m sure there are things that can be done to improve the show, but boy oh boy, it was pretty good on Friday night. Clever, intellectual, campy, tongue-in-cheek writing. 

As I sat and watched this staged reading, seven years to the day that PerSIStence got its birth, I couldn’t help but feel all the feels watching this young team on the stage and contemplating the future. 

I have tried to be as accurate and eloquent as possible in writing these recaps nightly, but I’m very much struggling to put into words how I felt sitting in that audience tonight. So here goes…

Holy s#*t. 
​
I think I just heard the voice of the new generation, and their name is Cheney Emberg.
]]>Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:48:20 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/is-this-the-hill-you-wish-youd-died-on-review-recapNight Ten at the Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival featured a stage reading of Trudy Morgan-Cole’s latest play, “Is This the Hill You Wish You’d Died On?”

You may be most familiar with Trudy’s novels – The Rivers of Brooklyn, That Forgetful Shore, the Cupids Trilogy and my personal favorite A Sudden Sun, plus many more. Trudy made her first foray into playwrighting with The Mirror, which PerSIStence Theatre will be remounting in 2025.

I really enjoyed this show, especially since director Sharon King-Campbell went the extra step to include some staging along with the reading; it gave the audience a taste of what a fully formed show might look like. Kudos to Emma Cole for the simple but effective costuming.

On the surface, this play is about a modern young woman, Taylorbeth, who is visited by the ghosts of her ancestors (and a ghost from her more recent past) in the General Protestant Cemetery on Waterford Bridge Road. A central theme in this play is religion, but I think all the talk of faith and denominational differences sometimes overshadows the true core of this story, which in my opinion is storytelling itself and the myths we create to neatly box up the past.

In introducing her work in development, Trudy explained: “I think constantly about what it would be like to meet the women of the past that I write about, including the women in my own family history – how we would get along, what we might agree on and disagree on – and that wondering is what this play grows out of.” 

It’s such an interesting idea. All of us lucky enough to have been raised, like Trudy, on a rich traditional of family storytelling, have these pictures and impressions in our minds of relatives dead long before we were born, based on commonly retold stories. But, as the characters so deftly demonstrate, nothing is every so black and white, romanticised or simple in real life as it is when we create a good story about it. People are complex. 

Taylorbeth has such a firm perspective on who her Great-Great-Great-Great - (did I miss a great?!) - Grandmother is that, when she gets the opportunity to meet her ghost, talk to her and ask her questions, she struggles with accepting Theresa’s real story. And not only does she struggle with accepting the truths, she also argues with her ancestors that they are wrong about why they made the decisions they made. At one point, Jean asks Taylorbeth what she’s so mad about, anyway, and we learn the real reason for this ghostly encounter. I’ll say no more. We will see this show on a stage for sure!

Gabrielle Therrien as Taylorbeth and Allison Woolridge as Theresa were stellar, as were the other actresses: Jean Graham as Lizzie; Melissa Ralph as Jean; Nicole Redmond as Isabelle; Christine Hennebury as Gail; and Mandy Armstrong Singer as Danielle. 

Night Eleven features Iphis Is a Man, written and directed by Cheney Emberg. Only two nights left – see you at the show!

]]>Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:27:54 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/audiences-show-up-for-showdownNight Nine at the Year of the Arts Women’s play festival featured Showdown, written and directed by Michelle Clemens. The play examines the NAPE strike of 1986 through the lens of Joan, a union leader who struggles to balance work and home during a tumultuous time.

In introducing the play, Michelle said: “I was an adolescent in the 1980s, and the feminist movement felt like it was flagging. Women were denied mortgages and loans because of their gender, equal pay was still a dream for most women, and husbands had ownership rights to their wives bodies. Men were not expected to help at home. It as a time of hardship in Newfoundland and Labrador, when young graduates fled the province in droves… Strikes were frequent in that adversarial environment.”

At the root of problems was Bill C-59, which limited the right for workers to strike.

To her coworkers and her family, Joan appears to be an unapologetic hard-liner. But like all things, perception is never reality. As the play progresses, we get to learn Joan’s backstory through flashbacks to her childhood in a Catholic orphanage; Joan is essentially a border in the orphanage, deposited there and paid for by her father.

