A Magical Evening
Last night I had the most magical experience! I went to a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town performed by a group with the rather oddball name of Two Planks and a Passion in a wonderful outdoor setting at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. It was a short drive to the top of the mountain to an idyllic old farm setting, a mixed landscape of cleared land and treed areas, interspersed with ponds and other water features. The centre is becoming known for its creativity and imagination and its constantly expanding programs, both for children and adults, in many fields of the arts.
The play is performed against a backdrop of trees in the early evening: the setting sun filtering through the trees, the rustling poplar leaves and bird calls become part of the setting. So beautiful! The play opens with a scene of small town turn-of-the-century life (the 19th to 20th!), of happy carefree children running about, of town 'characters' going about their routine chores of delivering milk, conducting church choirs, editing the weekly newspaper, or 'policing' the town. With few props and a call to the audience to use their imagination we are quickly drawn into the lives of two families - neighbours - one with a teenage son and the other with a teenage daughter. In the ensuing acts George and Emily will grow up, fall in love and marry. In the midst of all this happiness, however, there is illness, depression, and death to be faced, as we move from the wedding scene in Act II to the cemetery scene in Act III. The play is described in a local review as "emotional and gut-wrenching" and it is indeed that: there is more than one audience member in tears by the end!
We quickly realize that the themes of this play are thought-provoking: we think of family life and relationships, the continuity of the living and the dead, time and eternity, and the power of love. But most of all, the play reminds us that life is short, and we should be grateful for the moments we have - we would do well to be thankful for the everyday wonders, the little 'miracles' and take nothing for granted, especially our loved ones. The play has many memorable lines: the "dead" remind us that "the living" have no idea of the shortness of life; they don't understand. There is great poignancy when Emily asks "doesn't anyone ever realize life when they live it?" and the stage manager answers, "saints and poets, maybe, they do, some."
The play is performed against a backdrop of trees in the early evening: the setting sun filtering through the trees, the rustling poplar leaves and bird calls become part of the setting. So beautiful! The play opens with a scene of small town turn-of-the-century life (the 19th to 20th!), of happy carefree children running about, of town 'characters' going about their routine chores of delivering milk, conducting church choirs, editing the weekly newspaper, or 'policing' the town. With few props and a call to the audience to use their imagination we are quickly drawn into the lives of two families - neighbours - one with a teenage son and the other with a teenage daughter. In the ensuing acts George and Emily will grow up, fall in love and marry. In the midst of all this happiness, however, there is illness, depression, and death to be faced, as we move from the wedding scene in Act II to the cemetery scene in Act III. The play is described in a local review as "emotional and gut-wrenching" and it is indeed that: there is more than one audience member in tears by the end!
We quickly realize that the themes of this play are thought-provoking: we think of family life and relationships, the continuity of the living and the dead, time and eternity, and the power of love. But most of all, the play reminds us that life is short, and we should be grateful for the moments we have - we would do well to be thankful for the everyday wonders, the little 'miracles' and take nothing for granted, especially our loved ones. The play has many memorable lines: the "dead" remind us that "the living" have no idea of the shortness of life; they don't understand. There is great poignancy when Emily asks "doesn't anyone ever realize life when they live it?" and the stage manager answers, "saints and poets, maybe, they do, some."
posted by mamie @ 12:36 PM
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