Play Reviews

August 18, 2009

Play transports audience

Ferry Tales tackles simpler times with air of campfire confidential

by Andrea Nemetz, Entertainment Reporter, Herald

Suddenly everyone’s talking about staycations.
The trend to vacationing near to where you live is part of a shift to slowing down life’s hectic pace, buying food from local growers and living a "greener" life.

That slower pace of life is lovingly recalled in Ship’s Company Theatre’s world premiere production of Ferry Tales, onstage in Parrsboro until Aug. 30.
The musical, by Nova Scotia playwright Carol Sinclair, takes the audience into the world of the MV Kipawo, the last of the Minas Basin ferries that connected the communities of Kingsport, Parrsboro and Wolfville, beginning in 1926 until the ferry was commandeered for use in the Second World War. The Kipawo, or "Kip" as she was known, also operated in Newfoundland and, in total, served 42 years without incident, the audience learns.

The Kip not only ferried people from point A to point B, but was an entertain-ment focal point taking visitors on moonlight cruises, complete with a grand piano, and day tours of the Five Islands area — an early version of the staycation.

It was an age where travelling meant getting dressed up in your Sunday best, not rolling out of beds in your sweats and sneakers, where the journey was as much a part of the trip as getting to your destination.

Directed by Pamela Halstead, the nicely paced two-hour production is full of songs and stories, crazy characters, jokes and chaste flirting. It has the air of a campfire, where people from different groups bond for a memorable night, sure they’ll see each other again before life sweeps them off in disparate directions with reminiscences still burning bright in their memory.

Romances tie together the telling of local legends and historical fact, bound up with a musical score by david sereda and ranging from blues to Broadway musical revue to fiddle-backed traditional tunes.

There’s the love affair between the proud Captain, played by Frank MacKay, and Mary Vingoe, who embodies the spirit of the Kip, whom she talks about in first person with impish humour and affection. Both starred earlier this summer in Parrsboro in Ivor Johnson’s Neighbours and the affection they feel for the theatre, which until 2004 staged its productions on the deck of the MV Kipawo, is readily apparent.

Vingoe is a co-founder of Ship’s Company, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and MacKay, known for his career with singing group The Lincolns.

The captain also flirts with lovely young Patrice, a science student from Boston visiting her Aunt Win, and the duo have a series of lovely, teasing duets.

Amy Reitsma, a South Shore native who graduated with a voice degree from Queen’s University, plays Patrice as a young woman enchanted with her companions and the voyage.

But the captain is not the sole object of her affection. She’s entranced by the charming young Pemmyhoevet (Gordon White), a Mi’kmaq who entrances with tales of Glooscap and lovelorn hunters.

Pemmy is joined in the telling of tales by Taul, a "yarner," who travels on board for the love of it, not because he’s being paid. Taul is a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist played by Paul Tupper, who performs on fiddle, guitar and banjo, nicely complementing the songs and flirts with Verlaine, the fabled first woman ferry boat captain who cusses as well as any of the men.

Delightful Aunt Win is played by Deb Allen whose solo ballad about a man and son is sure to bring tears to the eyes. Win also flirts with Christian Murray as the eccentric poet Penn. Murray is filling in for Bill Forbes, who died suddenly of a heart attack last month and to whom the production is dedicated.

A former member of Jest In Time, Murray brings his highly polished physical comedy to the set, adding many laughs. However, his burgeoning romance with the much older Allen does not ring true. His excellent timing sets a high bar, which the other actors meet.

Sinclair and her research consultant Con Byers have brought together a monumental amount of material about the history of the Minas Basin ferries. Locals and tourists alike are sure to come away not only with facts, but with a feeling of what it would have been like to be a passenger on the ferry that could accommodate 100 passengers and eight cars — nine if one was placed in a sling that sometimes carried animals like cows.

The show, with as circular and rhythmic pace as a ferry journey, is a welcome respite from the hurried world of the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.

Shows are Tuesdays to Sundays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. till Aug. 30.

ebarnard@herald.ca