Showdown won the 2023 Arts and Letters competition for dramatic script and it’s no wonder. This is a strong play that demands staging. At times, the reading felt a little didactic, especially as key points in the strike were recounted by the Radio Announcer, but this could be easily addressed and eliminated once the show hits the stage.

There were many strong performances last night, led by Jill Kennedy as Joan. For the 90-minute show, Jill was only absent from a few scenes, deftly switching from union leader, to wife, to mom to child. I was particularly impressed by the multi-dimensional union team Michelle created, each with their own backstories, especially the sensitive Ernie (read by Peter Jones); and the aggressive and funny Jerry (Chad Furlong). Anastacia Hopkins did I nice job of doubling as Lucy, a union worker, and Sister Mary, head of the orphanage in Joan’s flashbacks. The scenes with Joan’s family, represented by husband Robert (Leo Converse) and daughter Donna (Claire Montrose), really amplified the absurdity of a woman fighting for work equality, while struggling to step outside a traditional role at home. Janet O’Reilly (as Radio Announcer and Bank Manager), Jody Rideout (as Mr. Petten and Mr. White) and Courtney Szabo reading stage directions rounded out this strong cast.

There was a large, appreciative audience on Wednesday night for this show, including many NAPE leaders and members. As I was leaving the theatre, I heard lots of positive buzz for this dramatic reading, which bodes well for future staging.

Night Ten features a new play from one of my favourite writers, Trudy Morgan-Cole: Is This the Hill You Wish You’d Died On? The reading is directed by Sharon King-Campbell (Night Seven, Factory Girls). See you there!]]>Wed, 25 Sep 2024 11:44:30 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/night-eight-at-the-year-of-the-arts-womens-play-festival-featured-two-one-woman-shows-created-and-performed-by-up-and-coming-artistsWith Apologies to Nancy Benoit by Venus Argento Barrington was a tight and tidy 15-minute play in which a transgender woman looks back on the influence disgraced professional wrestler Chris Benoit had on her personal journey. Venus originally performed this monologue in 2022 at the St. John’s Shorts Festival. I missed that presentation, but I’m glad I got to see it Tuesday night.

Venus reflects on masculinity and femininity, gender stereotypes and “roles”, name-calling and more in this piece. I was impressed by her use of her Chris Benoit doll and Barbie doll to express the duality of her personality, and her ability to capture just how painful the transition from being “in” with the kids on the playground to being cast out when she no longer neatly fit in the little boy mold. Relating to Nancy Benoit, a former wrestler herself who was relegated to the sidelines when she married Chris, was a simple yet effective allegory.

The show was a reminder to me that it’s still not easy for trans and gender diverse children, despite the awareness and rainbows and pride programs in schools. I naively thought things might be better than back in my day. Venus is younger than my kids… We have a long way to go.

Ok. I will now climb back off the soapbox and talk about show two on Night Eight: Goldstar Girlfriend, by Susan Kelsey.

Described as “a zeitgeisty comedy about modern relationships and how to navigate the difficult questions that arise from big life changes,” this is an entertaining show. “Zeitgeisty” is a good description. I thought “goldstar” itself was derogatory, but perhaps that is in fact the point. Maybe it’s in now. Did I mention I am old?

Susan is a stand-up comic, and it showed. The main character, Harlow, finds herself pregnant after a hook-up with an old boyfriend. Complicated, yes, but even more so because she is in a “formerly” open relationship with a woman, who has now taken the next step and moved in. There’s a dead family dog to contend with, and morning sickness, and binge-watching Twilight movies… it’s a fun ride.

I congratulate Susan for the gradual shift she accomplished away from the party girl we meet in the opening moments of the play as the story unfolds. There was also a nice use of sound effects. I think future performances of Goldstar Girlfriend would benefit from an exploration of dynamics and pacing. Because there are a lot of pauses for thought in the retelling of the conversations Harlow has with Drew and Riley, it would help to pick up the pace in other moments to keep the story moving along.

Commanding the stage by your lonesome takes guts and stamina and I congratulate Venus and Susan for owning it and sharing these plays with the Festival audience.

Looking forward to Night Eight, Showdown by Michelle Clemens, the story of the 1986 NAPE strike through the experience of Joan, a woman and union leader struggling to balance work and home. See you there!

]]>Tue, 24 Sep 2024 14:25:11 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/in-a-word-epicThat’s how I would describe Sharon King-Campbell’s Factory Girls, presented as a dramatic reading on Night Seven of the Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival.

