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Jim Purdy of the NDWT theatre < company out of Toronto was In Port Perry last week to promote the coming of the company's play "Baldoon" to Town Hall 1873 on Feb. 10. The one-night presentation here and series of workshops are part of the company s seven- week Ontario tour. PORT @ PERRY DY I.V.S EC ---------- PORT PERRY; ONTARIO -- ~ WEDNESDAY, NESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 17 -- 1" \ ~~ 7 "SECOND hed. SECTION. A scene from Baldoon Professional theatre | comes to Town Hall Professional theatre is coming to Port Perry. ===Although"Town Hall "1873 suffered a setback last yeat 'when circumstances beyond its control forced the can- cellation of The Donnellys Trilogy, organizers continu- ed their efforts to bring professional theatre to local audierices, culminating in --the February 10 present- ation of Baldoon by The NDWT Company from Toronto. Baldoon, an 'exciting mystery by James Reaney, one of Canada's foremost playwrights, in collabor- - ation with Marty Gervais, Journalists for the Windsor Star, and based on the actual, documented Baldoon Mysteries of the Wallace- burg area, during the 1830's, Baldoon is a tale stranger than fiction, and '"o'er true story". The family home- stead of cheerful, industri- ous Scots settlers suddenly finds itself embroiled in a world of witches, polter- geists and silver bullets - inexplicable phenomenon which bring the family to the edge of destruction. Visitors from far and wide bear witness to strange hap- penings on the McTavish jar, but none can prevent urther catastrophe. A taut and scary thriller, Baldoon will enthrdll and delight the entire family. Baldoon has a cast of nine actors and includes many songs and dances from the ..1830 period, As well, pup- pets and marionettes have been designed to recreate the presence of the super- natural. "Im Purdy, administra tive director in charge of advance publicity for the NDWT Company, visited Port Perry last week. The theatre company's appear- ance here is part of a pro- vince-wide seven-week tour, and, according to Purdy, it - is just this kind of nascenb interest in centres all over the province that the com- pany is trying to encourage. He had nothing but praise for the enthusiasm of local organizers. "You go (NDWT Company) to some of the larger, so-called pro- fessional centres such as Vancouver and you have to move in and do all the work (publicity) yourself. Often, there's nothing done. Yet here in Port Perry, every- thing is very well organized. There's simply nothing for me to do." Professional theatre has a certain responsibilty to centres such as this one, thinks Purdy. "Especially the smaller centres such as this one. We want to see them succeed. It's in our best interest. We are build- ing audiences as we go. That's one reason the company conducts work- shops in the communities. The theatre group will con- duct workshops here both at the high school and at the Old Town Hall. Some local people will also be on hand to help the company set up for the actual play. 'More than anything, these work- shops have more of a lasting impact on the community," said Purdy. "We want to leave something behind. Something that wasn't there before. We want to get people interested in creating their own plays." As far as fie Town Hall is concerned, si ill be limit- ed and some-of the scenes will have to be adjusted to take that into account. But what is lost in space is gained in intimacy and atmosphere. "It's a lovely building. You get a feeling of heritage." He describes the play as "a simple little folk tale'. Author James Reaney is highly influenced by the classics and Greek drama, explains Purdy, so there's nothing radical or "weird" about the play. "It's a mixture of contemporary and classic," said Purdy. 'It's not that radical, far out and strange." Nevertheless, the play is unusual in several ways. The southern Ontario folk tale is told not only with actors in the traditional stage style, but also with the use of puppets. The play, besides being fun to watch, is fun to do. "A lot of hard work, mind you," said Jim, "but fun to do. The actors are on stage "AI THE timé, and "they are = continually doing some- thing. There's the puppets anda lot of special effects that are done." There's no mass audien- ces for .such things as theatré in Canada, so there's a great, need: to promote theatre...one reason for the tour and workshops. But more than that, points out Purdy, is the need to promote Canadian theatre. "There seems to be, for some reason, a strange bias in this country against things of this country. Many people keep telling us," said Purdy, "to go to New York, become a big success there and then people back here will listen to you." "There's quite a bit of indifference here that we have to overcome," he said. NDWT does plays that are trying to appeal to a wide audience. Much of today's theatre is aimed at a narrow field of interest," said Jim. "Not us. So it is important to us to get people out. But the success or failure of an appearance is not measured totally in attendance." Undoubtedly, the theatre could attract bigger audien- ces by staying in Toronto. "But there's a real danger in restricting yourself to Toronto, because then you become a very cosmopolitan theatre company that is only playing to Toronto aud- iences about Toronto. You become less Canadian and more Toronto," said Mr. Purdy. Theatre is on the upswing in Canada, according to Mr. Purdy, not only in the larger centres but also in smaller places like Port Perry. "Just the fact that we are able to tour is an example of growing interest," he said. "And there are a lot of projects such as this Town Hall project in Port Perry. Mr. Purdy thinks a sum- mer theatre program here would be a good idea, not only in building - local audience interest but also in keeping actors and actresses busy and enthusi- astic. -Canadian theatre, accord- ing to Jim, will be dependent on government grants and 'public funds for quite some time. "Theatre is limited to a select audience" he said. to a select audience." "If we present plays that would appeal to a wide enough audience to make it profitable, you'd have theatre turning out material resembling American tele- vision," he said. And the question that everybody asks is: What does NDWT stand for? "They were letters picked out of a hat," explains Jim. 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