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Nl 8 - PORT PERRY STAR - Wednesday, May 26, 1999 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice™ Part Two of a continuing series By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star he part of Harry Raymond in The Stillborn Lover will be the latest in a long line of communi- ty theatre roles for Ed Daigle. The jour- neyman actor -- his roles in community theatre over the years number more than 40 -- is well-known throughqut Durham Region for a string of appear- ances here with the Borelians, and other groups such as Durham Shoestring Players, and the Oshawa Little Theatre. The Stillborn Lover marks his return to the stage in Port Perry after an absence of several years, and he is glad to be back. Some of his more fondly- remembered moments on stage occurred here, including the much-coveted role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Ed saw his first Borelians production soon after moving to Prince Albert in 1975, and quickly became involved with the group. His first project was as director of The Man Who Came to Dinner. He regards community theatre as a valid and valuable cultural resource, both for the audiences who are enter- tained, and the performers who are given the opportunity to strut their stuff. "From a performer's point of view, it's an excellent hobby," says Ed. "It's a cre- ative art, and we all need to express our- selves through the creative arts." And while it's important for the com- pany to stage productions that help it and its actors to grow, there is a respon- sibility to the audience as well. It is the theatre group's mandate to put on stage pieces that will stimulate and interest them. That's the way you:.keep theatre alive. Some plays -- The Stillborn Lover, for instance -- may not be immediately recognizable crowd-pleasers, but they are worth presenting because they are fresh, and deserving of an audience. Ed has given thought to the fact that. his character -- a gay man who is a sus- «pect in his young lover's murder -- may make some people who come to Town Hall 1873 uncomfortable. He's uncom- fortable in a way. But it is his job as an jactor to portray the character well, to do so with the help of all his experience, wiles, and intuition. "You don't necessarily give them what {Hey want," says Ed. "You give them what you consider to be the truth." Ah, the truth again. Theatre people seem to enjoy using the word, and, if you believe them, to be constantly in pursuit of it. Ed has to admit a couple of things, though: He wonders about how accessi- ble the play will be to the audience that comes, and he's struggling to a degree with his character. Not with learning lines, or anything like that. "Lines come very easily to me," he says. "What's beneath the surface does not come easily to me." What's eating at him is that he has trouble coming to grips with Harry's homosexuality. Is he biased against homosexuals? "Intellectually I'm not," he says, care- fully weighing his words. "Emotionally I am. Because that's the generation I grew up in." P But he's prepared for the task. He has embraced characters with whom he has not identified completely in other plays. Some have been downright despicable, like Old Dodge, the character who com- mits infanticide in Sam Sheppard's Buried Child. The secret is to find the common denominator of humanity deep within the character, and build upon that, says Ed. "To do a character, you try and get Jarrett Hunter (left) is Corporal Mahavolitch, Ed Daigle plays Harry Raymond, and Bill Walker portrays Inspector Jackman in The Borelians' production of Timothy inside the character... and to like some- thing about the character," he says. "You've got to find an anchor there some- where. Acting is portraying the truth -- even when the truth is detestable. That's the hard part." With Harry, that discovery was not as difficult as perhaps he had at first feared. "Harry is an exceptionally decent man," says Ed, who can identify with the times during which the character in the play lived and worked. "I think he's absolutely dedicated to restoring sanity to the world in his own way." Above all, Ed is committed to working with his fellow actors, with his director, and on his own to flesh out the character in as complete and sincere a way as he can. There's no room in this play, so laden with complexities and troubled characters, for a half-assed attempt at a caricature. "You're striving for perfection," Ed says of the job ahead of him and his col- leagues. "I think it's part of the human condi- tion to strive for excellence, and it's the director's job to facilitate that." Sunday, Jan. 17, 10 a.m. Town Hall 1873, main stage We've encountered a bit of a hitch. On the dimly-lit stage are three actors, working through the final, penul- timate scene in the play, in which Harry and Marion establish a suicide pact. Also involved is Diana. This is the first time they've actually been on the stage. Pridr to this, they've been going through sit- down readings of the script, holding dis- cussions on the play itself and the dri- ving forces behind the actions and words of the characters. Today's process is blocking, a tedious exercise during which the actors move and make gestures, trying different things to see what works, what feels - right, and what must be discarded. Norma sits on a wooden chair at a table directly in front of the stage, watching the action and occasionally referring to the enormous binder in which she has clipped photocopied pages from the script, and some of those copi- ous notes she has made during the months preceding this point. There is no actual set yet, just plans for one, and the actors work with exist- ing house lighting. These elements won't be added to the mix until mid-February, as is customary. See, Town Hall 1873 is home not only to the Borelians, but also the Choral Society -- whose production of A Christmas Carol was going onto the stage about 'the time auditions were being held for this play -- as well a series of jazz and classical concerts. The stage can be dedicated to a particular set for just a few days or weeks prior to a pro- duction, and then for the duration of the play or musical, after which it is quickly disassembled. Instead of a full set, masking tape has been put down to delineate the areas in which scenes will take place. A massive black curtain is the horizon in front of which the actors work. The director allows the actors to work their way through the scene until Tina, playing Marion, utters the play's last line: "Here. It's your move." then she pops up from the table and onto the stage. "Okay," Norma says. "We have some discussing to do." Who knows if she was counting on just how much discussing ensues. The analysis extends beyond simple blocking to the amount of intimacy that ought to be displayed between Harry and Marion. They have, after all, a non-sex- ual relationship, what with him being gay and her being in the throes of advanced Alzheimer's disease. And that How it's all made to work: Findley's The Stillborn Lover. The lead role is the latest in a long string of parts for Ed, a veteran of the community theatre stage here and throughout the region. leads to a lengthy discussion -- and debate -- on the nature of their relation- ship: Is it unconditional love? Resignation? Codependency? Or self- preservation? Ed says he needs to have these things defined, because it is necessary for him to establish his character. "It. affects my core," he says, meaning the nature of the relationship between Harry and Marion has everything to do with the nature of Harry. And without that he's not comfortable. Tina argues that it is far too early in the production to have so clearly defined such intricate elements of the play. She is for continuing to work through the scenes, and finding out in that way who each character is, and what they will do. "As far as I'm concerned, I have no character yet," says Tina. "I have tiny little bits of character." They discuss the motivation for Marion's staying with Harry after her discovery, many years ago, that he is actually gay. Does she love him that much? Or does she stay attached to him only for the opportunities he can provide as an ambassador? What does it mean when she tells Harry she loves him? Is it genuine, or a symptom of her dementia? Tina urges Ed to continue working through the scenes and engaging in the discovery which she feels will accompa- ny the exercise. She counsels against assuming, this early in the production, rigid characterizations that could pre- vent more discoveries from occurring. "Acting is a walk on a precipice all the time," she says. "And you have to be pre- pared for your feet to slip, and to regain your balance when they do." Eventually the confrontational tone of the debate fades, and everyone's back on the same page, as it were. They talk for a while longer, then Norma calls for another scene. She advises Ed just to walk the thing through, and see what a SR -_ mr