>>PREVIEW
STORIES, LIES AND HEROES
Opens November 30
Written and produced by Lynn Eaton
Vertigo Studio Theatre (Tower Centre)
"It’s a good story, a good, solid story," says actress Elinor Holt, describing Stories, Lies, and Heroes, Calgary playwright Lynn Eaton’s first play. "It’s a simple story, beautiful in its simplicity."
Unable to help myself, I add, "Just like a country song."
"Anything more than three chords is a lie!" laughs Holt. "That’s what my husband says, and he’s a country musician, so I believe him. I don’t know who he stole that from, but I credit him when I steal it."
Stories, Lies, and Heroes tells the story of John (Sean Bowie), a young country musician who leaves the farm to hit the road with Hank Williams. Holt plays Rosalie, John’s long-suffering love, and – unbeknownst to him – mother of his daughter and grandmother to his granddaughter.
The show is full of roots-country music written by songwriter Steve Nugent. Holt is familiar with the roots-country scene: her husband is Spider Bishop, known to many a Canadian as the man behind Tim Hus’s big butch bull-fiddle. But her marriage to a country bass-slapper isn’t the only expertise she brings to the production. "A really good friend of mine who’s also an actor, Val Planche, said, ‘There’s this play that Marilyn Potts is directing, and it’s a new play that Lynn Eaton has written, all about Hank Williams, country music and growing up on a farm.’ That hit almost everything in my life: I was born and raised on a farm, I met my husband singing a Patsy Cline tune – or at least that’s how I think I got him. And my husband loves Hank Williams and plays a lot of roots country, so it hit a number of things immediately for me. I was immediately intrigued."
Director Potts has invested a significant amount of time in Eaton’s play. "I’ve been working with Lynn on the play for almost two years now," she says. "I was working on it as a dramaturge first, then as a director." Holt says that Potts has been hooked from the beginning by the story, even if not so much by the music.
"Marylin admitted when I came on board, ‘You know what, I don’t even know if I really like country music.’ I said, ‘Oh, we’ll convert you.’"
"In a way, it’s kind of the opposite (of my life)," says Holt. "The character of my boyfriend leaves the farm to follow his dream. In real life, I was offered our farm twice: once when I graduated from high school and once when I graduated from university. I left it to be an actor."
Neither woman hesitates to praise Eaton’s script. "There are such strong female characters in this show. There’s a dearth of those kind of roles, so it’s great to have," says Holt. "The character that I’m playing is 19 at one point but then 52 at another. (It’s) the same thing with Michelle Warkentin’s character. It’s great to have some older strong female roles. We talk about Kitty Wells in the script, and how she wrote about ‘Honky-tonk Angels’ in response to the ‘Wild Side of Life.’ Can’t miss her. She and Patsy are lovingly mentioned."
When I mention to Potts that the story sounds like a country song that’s exploded, she laughs and says, "That ‘s true. Definitely. Definitely hurtin’. But it has a positive ending. I think the audience might cry when they leave too, but it will be crying because things have turned out OK." |
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