VOICE CHOICE

“A ravishing Maev Beaty and dashing Wade Bogert-O’Brien deliver award-winning performances under Brett Christopher’s sensitive direction. Not to be missed.”

Go and see ‘Mary’s Wedding’ now on stage in the Springer Theatre at Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque.

Just do it.

The time is 1914. Charlie (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) appears when the house lights are still on. He first thanks us for coming. But before the story begins, Charlie tells us we are about to see a dream and that we are to remember it is one. This story starts at the end and ends at the beginning.

The dashing Bogert-O’Brien (thanks to Jayne Christopher’s terrific earth tone and rural costume designs) speaks with tremendous confidence, so much so that I trust him and what he tells us.

It is the night before Mary’s wedding.

Stephen Massicotte’s poignant script (I hear he has written some new dialogue specifically for this production) repeatedly jumps through time and space, from a small prairie town to the blood- and mud-soaked World War 1 trenches. Mary and Charlie attend church tea parties, go on horseback rides, and recite poetry to each other, from ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ to ‘The Lady of Shalott.’

As the couple’s attraction to each other continues growing, their lives, like many Canadians in 1914, drastically change when Charlie enlists in the army under Mary’s (Maev Beaty) emotional pleas of not wanting him to go.

‘Mary’s Wedding’ is not necessarily a memory play. Instead, according to Christopher’s Director’s Programme Note, Massicotte’s use of memory and looking back “helps audiences to understand that [life] experiences, both positive and negative, shape and enrich our understanding of the world and ourselves.”
This is why this fine Thousand Islands Playhouse production left me speechless at the curtain call.

The creative team lushly transforms the Springer stage. Richard Feren’s selection of appropriate music and songs for the pre-show successfully evokes the sound of the 1914 era. Credit to Set Designer Joe Pagnan for creating a striking and remarkable suggestion of an abandoned rustic-looking barn where the couple meets. Pagnan pays exceptional attention to many visual elements on the stage. Such attention to the inside detail made me imagine the outside landscape surrounding the barn. Jeff Pybus’s lighting design notably underscores the emotional highs and lows of the scenes, with a growing passion at one point and a tender intensity at the next. Jayne Christopher dresses Maev Beaty in a white nightgown throughout. That nightgown strengthens the statuesque and stunning woman with whom Charlie falls in love.

Brett Christopher wisely veers far from a saccharine sentimentality in his compassionate direction of this extraordinary two-hander. There are moments when his creativity in direction made me smile. For example, Charlie teaches Mary how to ride a horse at one point. What Bogert-O’Brien and Beaty did with two pieces of rope that resembled reins was inventive.

Additionally, Christopher also writes how the advent of World War 1 changed all lives, making it impossible to regain the innocence of childhood once lost. Instead, in this stark reality of life change, one must become resilient, adopt optimism, and cultivate a sense of hope.

Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien dutifully accomplish this vision. They are extraordinary in their performances. There’s always intent and reason behind every movement as the plot moves forward. There’s a purpose when the actors remain still. They hear, think, and respond believably and naturally, speaking Massicotte’s words with clarity and poetic finesse. Two moments come to mind. The first occurs in Charlie's conversations with Flowerdew, his sergeant and mentor. Fascinatingly, it’s Mary who plays Flowerdew. The second occurs when Mary begs Charlie not to enlist in the army. The scene is gutting and moving as Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien speak genuinely from their hearts. For these reasons, I’m on every word Beaty and Bogert-O’Brien utter to each other that I must reach for a Kleenex.

A Final Thought: I always applaud a production. If I thoroughly enjoy it, my hand clapping may get a bit louder, but I rarely give a standing ovation.

I’m proud to say I led the ‘Standing O’ last night in the Springer Theatre.

A passionate and emotional theatre experience of award winning performances, ‘Mary’s Wedding’ is not to be missed.

Running time: approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

‘Mary’s Wedding’ runs until September 8 on the Springer Stage at the Thousand Islands Playhouse, 185 South Street, Gananoque. For tickets: https://www.1000islandsplayhouse.com/ or call the Box Office (613) 382-7020.

1000 Islands Playhouse presents
‘Mary’s Wedding’ by Stephen Massicotte
Director: Brett Christopher
Set Designer: Joe Pagnan
Costume Designer: Jayne Christopher
Lighting Designer: Jeff Pybus
Composer & Sound Designer: Richard Feren
Stage Manager: Rebecca Eamon Campbell
Apprentice SM: Finnley O’Brien
Directing Intern: Jocelyn Nicholson

Performers: Maev Beaty, Wade Bogert-O’Brien.