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Wednesday. April 12. 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B5 The Silent Drum Blakelock play wins outstanding performance, acting and costumes By Carol B a ld w in ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR The Silent Drum , a play that looks at the Second World War from the perspective of those who were left behind, won Outstanding Perfor mance for T. A. Blakelock High School at the district level of the Sears Drama Festival. Now, the play, written by Blake lock drama teacher Jan Barrett and former Blakelock student Jeff Morri son, will go on to the regional finals this week. "It started out as a story about my father; it's based on a true story," says Barrett, explaining that it all began when her drama students expressed an interest in swing dancing. "I said, `I sort of know a story. This happened to my father who was a swing dancer.' And I told them the story of my dad, and they liked that idea. Then we started to look at trying to create it." After calling on Morrison, "an excellent writer," to help with the script, the two got down to work researching and writing and ultimately setting the stage for The Silent Drum. This original script traces the story of man who tries to enlist for overseas duty during the Second World War but, like Barrett's father, was rejected because a bout of scarlet fever in childhood left him deaf in one ear. "But, of course, he looks physical ly fine and he does this swing danc ing. So, soldiers would attack him. He would get into fights," Barrett explains. "My grandmother was attacked by other mothers because her son looked like an able-bodied person. She would try to explain, but they didn't care because their sons were dying. Then my uncle, who was the younger brother, enlisted under age. Lied to get in...to make things right." So, says Barrett, she and Morrison based their play on that story, focus ing on the relationship between the two brothers as well as on the effect their different paths had on each member of the family and on the community at large. The older broth er, Raymond, is. of course, racked with guilt and feels responsible for sending his younger brother, Jimmy, to his death. "The whole play starts with a night mare the older brother has of shooting his younger brother," says Barrett, explaining that Raymond ultimately goes to confession and tells a priest that he feels as though he has killed Jimmy, who went to war in his stead. Then, through the confession, Ray mond goes back to his childhood and talks about what it was like growing up with Jimmy and how their rela tionship developed until Jimmy went off to war. `T he true story is that my uncle did eventually come home, very severely wounded, but we tried about 20 different endings," says Barrett. "It came down to, `Is he alive or is he dead or is it up in the air?', adds Morrison, noting that they finally decided to have the young soldier missing in action and presumed dead. "It's about the journey of the main character, deciding which way to approach death, and how to m ourn" The basic story, the co-writers say, is really about the brother who has been left behind and how he grapples with his relationship with his brother, his mother, and his dead father. "Everyone who has seen or read the play has commented on how strong and powerful it is," says Bar rett. "It has things in it that would appeal to both men and women...It's about two brothers. It's not just the boy/girl thing...focusing on the romantic. And it's also looking at the person who got left behind." Barrett even went through the CBC archives to find actual radio reports and wartime propaganda. And she found a few ads that were trying to entice those who weren't in the trenches to get involved in other ways. "Get in the scrap with scrap," she says was one of the catchy phras es used to convince women and chil dren to collect scrap for the war effort. That line, adds Morrison, ·.··r'1 .-'. is included in the script and manages to evoke laughter from the audience. The Silent Drum's cast of 40 play a number of diverse roles from chil dren and parents to singers and dancers. And those who play the main characters are challenged in their roles as they struggle to portray a range of emotions on stage. Not only does Alex Franke, who plays Ray mond, have to express a gamut of emotions, he also has to go from age 7 to age 2 1 in a matter of seconds. But it is Alison Preece who won the Outstanding Acting Award at the district competitions for her role as Raymond's mother Agnes. "She has a tough role to play because she has to go through a whole bunch of different emotions. But she does a good job." says Barrett. Preece says it was difficult at first to play someone twice her age, since the directors (Barrett, Morrison and Stephen Scott) wanted to rely on body language and voice rather than make-up. But she had a good role model - her own mother. "I spent a lot of time on how teenagers walk and how mothers walk. I had to go home and watch my mom walk. And I had to have a few aches and pains, and I tried to make my voice deeper," says the awardwinning student. "And it's how you hold yourself...I tried to watch older people. If I stand like them, then I think it's a lot easier, mentally, to feel their emotions and speak the way they would." "Alison really carried the emotion al aspect of this whole play on her shoulders," adds Morrison. "And she did a fabulous job." And to do that range of emotions, including the grief a mother would feel over the death her son, Alison says she had to envision the death of a loved one and how she would react. "I had to think of losing people close to me - my parents, my best Photo by Barrie Erskine Alex Franke plays Raymond and Alison Preece plays his m other Agnes in Blakelock's award-winning production of The Silent Drum. friend - people who are really impor tant to me," she explains. The Silent Drum also won an award for costume design. Yet it was rented uniforms that added an ele ment of reality for the cast and crew when they discovered old pictures in the pockets. `To see these wrinkled, old pho tographs still in the uniforms really hit home for me," says Morrison. "And I think it helped the actors real ly understand that this was a part of life back then. It's hard for teenagers these days to understand what war is. War is a thing on TV. It's so distant. But back then, it was something that everyone wanted to be involved in." And. according to Barrett, the adjudicator at the festival praised Blakelock for its costumes, which "totally captured the 1940s." However, it wasn't only the cos tumes that reflected that era. Blake lock added to the '40s atmosphere with a swing band that was formed especially for the production and authentic swing dancing that was choreographed with the help of a pro fessional. The Silent Drum can be seen this week, along with 13 other winning productions, at the Elmira District Secondary School, 4 University Ave., Elmira. Performances will run from April 12th to April 15th at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for one night or $35 for all four nights and may be purchased at the door or in advance by calling (519) 669-5414. A - ' . . EASTER BOOKSALE BLOWOUT A f lf A rrm up To « g / u off A PRIL 10-16 75 % COLES H op e d ale M a ll f 1515 Rebecca St. Tel.(905) 827-6355 T h a n k s t o a ll o u r v o lu n t e e r s a n d t h e c it iz e n s o f O a k v i l l e f o r th e ir s u p p o r t o f h u m a n r ig h t s . Amnesty International w w w .icom m .ca/ai75oak Looking for a great escape? 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