When you get a newcomer from the city hanging out with a bunch of village oldtimers in a bar, and they start swapping ghost stories, well the dam can really burst.
A flood of memories, folk tales and questions spill out onto the floor when a pretty, urbane young woman suddenly shows up to live in a rural small town. People have a lot of curious ideas, but when she shows up at the neighbourhood pub - The Weir - and isn't scared off by the banter of the old men hanging out inside, they start to really open up - to themselves as much as to her.
The Weir has become one of the 20th century's most celebrated plays, and stands as one of highlights of Ireland's new generation in literature. In a land steeped in storytelling, renowned the world over for its vivid and symbolic storytelling, this bit of drama stands out. It was written in 1997 and made playwright Conor McPherson a writing star.
It was perhaps inevitable that The Weir would one day be performed in Prince George, a city with rich theatrical topsoil and also a thick layer of those with Celtic connections. Fate played a particularly strong hand last year to push it through to reality. Director Dominic Maguire remembers it well. He was one of the people who showed up to a semi-regular script reading evening with other supporters of local community drama group Pocket Theatre.
"The script had been kicking around with some of us for a few years. I just loved it," said Maguire, who finally concluded he would present it as his suggestion for the upcoming season.
"I brought my copy of the script and basically threw it on the table. (Actor) Frank Caffrey pulled his script suggestion out of his pocket, and there it was. He was suggesting the same script on the same night."
"Great minds think alike," said Caffrey with an Irish wink. He was born and raised on the Emerald Isle before moving to Canada decades ago. "Speaking of which, it was actually (former Prince George theatre director, now living on Vancouver Island) Sue Murguly who tipped me off to this play. I made a point of getting hold of it because I always trusted her instincts on that kind of thing, and she was right again."
Although the dialogue has the Irish accent and some regional wording, the strength of the story is how universally it applies. It has been performed in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, Australia, all over the United Kingdom and the U.S. and this is the latest Canadian mounting.
No matter where it is produced, audiences intrinsically understand the underlying messages of how traditions are passed down orally, but then always face the changes imposed by the modern day.
It talks about the idea of the supernatural butting its head against literal reality.
It paints a vivid picture of how rural and urban mentalities are at odds - or are they, when it comes right down to it?
Take away the familiar Irish setting and take away that he and Conor McPherson coincidentally went to the same university, and this is still the type of script that appeals to Caffrey. He is one of the city's most veteran community actors, but only once in a musical production (Forever Plaid, directed by Murguly and quite different than the usual Broadway/West End fare seen around here), and only occasionally in a comedy.
"I enjoy the process," Caffrey said of his affinity for community theatre. "We all need something to get us out of the house, but I really love seeing what we do on stage affect the audience. I like exploring the human condition more than making fluffy entertainment. I don't like to walk out after a play and have those 'so what did you think?' conversations with people, I find that awkward, but when we did God of Carnage (a dark comedy produced last year by Pocket Theatre) I ran into people who'd seen it, several weeks had gone by, and they talked with me at length about the ways that play had stuck with them and played on their minds even then. That, I like very much - the effects a play has on how people think."
Those conversations can also be had among the cast and crew of a good play. Maguire said this one seemed, on first reading, to be one of those conversation sparkers, and now he's seen it in the rehearsal stages with people delivering the lines and moving about the set.
"I think - I know - it has exceeded my expectations as a reader," he said. "Having actors close to the context (the majority have lived in Ireland at some point in their lives) helped in that sharing that goes on as you try to find the insights of the script. That sharing they did among themselves was very enriching for a project like this, where the story is all about the telling of stories. It was a wonderful exchange we got to all be part of, based on our own impressions and experiences from life."
In addition to Caffrey, The Weir also stars Rory Daly, David Underwood, Pierre Ducharme and Catherine Higgins. It is a co-production of Pocket Theatre and Cinema CNC. It will be staged today through Saturday and Feb. 1-4 in the Stan Shaffer Theatre (Room 1-306) at the College of New Caledonia. Tickets ($18 regular, $15 student/senior) are available now at Studio 2880.
