I’ve always enjoyed the arts. When I was in university I had a friend in the drama program and she had to take in so many theatre productions a year and write on them. I never personally took a drama course, it’s not my forte, but I volunteered to go with her to nearly all of them.
In fact, it was her wish to go to New York City which led us to the Big Apple to take in a few Broadway shows. Though we specifically bought tickets and went to Wicked, we also took in Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid.
It’s amazing to see skilled people with that kind of talent, but after watching two productions this past weekend, I would have to say you don’t have to travel that far. Yes the stages in bigger centres come with more bells and whistles, but the smaller ones here make do and showcase the actors.
Friday night I was able to go to the Dickens performance, “A Community Christmas Carol.” It was fantastic. There are some amazing singers in town and I was pleased to discover there were some people who hadn’t had solos these last couple of years that I’ve been here, who are extremely talented.
The play itself was based on Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, but was reworked and written by Mackenzie Easton, Lane and Colleen’s daughter. It was funny and brought together plays that Cornerstone Theatre has done in the past with characters even resurfacing.
I very much enjoyed it. They do a spectacular job every year and I always look forward to their productions. When someone told me they were thinking about coming for a visit in the New Year, I told them immediately I would find out when the spring Dinner Theatre would be.
The Cornerstone Theatre group is extremely talented, but I was also impressed over the weekend with the productions which took place in Lampman. On Saturday, Dec. 6, I made my way down to Lampman School where they put on two productions which were absolutely amazing.
The first one blew me away. It was a piece about mental illness, alcoholism, and how some people are simply trying to survive. Within the first five minutes, I was impressed by the actors and their abilities. There were only five actors in this play and the lead, played by Sam Paxman was extremely well done. She played a distant mother, one who could show compassion and love to her children on occasion, but usually the weight of the world meant anger. The spectrum of emotion Paxman was able to access was phenomenal, but the others in the play, particularly the two other main characters played by Cassidy Roy and Adrianna Raynard, were also able to convey emotion extremely well.
By the end of the play they had succeeded in making me feel like there was a pit in my stomach. They had simply done so well at relaying the emotions of their characters that I had empathized and was 100 percent with them.
The two with more minor parts in that play then took to the stage in a very funny piece, which was literally just the two of them and a prop car. Their facial expressions and abilities to deliver their lines were fantastic. I was laughing extremely hard throughout.
The prop car didn’t actually have doors but at one point the two chase each other around the car and one opens the imaginary door, letting the other run into it. Not only was the acting perfect in this case, but the sounds of the individual running into the door or just of the vehicle in general: doors closing, accelerating, the horn, and more it was extremely creative and very well done.
It just goes to show that even though the productions don’t have as much money to put into them as a Broadway show, the people in them and the ways that they make use of what they have is extremely impressive.
