“Where is there to go these days?”
My friend and I muse this question over heavy sighs and a cup of Galao at a Portuguese café in a northwest Toronto neighbourhood. He is a fellow arts lover and avid traveller, so I tell him about the Festival Players of Prince Edward County. “Oh, it’s funny you mention the County,” he remarks, before explaining that his brother just bought a piece of land there with the intent of doing small-scale farming. “It’s beautiful!” he says. He’s visited “the County”, including Sandbanks National Park, which boasts one of Canada’s most stunning beaches. So he has seen for himself that Prince Edward County is one of the most picturesque spots in Canada, with a spectacular coastline on Lake Ontario’s northeastern shore.
But this is the first he is hearing about the Festival Players – and he’s intrigued.
“The county”, as the locals call it, is technically an island with 35 wineries, eateries, and a thriving arts scene. And it is home to the Festival Players of Prince Edward County, under the artistic direction of Graham Abbey and managing direction of Vikki Anderson. A mere two hours away from Toronto and three from Montreal, the Festival Players offers some of the finest performances in the country.
This year’s offerings, topically bundled as “Six Feet Festival”, welcome audiences back with curated and diverse performances, coupled with strict protocols that should inspire the utmost confidence in health and safety. Chatting over Zoom on a rainy Monday evening, Abbey chuckles when he hears his title for the festival mentioned aloud. He did another interview a few days earlier, in which the interviewer referred to it as the “Six Feet Under Festival.” An unfortunately easy misnomer, Abbey genially admits: “When I came up with the line, I thought, people are gonna start to say ‘six feet under’. I just laugh because it’s one step away from that” – in more than one sense. “But you know, I was trying to think of a catchy title that would not only mean that, but make people feel better about coming out of COVID and gathering back together.”
After 17 months of shutdowns, fluctuating COVID numbers and constant uncertainty, Abbey sympathizes with reluctance about gathering and trepidation about how that is going to work. “We’ve been really careful out here,” he maintains. “We’ve received the Safe Travels stamp, and we’re adhering to all sorts of COVID protocols about distance. So I really wanted to have a catchy phrase that would embed our care about COVID and our care about our patrons into the title.” With this in mind, the Six Feet Festival ensures that everybody in attendance can sit in pods, but the pods will be six feet apart from one another. Moreover, all of the performances are outdoors at the newly-constructed BMO Pavilion Stage at The Eddie Hotel & Farm. “We’ve got to sort of woo people back. We can figure out ways that people feel safe coming back,” notes Abbey
Turning to this summer’s program, Abbey calls it a “really beautiful, eclectic mix all centered around the very broad, universal theme of hope”. Judging by the rapid speed at which tickets have sold, audiences not only feel safe and confident about attending, but have a strong desire to experience these stories with their inspirational messages of survival, hope and fortitude. “They’re beautiful stories; they’re funny stories,” he enthuses. The Festival launched with a sold-out run of Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story created and performed by Beau Dixon, music and lyrics by Rob Fortin and Susan Newman, and directed and developed by Linda Kash. The solo show chronicles the story of Maurice Ruddick, “the singing miner,” an African-Canadian who survived nine days underground during the historic Springhill mining disaster of 1958. The show recalls events during the disaster, the effect it had on the rural Canadian community, and the racial tension that grew from it. “If audiences don’t know Beau, they should, or soon will, know him,” Dixon asserts. “He’s extraordinary. A talented artist-musician-actor. He’s everywhere: he’s the hardest working guy in showbiz.”
The event behind the show is “an amazing story of survival of an African Canadian who kept hopes alive”. And while on a recent film shoot in Halifax, Abbey went to Spring Hill and toured a mine, with the guidance of two local high-school students. The experience was profound: “I went 300 feet down in this mine, and they turned the lights out on me to experience darkness down there. I can’t imagine what that was like, but I can imagine somebody singing beautifully down there to keep spirits alive.” . According to Abbey’s two young tour guides, Maurice Ruddick’s ancestors are still very much a part of the community. And his story still resonates in Spring Hill today.
On August 12 – 14, 8:00 pm, Carolyn Taylor (Baroness Von Sketch) and Elvira Kurt (Ellen DeGeneres HBO Special/The Tonight Show) will perform a comedy night of revelry under the stars at the Eddie Hotel and Farm, weaving between sketch, stand-up and simulated Olympic figure skating. The show, called Live at the Eddie is written by Carolyn Taylor, Zach Russell & Elvira Kurt. “Of course, they need no introduction”, smiles Abbey, before adding “I don’t know what they’re doing. All they’ve told me is that they need a spotlight, and it’s about figure skating. And I’m sold. We extended the shows, and it sold out within 24 hours. So that’s the clout of those two ladies. I’m really, really excited to host them. And hopefully, we can make it a habit out here!”
August 19 – 21 brings FLIGHT: Prince Edward County’s Festival of Contemporary Dance, created and led by Carol Anderson, Arwyn Carpenter, Kristen Foote and Sophie Dow, and featuring performances by Anderson (Sephardic Songs, Garden Solo), Dow (Mountain Duets), Foote (Dances for Isadora), Ritmo Flamenco, Syreeta Hector (her body as words), and a traditional hoop dance to open the evening. Pre-show chats will precede the performances, which will be introduced by local figures like Sonja Smits, and Judith Burfoot. “FLIGHT is launching with some extraordinary dancers out of Canada and New York,” Abbey explains. “It is going to be a mix of all sorts of dance, and it’s going to be a great festival with community classes on Indigenous movements.” The FLIGHT Festival also includes children’s morning dance classes, workshops on Indigenizing Ideas with Movement, and ApHeart – a Community Dance Project featuring 15 senior dance artists and 3 musicians who gather together to dance for the earth to an improvised score by Julia Aplin and Carol Anderson.
The final show, Chase the Ace, written and performed by Mark Crawford and directed by Miles Potter, closes the Festival on August 24 – 29, 8:00 pm. “Mark’s made a name for himself as an amazing playwright. This is the world premiere of his new play, and we’re excited to host it,” enthuses Abbey. The solo comedy centres on down-on-his-luck big-city radio host Charlie King, a local lottery, and the search for truth in unprecedented times. Forced to take a job managing a small-town station, Charlie has no idea what’s in store. A pandemic begins his first week in Port Belette, and he quickly finds himself chasing a story of municipal corruption.
“So that’s our season in a nutshell,” says Abbey. He has spoken in great detail about the creative talent that Six Feet Festival is featuring this summer, but has said little about himself, though he is one of Canada’s most revered actors, having spent many seasons at the Stratford Festival and founded Groundling Theatre Company in 2011. So I inquire. He himself has not performed on stage for some time, but enthuses, “I was just out on the stage earlier today. Really, to put your feet back on the boards and look out – even though I’m looking out at an empty group of seats – it’s something special. Douglas Campbell, my great mentor, used to call it an ectoplasm in spaces that connects between performers and audience. And there’s nowhere – or no way – to replicate that without being in live spaces where things can go wrong, things can go right, and beautiful moments can be created between the energy of people.”
Of course, that feeling and those moments come only from gathering and experiencing together – something that actors and audiences alike have keenly missed: “It will just be exciting to be back in a space and tell stories again!” Those familiar with the County – and especially those new to it – should plan to spend some time – together – with the Festival Players at Six Feet Festival. It promises a dynamic, safe and overdue return to the collective experience of live performance. But if you’re leaning in this direction, heed a word to the wise: the high calibre of the company’s shows, paired with the reduced volume of seating, means that tickets sell out incredibly quickly. Reserve your tickets here.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2021
