The Door You Came In Returns to the Valley
As part of its 32nd summer festival season of performances in historic areas of Nova Scotia, Musique Royale is sponsoring two return performances in the Annapolis Valley area of The Door You Came In, the acclaimed production which toured Atlantic Canada so successfully last summer.
The production is adapted from David Macfarlane’s 1991 memoir The Danger Tree, which traces his family history and roots in Newfoundland, principally the Goodyears of Grand Falls who would lose three of their six sons in the First World War.
Last year’s tour commemorated the 100th anniversary of the battle of Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916 which opened the battle of the Somme but took away 80 per cent of the soldiers of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment within the first half hour of the battle.
The play, however, is not all sadness. Macfarlane’s storytelling is tempered by the musical collaboration of Douglas Cameron, an accomplished Juno-nominated singer who plays banjola, mandolin, ukulele and accordion, using popular tunes of the day (“Pack Up You Troubles”) as well as his original compositions.
Macfarlane is a Canadian journalist, playwright and novelist. His debut novel Summer Gone was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won Books in Canada First Novel Award. Canadian Authors Association Literature Award for non-fiction was won for The Danger Tree. As well, he has won numerous national newspaper and magazine awards in Canada.
The Door You Came In gets its title from a Newfoundland saying popular with his mother: to keep good fortune in the house visitors must always leave by the same door they entered.
One of the two Valley venues to see the production is St. John the Baptist Church in Poplar Grove on July 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general and $10 for students at the door. Tickets are available by reservation from the Musique Royale box office (902634-4994), musiqueroyale1985@ gmail.com, and at the door.
The following evening, Thursday July 13, another performance will be held at St. George and St. Andrew United Church, Annapolis Royal at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general and $10 for students at the door. Tickets are available by reservation from the Musique Royale box office (902634-4994), musiqueroyale1985@ gmail,com, Bainton’s Tannery Outlet Mad Hatter Book Store at 213 St. George Street, and at the door.