Ten actors took to the stage to play a score of characters, but primarily ten women who went to work in a munitions factory in Toronto during World War I. The characters range in age from a 71-year-old mother to a 16-year-old farm girl; leisure to working class.

Reading director Jeannette Lambermont-Morey did a fine job of giving a glimpse into what a full staging of this play might include, from the sounds of the factory floor cleverly created using simple props to minimal but dramatic movement. I thought the clicking of knitting needles at all the meetings, done using a mouth effect, was clever.

This play would be a large one to produce, with a sizable cast, large set, period costumes and special effects (such as shredded paper “falling from the sky and being cleared like piles of snow.”

Sharon originally wrote Factory Girls as her MA thesis, which she admits she wrote with ten actors “because I didn't have to have a plan to produce it myself.” Funny what dreaming big can accomplish. This is a well conceived historical drama that any actress would kill to be part of. It was very entertaining and, if staged, would be an enjoyable night at the theatre. I liked that this show drives home a lot of important information about women’s lives and women’s conditions in the early 1900s without hammering you over the head with it.

There were a lot of familiar and some new faces on the stage, and strong performances from all. I especially enjoyed Alexis Koetting’s Beulah Johnston; the relationship between Edie St-Croix (Melissa Williams) and Jane Baker (Alison Clarke); and the mother-daughter banter between Beatrice Maloney (Jillian Rees-Brown) and Ellen Maloney (Bridget Wareham). Willow Kean played Mary; Willa Small played Abigail Garner; Robyn Vivian was Ann Jones; and Kiersten Noel played Laura McAlister. Alison Woolridge did a stellar job embodying two diverse characters – the mousey Sophia, an Austrian immigrant; and the bombastic and repugnant Davis, the play’s only male character.

Night Eight includes With Apologies to Nancy Benoit, a play written and performed by Venus Argento Barrington, and Goldstar Girlfriend, written and performed by Susan Kelsey.

See you at 7 p.m.!

]]>Mon, 23 Sep 2024 09:24:26 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/in-developmentMy main take-away from Night Six was just how valuable Year of the Arts funding and Festivals such as this one are for developing new theatrical works. 

In her introduction to About Time: A Journey of Self-Discover & Change, playwright Vanessa Cardoso Whelan acknowledged that other projects had pulled her away from this play, but that this was her impetus to restart this project. About Time is an exploration of women’s mental health, told through the stories of two women. Vanessa indicated that the circumstances and experiences of the characters were first-person accounts told to her by women experiencing mental health issues and on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.

Joana Cupatia read the role of Viva and others, and Melissa Williams read Ella and others. It was interesting to see the two actors portraying the important figures in each other’s lives. I’m not sure that is the intention for the final play, but it’s worth exploring. I like the idea of Viva and Ella in the security of a therapy session being drawn “outside the circle,” so to speak, by the experiences that shape their mental health journey.

This is tough stuff to hear sometimes, but I commend Vanessa for focusing a light on this important topic.

After the intermission, we were treated to Coming Full Circle, written and performed by Sophie Angnatok. Sophie is an instantly recognizable Inuk throat singer and drum dancer from Nain, Nunatsiavut. She’s also a compelling storyteller. Working with director Louise Moyes (and Kim White, Docudance), Sophie is channelling her grandmother and other women in sharing the Inuit culture through song, story and dance.

Coming Full Circle is also in development, and tonight’s performance was like being given a sneak peek into the creative process. I would encourage the team to capitalize fully on Sophie’s self-proclaimed ability to go off on tangents; I think there’s something very natural, charming and welcoming in her delivery style. No doubt, most of the audience members will be, like me, interested in learning more about the herstory of this culture. 

A wise Indigenous woman told me once, when I asked what I could do to better educate myself about the Indigenous experience, to “listen with new ears.” It’s an interesting balance I’m sure to present the culture of a people in a way that audiences can fully appreciate it, while recognizing the fact that to experience the culture, audiences also need to learn a new way of listening.

I loved the inclusion of photos and videos through multimedia projection, but perhaps having some of them on stage as printed images might help Sophie take control of the narrative, winding her way through the tales as the mood hits? Just a thought. I know the great minds and talents collaborating on this piece will find the right path.

