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C~6 â€" THE LIBERAL. Wednesday. February 9. 1977 Entertainment Unseen backstage The Innocents Ghosts lack spirit By Jim Irving AURORA # Theatre Aurora's choice of “The Innocents" as its entry in the Central Ontario Drama League festival. as well as for its present showing. seems an un- fortunate one. Not that it's badly done, but other than providing a showcase for the fine talents of young Melinda Tomlinson as Flora. it doesn‘t provide all that much in the way of the gripping entertainment. which was no doubt its purpose, One wonders v con» sidering the frigid tem- peratures of the Factory Theatre â€" whether the group chose a play with ghosts in it, thinking that the audience might believe those chills they were getting, were the result of all those spirits around and not from the frost in the walls. Those same spirits. too, probably slowed the thing down as much as anything. appearing too often as peeping toms. instead of as the unreal thing. Had there just been some method of making them seem to dissolve â€" a flimsy curtain. or a vapor of sorts ” instead of having them step to one side whenever observed. The spirits set the mood right from the beginning when the new governess arrives at a bleak country house to take charge of the two young children there. one of whom has just been expelled from boardng school. Their uncle is away someplace and the only one around â€" other than the ghosts â€" is the housekeeper. whose chief role seems to be to exâ€" claim “Miss Flora!“ She has completely blocked out any knowledge of what‘s happened. refusing to show in any way that the children are anything but the normal. fun-loving youngsers they so often appear to be. Foolish. frightened and well played by Thelma Wrixon. The governess. on the other hand, is almost as bad in her handling of the. situation. Although she soon realizes the children are possessed. she is so determined to be fair at all costs â€" good versus evil'.’ ~ she is unable to approach or reproach the children. As a result. when she finally con- vinces the young boy that she is on his side. it is too late. the ghost is gone. but so is he. Gillian Ball is a fine governess and expresses her anguish eloquently. L'nfortunately. the playwright is not so eloquent. Everytime he lets her build up to a point where she is about to take the kids aside and ask them what gives. he just as quickly lets her slide. And she turns away from her duties without any indication why, letting both the story and the audience down. An incomplete play. somehow. but still worth seeing. if only for the two children. especially Miss Tomlinson. Almost perfect She is so good that one would think she had been dealing in such intrigues all her short life. She is the happy. playful. young child one minute. both charming and precocious. and in the next she is the strong-willed. child-adult. ready to indulge in whatever machinations she feels necessary to avoid confronting the issue at hand. To use a fellow reviewer's phrase. her performance is “almost perfect.“ And the only reason one says “almost”, is that nothing's supposed to be perfect. Christopher Ball is also excellent. His role doesn‘t call for the same sort of precocity as Miss Tomlinson‘s, but he is still capable of rising to whatver dramatic heights he wants. His delivery of the poem. where he in effect lets in the devil, is done skilfully and movingly. and is one of the show‘s best moments. Peter McNaughton‘s set. although well- executed. seemed to demand something more than a couple of wall hangings and a picture. plus that drab paint job to give it the look of an old English mansion. There was ~nothing wrong with the costumes. though. they were magnificent. The theatre, as pointed Advertising helps plan your budget. The Annugl Meeting The Unionville Home Society will be held on Thursday, February 24th, 1977’ ' at UNION VILLA 4300 Hwy No.7, Unionville commencing at 7:30 p.m. The agenda will include: Approval of the Auditor’s Report Reports of Committees Election of Directors And such other' business as may be properly brought before the meeting. William B. Thomas, chairman of the Board, missions until 881 â€"0630. PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVES York North Federal Riding Founding Meeting WEDNESDAY. 3:00 PM. DON HEAD SCHOOL MAJOR MACKENZIE DR. RICHMOND HILL ln'accordance with federalredistribution legis- lation, nomInating committee will receive sub Feb. 20. Contact Don Baile MARCH 30th out at the beinning. left nothing to the imagination as to its temperature. and could have Inuch to do with the small crowds of late. Factory Theatre has a production crew of some 30 people. handling everything from set construction to program design. Now if only they can find someone qualified to turn up the heat. James Spragg ...... here Friday RICHMOND HILL â€" James Spragg. a native of Aurora. will be guest soloist with York Sym- phony Orchestra. Feb. 11 at St. Mary's Anglican Church at 8:30 pm. During the 1974â€"75 season, he was first trumpet for the Quebec City orchestra; in 1976 he played principal trumpet in the Stratford Festival Theatre orchestra. Friday. Spragg will play Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E flat. test piece of every virtuoso trumpeter. Also on the program is the vigorous Prague Symphony by Mozart; Rosamunde by Shubert. and the Academic Festival Overture. l Calendar l .