Blyth Festival launches 50th year with 'play that started it all'
For the play that actually helped launch the Blyth Festival 50 years ago, this summer will actually mark the first time, THE FARM SHOW, has ever graced the Blyth Festival’s stage.
“The Farm Show was originally produced in 1972 and was a show that started it for the Blyth Festival. Paul Thompson brought a bunch of artists out here, they met with farmers, gathered their stories, and created this play, and then they produced it in a barn,” said Fiona Mongillo, an actress in this summer’s Farm Show production.
“The founders of the Blyth Festival were actually in the audience that filled that barn, and were at that first production. They were so blown away and inspired that they gathered a group of volunteers who together started the Blyth Festival,” said Farm Show Director and Blyth Festival Artistic Director, Gil Garratt.
Fittingly enough, The Farm Show, which helped start the Huron County based summer theatre, but has never actually been on Blyth’s stage, opens its 50th season, which started June 12.
Scene from 'THE FARM SHOW-THEN AND NOW,' playing at the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage until Aug. 4. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
The raucous celebration of rural life, was really one of the first times that farm life was portrayed on stage in Ontario.
“It’s especially impactful if you can relate and see yourself up on that stage. I think theatre becomes really magical and special when that’s at play. This is a really great example of that. We’re in a rural community, and we’re telling rural stories,” said Mongillo, who grew up in nearby Lucknow.
While The Farm Show-Then and Now, is the centrepiece of Blyth’s 50th season, it is just one of six plays gracing the stage for the golden anniversary.
“We have five world premiere’s, so we are continuing to look towards the future, to look at what other stories in this community are ripe and ready to tell. That’s a really thrilling place to be. We’re just so proud,” said Garratt.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'The mom is shattered': Body of employee who died at Halifax Walmart was found by her mother
The Maritime Sikh Society says the body of a young employee who died at a Walmart in Halifax last weekend was found by her mother.
'Horrific': Four people dead after Tesla slams into pillar and catches fire on Lake Shore Boulevard in Toronto
Four people are dead and another is in hospital after a Tesla driving through downtown Toronto at a high rate of speed crashed into a guardrail and struck a concrete pillar on Lake Shore Boulevard.
Prosecutor recommends parole for Menendez brothers in 1989 murder of parents
A Los Angeles prosecutor said on Thursday he would ask a judge to release Erik and Lyle Menendez on parole after nearly 35 years in prison for the shotgun murder of their parents, as new evidence emerged indicating they were sexually abused by their father for years.
Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model says Trump groped her to show off for Jeffrey Epstein
A former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model is alleging that former President Donald Trump groped her in the 1990s, in what she believes was an attempt to show off for Jeffrey Epstein.
'Never said I was going to close the door on politics forever': Christy Clark on interest in federal leadership run
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces growing pressure from within his own caucus to step aside, former B.C. premier Christy Clark says she is open to returning to politics.
2 suspects arrested after 4 teens stabbed outside Montreal high school
Montreal police say four teenagers suffered stab wounds after an altercation near John F. Kennedy High School in the city's Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension borough on Thursday.
More straight couples are calling each other partner. Here's why
Within a year of dating, 31-year-old Siara Rouzer crossed a major relationship milestone. The guy she was seeing was no longer a boyfriend but her partner.
Trudeau announces massive drop in immigration targets as Liberals make major pivot
The federal government is slashing immigration targets to levels that will flatten population growth as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admits the government did not get the balance right after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police identify woman stabbed to death in park in Ottawa's south end
The Ottawa Police Service has identified the woman who was stabbed to death at Paul Landry Park on Uplands Drive Thursday morning.