I’m glad that Sophie invited partner Ashley Dicker to join her for a drum dance (“I Am Happy”) and a selection of throat singing. It’s an enchanting art which I tried all the way home to accomplish, failing miserably. Maybe that’s because I was by myself, and this is definitely a duo sport… yah. no.

But that’s the thing about the stories and songs and games in this play – you want to play, too! I think that Coming Full Circle has the makings of a very important piece for this province. Keep your eyes peeled for this one.

I’m really looking forward to Night Seven, a reading of Sharon King-Campbell’s Factory Girls. The play explores the lives and motives of ten women who answer the call to work in a munitions factory in Toronto in 1916. Stellar cast. 

See you at the First Light Centre for Performance and Creativity at 7 p.m.!
]]>Sun, 22 Sep 2024 17:00:41 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/you-cant-go-anywhere-if-you-dont-know-where-you-come-fromExploring cultural history was the overarching theme of Night Five at the Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival.

In Aya and the Masquerades, playwright Karen Monie uses the story of a little girl – Aya – in search of adventure and a better life, to explore the meaning of home and the importance of protecting the earth.

Nonxebazenkosi Khumalo (Aya), Lydia Makaga and Lina Makaga did a lovely job of telling the stories in this parable-styled tale, greatly aided by the magical soundscape from Mark Parselelo. In many ways, Aya reminded me of Alice in a Cameroonian wonderland, full of mythical creatures and magical animals. I was especially enchanted by the Secretary Bird kingdom on Aya’s adventure; Lydia and Lina used their voices beautifully to bring the birds to life.

After the show last night, I fell down an internet rabbit hole of my own, researching the tradition of African masquerades, an important part of African cultural heritage. I also read that mask wearing and celebrations involving masks often tell important stories of rites of passage. This tracks for Aya’s story, which includes an awareness and awakening to the fact that everything she has ever wanted “has been right before my eyes all along.” 

I’m also excited to see how White Rooster Theatre and director Santiago Guzman intend on using masks to bring this story alive when the play is staged in full later this year.

Keep an eye out for works from this young and talented Cameroonian actor, writer, filmmaker and playwright. 

After the intermission, we were treated to a fully staged production of Beauty Behind the Norms, by Nicole Obiodiaka. It was nice to see a play on its feet, with costumes and set pieces.

Beauty Behind the Norms is set in rural Nigeria, where we meet the domineering and abusive man who treats his four wives as property, denying them any purchase or individuality. As the story unfolds, he marries a fifth wife, Ada, who pushes back against the cultural norms and suffers the consequences but finds personal fulfillment in the end.

As stated in the programme, the play “is a homage to the indomitable spirit of women and a vibrant testament to the beauty and strength found in African culture.”

Congratulations to all the performers: Ugonna Ihemedu, Joe Chinaka, Oluwatoyin Awosanya, Mercy Muyanga, Jessica Quaw, Angel Nene, Jephthah Anga, Rinret Innocent and Keren Happuch. There were many lovely, funny and touching moments – especially between the wives – and I was moved by the compelling scene between Ada and her mother.

Nicole is one of those young women that makes you wonder what you’ve been doing with your time. An international student from Lagos, Nigeria, she has made a significant impact in St John’s since her arrival in 2019.  She was instrumental in creating the Black Students Association at MUN, has led anti-racism workshops, produced a video series to address stereotypes Black people face and hosted equity, diversity and inclusion workshops to help others learn how to be allies to marginalized groups. In 2022 she produced a video series through CBC focused on Black women leaders in the province. She also founded Centra, a non-profit organization that provides resources for under-represented entrepreneurs and was the recipient of a 2022–23 Frank H. Sobey Award for Excellence in Business Studies. 

…and she will be working on a project with PerSIStence Theatre this coming year as well.

Two amazingly talented writers and performers on Night Five, showcasing international stories. Night Six also includes two plays: About Time: A Journey of Self-Discovery & Change by Vanessa Cardoso, and Coming Full Circle, written and performed by Sophie Angnatok. See you there!
]]>Sat, 21 Sep 2024 10:41:01 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/night-four-at-year-year-of-the-arts-womens-play-festival-featured-a-retrospective-of-plays-performed-by-rising-tide-over-the-yearsI can’t say for sure but, growing up in Conception Bay South, it’s highly likely a Rising Tide production was my first exposure to theatre. I’m sure many others can say they same.

