Preview
PICNIC
Ghost River Theatre
Starring Elinor Holt, David Rhymer and David van Belle
Written by Doug Curtis, David van Belle and Elinor Holt
Music by David Rhymer
Directed by Andy Curtis
Runs until May 9
Pumphouse Theatres
It wasn’t the usual sight you see at the Edmonton Fringe – or any other fringe theatre festival, for that matter: reporters and protesters gathered at the entrance to a venue, while a police tactical response unit patrolled the perimeters.
The date was August 24, 2002 and the occasion was a performance of An Eye for an Eye, a musical drama about Wiebo Ludwig’s battle against Alberta’s oil industry by Calgary’s Ghost River Theatre.
But the play, provocative though it is, wasn’t the cause of the media and police presence. Word had got out that Ludwig and his family were coming down to Edmonton to see the show, and mixed with the curiosity about how the religious firebrand and eco-terrorist might react to seeing himself portrayed onstage was a fear that something violent might happen.
The people outside protesting the play were friends of Karman Willis, the teenager who was shot and killed while trespassing on Ludwig’s Trickle Creek Farm. No one then (or now) had come forward to confess to the shooting and the tensions that already simmered between Ludwig and some of his neighbours could have boiled over at any time. The performance might just be the catalyst.
"There was an Edmonton plainclothes police officer at the entrance with a metal detector, checking bags for weapons," recalls Doug Curtis, the show’s co-author and director. "That never happens at the Fringe."
Happily, the show came off without incident, but what followed later that day, while less sensational, was no less fascinating: Ludwig and his clan went on a picnic with Curtis and the rest of the cast and crew of An Eye for an Eye. What was it like for the creators of a controversial docu-drama to finally come face to face with the people they’ve publicly critiqued – especially the formidable Ludwig?
The answers are promised in Picnic, Ghost River’s sequel to its original show, making its debut at the Pumphouse’s Joyce Doolittle Theatre.
"It’s a documentary from the actors’ perspective," says Curtis, explaining the piece. "I asked them to share some of their thoughts, feelings and recollections, and I put them together with a narrative I had written the day after the picnic."
Curtis, known for such autobiographical shows as Mesa and Paranormal, couldn’t resist revisiting the events of the Ludwig performance and picnic. "I was drawn to it as a storyteller," he says.
Just as An Eye for an Eye used actors to play real-life figures such as Ludwig, Picnic uses a new set of actors to play those actors. Elinor Holt and David van Belle, neither of whom were involved in An Eye for an Eye, were recruited to co-write and perform this show.
"They take on a reporter’s persona," says Curtis. The two portray all the characters at the picnic as well as delivering Curtis’s viewpoint. "I wanted to do that to give (the story) some space, some objectivity," he says.
On the other hand, musician David Rhymer, who was part of the original production and also attended the picnic, is involved here again. "He’s written some new songs based on his experience," says Curtis.
The Ludwigs had wanted to meet the company and Curtis describes the picnic, at a dairy farm north of Edmonton where the family was staying, as "very friendly and polite – but there was tension."
However, there were no confrontations over the play. It turned out that Ludwig liked it. After seeing the performance, he told the Edmonton Journal that he found it moving at times, if occasionally inaccurate. "The message of our struggle came out loud and clear, and I’m happy about that," he said.
Curtis was surprised by Ludwig’s response. "I was perhaps a bit naïve, because I thought this play showed many points of view," he says. "We worked really hard to achieve that balance. But I guess it’s not surprising that (the Ludwigs) would see the parts that were sympathetic to them and focus on those and say, ‘Yes, that’s true.’" |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.