In the turn of an intimate joke, Lester was born.
The fictitious hard-living rock 'n' roller was already a twinkle in the eye of his father, actor/writer/musician J.P. Winslow, but he didn't come to mental life until Winslow's then-wife made a remark about losing her post-baby weight.
"Less to pinch," she said.
Winslow's lyrical mind slammed those three little words into overdrive. Less to pinch... (say it fast)... Lester Pinch... Suddenly in a flash of inspiration he was holding in his hands the character that had been gestating in his mind for quite a lot longer than nine months. This anonymous character had survived the drafts of previous writing projects, but didn't have a place to live, didn't have a literary purpose, and he didn't have a name. Until Lester.
The world gets to meet Lester on Friday night. He'll be alone on stage at the Sunset Theatre in Wells. Lester will be there Saturday, too, and on July 20. These are the first three nights for the one-hander play Winslow assembled around his epiphanic character.
"It's amazing how that goes," said Winslow. "You wait for them, and when you hear those little lines and phrases that sizzle in your mind, you write them down and maybe that's as far as it ever goes or maybe it waits in your notes for years, until suddenly another spark will ignite something, and you've got it available."
Some muscle-man might have gaudy tattoos, pin-cushion piercings, slashed clothing, and their name is Leslie or Barthollomew - it's a perfectly good name but doesn't seem to fit. Winslow had the opposite situation. He had a character with distinct personal traits and a clear backstory, but was looking for an identity. Once Winslow found his Lester, the portrait was almost elementary to paint.
Elementary, indeed. The only thing that delayed Lester's birth onto the stage was a part Winslow had to play first. He was cast as Sherlock Holmes in the recent Canadian indie film The Doctor's Case based on the Stephen King short-story. The film is now an award winner and Winslow's portrayal of the extraordinary detective from Victorian times is internationally acclaimed along with it.
Winslow got the role partially due to his relationship with the film's director James Douglas. Both are active veterans of the Barkerville Historic Town's seasonal theatrical cast that tells the story of the gold rush town south of Prince George and straight east of Quesnel.
Douglas and Winslow worked well together, and they both knew it, prompting Winslow to slip his film director the idea of becoming his stage director as well. It was instant agreement.
"James had a good idea of what he wanted to see, and we brought in Leigh Robinson as the production designer and it was just unbelievable what she was able to do in a very short period of time to really bring the play to a new level," Winslow said, describing the short and intense rehearsal period. "There are so many people around this play who are so good at what they do. James is like a surgeon, and it is always the right thing. Everything that comes out of his mouth is the right thing, you don't even have to discuss it."
Part of the reason Lester became so vivid - a play instead of a script - is the venue where it makes its debut. The Sunset Theatre in Wells is active in the development of new Canadian theatre and proprietor Karen Jeffery was so taken with the premise of Lester that she handed Winslow the keys to the building and told him to use it at his pleasure to develop his project.
"That is never going to happen in Vancouver or Toronto or anywhere else," said Winslow. "People here want you to succeed, they want your dreams to become reality, and they provide real support as well as encouragement. To have a theatre at your disposal so you can compose your play - I couldn't let that opportunity go to waste."
The writing is an epic task to complete, but it's only the start of a script's life. Once it's written it has to be spoken out loud with some representative movement. That's where the theatre structure became a golden gift. Winslow and Douglas could let the words wobble up to a standing position by giving the words on the page the proper cadence and tone they needed. It was a lot of cutting and editing, but that's how a play is honed.
"It's about the rock 'n' roll lifestyle of excess and being decadent and provocative, and if you're David Lee Roth or Gene Simmons, you can get away with that to an extent but even they have to pay a big price for it, and the price is even harsher when you're not really as big as those guys," Winslow explained. "It's about being born Catholic but also about addiction and obsessive behavior, and the guilt and shame that comes with that for Lester, and how your choices can lead to choices that lead you to the choices that eventually take you over."
Nothing in this story is true, but it is based on truth. Winslow spent enough time on small-town, long-haul theatre tours to understand the tolls of the troubadour's road. His father and uncle comprised the duo Walsh & Winslow that recorded for Columbia Records back in Winslow's childhood, so he was aware of the fragility and indifference of the music business despite the best intentions of the creators struggling to get their art out to the masses.
"I've been a musician my whole life. I play guitar. I've made six albums, it's all there on iTunes. It's something I've done as much as I've been an actor but I never tried to make that my business," Winslow said. "My dad had a massive record collection, and he played music, so I was always around it. Lester is not a play about any of that, but it is built into Lester in that background way. I could bring that authenticity to the fiction of it all."
Winslow becomes Lester at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and July 20, followed by a concert. Tickets are $15 at the Sunset Theatre door, under the Tickets heading on the Sunset Theatre website, or call 250-994-3400 to reserve seating.