Founded in 1978, Rising Tide Theatre has a long and storied history as one of the province’s premiere production companies. They were the “it” team for many, many years, living up to their name; if a rising tide lifts all boats, then perhaps it’s fair to say this company were an integral part of the wave that led to the numerous professional companies we see in the province today.

They certainly were pioneers in the province’s community pageant scene, starting the New Founde Land Pageant in Trinity in 1993. Today, the company offers a full season of theatrical performances at their own space, the Rising Tide Arts Centre, on Green’s Point. According to their website, the Centre is “a focal point for the 20,000 annual visitors who are drawn to the unique blend of art, entertainment and history.”

Rising Tide commissions and produces many new works, some of which were featured in the dramatic reading on Friday night. Performers Bailey Jackson and Amelia Manuel joined Artistic Director Mallory Clarke and Founder/ Senior Producer Donna Butt on stage. The talented foursome shared scenes from a variety of works, including A Tidy Package (by Amy House and Berni Stapleton – see night three!); an adaptation of Eyes of the Gull (by Margaret
Duley); Stars in the Sky Morning (created by Rhonda Payne and Jane Dingle); and more.

I especially enjoyed the inclusion of two songs: “Heaven in Harbour” by Carolyn Fowlow and “Good Woman” by Mallory Clarke. Both Mallory and Amelia have beautiful voices that blended perfectly in these performances. Why “Heaven in Harbour” is not better known is a mystery; it’s a love song to English Harbour and captures the love of this place in the way “Saltwater Joys” does for so many.

…And, for the record, I’m moving to Trinity for the sea air; Donna Butt looks and sounds fabulous.

Saturday promises to be a packed evening with international themes. The Festival is featuring the voices of two African-born playwrights, both living and working in St. John’s. Beauty Behind the Norms by Nicole Obiodiaka explores female empowerment in a deeply patriarchal Nigerian community. Aya and The Masquerades, written by Karen Monie and produced by White Rooster Theatre tells the story of a young Cameroonian girl who goes on a journey to find a magical settlement full of promise.]]>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 09:44:49 GMThttps://www.persistencetheatre.com/reviews--recaps/friendship-and-foolishnessNight three at the Year of the Arts Women’s Play Festival featured The Importance of Being Foolish, written and performed by Amy House and Berni Stapleton.

It’s hard to go higher than these two when it comes to women influential in the development of Newfoundland theatre. Amy is a sought-after performer and playwright, and has and continues to be an important cultural advocate and builder. Berni has a large and impressive playwrighting catalogue with over forty works produced nationally and internationally and, like Amy, has been and continues to be a staunch advocate for women’s issues. As Berni said in the opening comments before the show tonight, “As a matter of fact, when we first began writing about women’s issues, we didn’t even have names for the issues.”

Berni and Amy met in 1982 at the Stephenville Festival, appearing in The Importance of Being Earnest. Over the last 40 years, both together and apart, they have been integral in the development of the province’s cultural mosaic. They are shining examples of longevity and adaptability and have built serious careers in the arts …in large part by not being serious at all.

The Importance of Being Foolish is a retrospective of sorts, playfully looking at their lives, their bodies of work, their personal quirks, and their enduring partnership. In the play, we zoom ahead in time and meet Amy and Berni as retired, unemployed and more than slightly forgetful seniors living in Lady Mackerel’s Retirement Home for Lesser Known Actors. I would love to have seen this performance with all the bells and whistles of costumes and props; characters and moments across a lifetime flew by with Amy and Berni’s characteristic wit and pearls of wisdom faster than I could keep up sometimes!

I don’t remember the first time I saw their iconic fish plant workers, but the beauty of that comedic duo was how effectively they used humour to open our eyes to socio-political issues and raise up the voices of women working in the fishery.  

I think what will stick with me the most from this play, however, is the importance of friendship. 

​Anyone who is lucky enough to have a lifelong friend has probably imagined what they’re going to be like when they “wind up sharing a room in the Home.” If you’re Berni and Amy, that becomes a lovely performance piece.

Night four features A Retrospective, produced by Rising Tide Theatre. If you’re a young artist looking to build a career in the theatre, I encourage you not to miss this show. This event features the works of some of the great female playwrights from our past and our present (including both Amy and Berni!)  and explores how these playwrights brought the voices of past into the present to reflect on how the world has – and has not – changed.

​See you at 7 p.m.

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