‘Three Men In A Boat’ on stage
Newfoundland author Wayne Johnston makes two Cape Breton stops
The late 1900s were a golden age of British whimsy — writers like Lewis Carroll and James Barrie followed their whimsical muses into fantasy lands, while other writers like Jerome K. Jerome re-imagined the ordinary world in slightly exaggerated but highly comic essays and stories.
One of Jerome’s most treasured novels, “Three Men In a Boat,” arrives at Sydney’s Highland Arts Theatre this week in a touring stage adaptation that has been cheered by audiences across Canada and as far away as Mumbai, India.
The play follows the misadventures of three young blades, Jay, George and Harris, as they punt their boat along the Thames on a jaunt. Over their weekend on the water, the three hapless bachelors face not only capsizing their craft but upending their lives along the way.
Scott Garland, Matt Pilipiak and Victor Pokinko give very physical performances as the three lads.
Jerome’s novel was adapted for the stage by Dora award winner Mark Brownell, directed by award-winning director Sue Miner and features period music arranged by Rigzin Tute with period costumes by Nina Okens.
This production has been nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble, three Capital Critics Circle Awards (winning in 2015 for best ensemble), a Broadway World Award, a MyEntertainment Theatre Award, a Golden Banana Award (winning in 2014 for best theatrical production) and has won multiple NOW Magazine Awards including outstanding production, outstanding ensemble, outstanding design and outstanding direction.
OnStage Ottawa reviewed it as “a triumph of both physical comedy and wordy wit.”
The production began Wednesday and continues until Sunday at 8 p.m. nightly at the Highland Arts Theatre, 40 Bentinck St. in downtown Sydney. Tickets are $25 regular admission and $15 for students and youth aged 23 and under.
Tickets are available at the HAT box office daily, Monday to Friday from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., by phone at 902-565-3637, or by visiting the HAT online atwww.highl and arts theatre. com/.
Tickets will be available at the door an hour prior to performances.
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In partnership with The Cabot Trail Writers Festival, Sydney’s McConnell Library is hosting a reading by acclaimed Newfoundland author Wayne Johnston tonight at 7 p.m.
This will be Johnston’s latest visit to Cape Breton after first coming here to read from his best selling early novel, “The Divine Ryans.”
Since then he has written such award winning and bestselling novels as “The Custodian of Paradise,” “The Navigator of New York” (a finalist for Canada Reads) and, one of his most popular and controversial works, “The Colony of Unrequited Dreams.”
Johnston is also the author of an award-winning and bestselling memoir “Baltimore’s Mansion.”
This event is free to the public as are all Cape Breton Regional Library programs.
For his visit to the McConnell, Johnston will be reading from his latest novel “First Snow, Last Light” followed by a brief question and answer session with the audience. Books will also be available for purchase and signing by the author.
On Friday, Johnston will be at the Gaelic College in St. Anns Bay, for the opening evening of the 2017 Cabot Trail Writers Festival.
The festival begins with two sets of readings — an early evening session with Mona Knight, Sarah Faber,
Douglas Gibson, Sheree Fitch followed by a second session with Johnston, Carol Bruneau and Sarah MacLachlan.
On Saturday, the festival offers a full day of workshops and discussion panels on various topics of interest to the aspiring writer, as well as a late afternoon reading from Cape Breton author Linden MacIntyre from his latest novel, “The Only Café.”
Saturday’s events conclude with a multi-media presentation by esteemed Canadian publisher Douglas Gibson entitled “Canada’s Greatest Storytellers, 1897-2017.”
The festival concludes on Sunday with a discussion about the future of reading and a conversation involving writing about home before finishing with stories and songs from James Keelaghan, one of Canada’s premier and most respected songwriters.
For a complete schedule and list of the participating authors, visit: www.cabottrailwritersfestival.com/