The Homestead Players set for next project
Talk will take place Sept. 24 as part of Sunday Brunch Island History Series
The Homestead Players, the group that brought Sir Andrew Macphail’s classic “The Master’s Wife” to the stage a couple of years ago, will give a talk on their next project, on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the Macphail Homestead.
Melissa Mullen, Rob MacLean and Harry Baglole will describe some of their plans for writing a script and staging “Drive Dull Care Away”, a memoir of Sandy Ives’ folksong collecting in Prince Edward Island.
Ives (1925-2009) was one of North America’s pre-eminent folklorists. In the 1950s, while teaching at the University of Maine and singing at local gatherings, he became fascinated by the many references to P.E.I., and in particular the songs of one acid-tongued Islander, Larry Gorman. He spent several summers criss-crossing the Island and gathering songs before they faded away. He wrote a book on Gorman, another on a second Island song maker called Lawrence Doyle, and a third featuring a collection of Island folksongs.
“Drive Dull Care Away” was written some years later and published by Island Studies Press in 1999. The memoir recounts the adventures of a young man with very large recording equipment trying to document this music in electricity-challenged rural Prince Edward Island.
The talk will run 40-50 minutes. It will feature background on Sandy Ives, slides, a short television interview with him, comments on adapting his work for the stage and samples of the music he collected.
As part of the Island-History Brunch Series, this talk will be preceded by a brunch served in the dining room at the Homestead. A choice of a full breakfast or Mistress Catherine’s Fishcakes is available. The cost is $25 ($20 for members).
The breakfast is served at 11:30 p.m. after which the talk will begin. To make a reservation, call Angie at 902-651-2789 or book at www.macphailhomestead.ca - go to the calendar and click on Sept 24.