A magical comedic tale
Newfoundland production to debut Friday on CBC streaming service
A Newfoundland production that takes a comedic look at a mother-daughter relationship — with a sprinkle of fantasy in the mix — will debut this week on a CBC streaming platform.
“The Existence of Magic” is the creation of Martine Blue and her husband, Isaac Blue, who jointly came up with the story.
Martine wrote, directed, edited and produced the 11-minute short, while Isaac handled production design.
It was funded by CBC Gem and the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corp., and is set to debut on the streaming site Friday. There’s a chance “The Existence of Magic” could at some point continue as a digital series.
Shot in Portugal Cove and Topsail last November, the story follows a hippie mother and her straightlaced scientist daughter.
The mother, played by St. John’s actor Alison Woolridge, has a strong belief in fairies and is convinced her daughter (Rhiannon Morgan) has abilities buried inside her that can prove magic does indeed exist.
According to Martine Blue, the inspiration for the two lead characters comes from her own relationship with her mother.
“I think mother-daughter relationships are pretty fluid,” she told The Telegram. “They change all the time. Oftentimes they can be pretty funny or comical. The two generations don’t always see eye-to-eye, and that’s where a lot of the comedy comes out of. And these two characters are complete opposites.”
SMALL CREW
A small crew of 13 came together about a month after Blue learned the funds were in place to shoot her script, which packs a lot of comedic dialogue into the short’s 11-minute runtime. It took two days to film.
Blue had worked with Woolridge on a previous short and approached her at the St. John’s Women’s International Film Festival last October, just before she learned her project would get funding support.
“I saw her at an actor event and I said, ‘I pitched this thing. I submitted this show idea to CBC for this project, but I’m pretty sure they’re not going to go for it. But I have you in mind for one of the characters.’ She was really happy to hear that, but I assured her it probably wouldn’t go anywhere.”
Woolridge remembers that conversation almost exactly as Blue recalled it. What interested her the most about the character of the mother is that she’s nothing like Woolridge.
“That is not who I am. I tend to be an anal, organized kind of person,” Woolrigde told The Telegram.
The actor had, however, made a recent personal choice that helped her fit into the role a bit more physically.
“The only thing I had done was I pierced my nose in September (of 2019),” she said with a laugh. “In a fit one Saturday afternoon, I thought, that’s it, I’m getting my nose pierced. I wanted to do it when I was 16. My mother said, ‘Don’t do it.’ Then mother passed away a year-and-a-half ago, so I think, I’ve got to go pierce my nose at this age. So I did, and that did work for the character. Other than that, the dreadlocks they wove into my hair … incredibly painful. Thank God I only had to have them in for a couple of days.”
BUILDING A BOND
Woolridge said she bonded quickly with her acting partner, Morgan, adding she loves her as a performer and was so happy Morgan got the part.
“We’re the right age difference, and interestingly, it’s not that we look alike, but if you see Rhiannon, she does look like she could be the child of a half-human, half-fairie. She has that look. You totally buy that Rhiannon is otherworldly. I mean, she’s so beautiful and she’s got an etherial quality to her that’s undeniable. I think the mother-daughter thing came very easy to us.”
The two-day shoot was intense and had to hit its marks. The short was first scripted to take place entirely outdoors, but Blue eventually shifted half of the story to the mother’s home, as Blue was not convinced she could get two agreeable days consecutively on a November weekend.
“I decided to make one of the locations indoors, but because I had to keep that magic and fairies, I really wanted one of the days to be outside,” she said.
Blue is ultimately thrilled the project came together and she is pleased with the final product.
“I think it’s fun and funny,” she said. “I just love the characters. I think they’re really fresh and fun, and I know there’s a lot of places we can take them. So, I hope one day we can explore them a little further.”
“The Existence of Magic” can be found on the CBC Gem website — gem.cbc.ca — by searching “Local Specials.”