\II in Good Time Humorous and moving, with the belly laughs and tears coming in equal doses: The Curtain Club. to Feb. 12. Call 8842638. York Symphony Orchestra â€" with guest performer. James Spragg; St. Mary‘s Anglican Church. Feb. 11. Call 884-9242. The Innocentsâ€" Factory Theatre. Aurora; Feb. 10- 12. Call 727â€"9276. Keath Barrie â€" Wood- bridge Golf and Country Club; to Feb. 11. beavers pack punch It) June \bbott Anyone who has ever )een associated wrth theatre on any level will be aware of the hard work that goes into the production of a play by backstage beavers who shows for the club In the past Light and sound are also part of the ‘sine qua theatrical non' of a are never seen. and who ;: get only a brief mention in the program. This is certainly true at Beryl Radke Richmond Hill‘s Curtain (‘lub. and never more true than for the present production of All in Good Time. Coproducers Beryl Radke and Pera Miller. who have done their stint both on stage and backstage. feel that, in Beryl‘s words. “people don't realize how im- portant backstage workers are. Without them. the play doesn‘t go on," As producers, their job is to find club members to do the work and to see that the show gets to opening night with Lilian Howard as few technical hitches as possible. Set important The set. of course, is enormously important. Michael Matyas deserves kudos for his work in this area. He was a consultant on Ron Scott's awardâ€" winning set for Lion in Winter last year. So far this season. he has designed and helped to build the set for The Rape of the Belt and the current production. and intends doing yet another. A professional set designer In his native Czechoslovakia. Mike and his wife Dagmar came to Richmond Hill 16 years ago and have been with the club for 14 of th0se, Semi-retired now. he has ' recently designed the multi-cultural theatre for the Harbourfront. Dagmar has produced and directed several THORNLEA RESTAURANT AND STEAKHOUSE TAVERN 'Romfield and Bayview South of Hwy. 7. Excellent Steaks: Ribs: Serf 8 Turf: Shish- kebabs. Served Daily. ‘ - STARTING JAN., 27/77 Appearing nightly from ..... ' 7 p.m. to 1 1 p.m. “Country Western Singer” FOR RESERVATIONS PHON E: 884-4349 Chris Steel production. Tony Cook designed the lighting for the present run and operates it with the aid of Terry Gosling and Paul Sutton. Sound research and recording were executed by Ron Solloway .and operated by Audrey Randallâ€"Smith. John Postlethwaite and Tony Durrant. A qualified electrician, Durrant attended a lighting workshop at Brock University last Tony Durrant year. During his six years with the club he has performed a variety of backstage jobs and once even appeared on stage. However, he has dif- ficulty learning lines. so prefers to stay in the background. Costumes. make up and hairstyles are all researched by members of the club. The present play takes place in the mid 60's so Lillian Howard and Marion Postlethwaite. a member for 18 years. have made themselves responsible for finding out what was worn then. Although she prefers acting. Marion feels that in any theatrical club it is necessary for members to spend time doing other jobs as well. Still driving Madge and George RAYSTONES TAVERN 183 Yonge St. Aurora 727-9561 " LIVE ENTERTAINMENT , EVERY FRI b SAT. NIGHL THIS WEEK DANCE T0: 'TED TOPPING OUARTET' ' ODINING LOUNGE ODAILY LUNCHEON SPECIALS oSPECIAL OCCASIONS CELEB/7A TE A/VY EVENT A 7 THE ERA YS TUNES I Madge Nicholson Nicholson are two more stalwart members. As theatre manager. George comes into the club regularly to check that all is well. A driver for the TTC for 25 years. he is now retired but drives a taxi locally to keep himself busy. Madge is house manager and is also doing properties for this play. "It's a pleasure to work with such a nice group of people“ comments Madge Perhaps the sergeant- major of the backstage army is the stage- manager. a role which is old hat to Chris Steel. He was so busy marshalling his troops that his son Rob. who is in the play. had to be interviewed on his father‘s behalf. A pastpresident of the (‘urtain Club. Chris headed the building committee when the present theatre was erected some years ago. Many others have also invested their talents for no other reward than the pleasure of seeing the results of their hard work actually “on stage". After all, in the theatrical world, “the plays the thing Yonge $1.8 ElginMills Richmond Hill 884-9I7I . ycrl Apia/C THE GARFIELD BAND NEXT WEEK MON-THURS, WEDNESDAY FRl.-SAT. THE HUNT TUES FEBRUARY 15th ANTI-INFLATION BUCKET A special offer from the Colonel to fight inflationâ€" feeds 5 to 7 hungry people. $5.00 ficottis chickenviflfla. OVER 100 LOCATIONS IN ONTARIOâ€"SEE YOUR PHONE BOOK FOR THE ONE NEAREST YOU. iii RICHMOND HILL LEGION BINGO Legion Hall, omo Rd, ofl ElgIn Mills Road E. $$TWO JACKPOTS$$ No. 1 Jackpot $60000 No.2 $50000 Wed. Feb. 9th No. 1 Jackpot 54 No's No. 2 - 54 No's Early Birds at 7:35 p.m. ‘ Reg. Games Er Specials at 8 p.m. “YOUR BINGO CENTRE FOR ALL SEASONS" N0 PLAYERS UNDER 16 YEARS ADMITTED 5%??? 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