Sharing stories
Little known tales of a PM’s childhood
KITCHENER — Playwright Stephen Young spent so much time researching, writing and designing the set for his 2016 murder mystery play, “At the Crossroads” that the author was surprised to be inspired to write another historic mystery so soon after.
“When I was researching the Crossroads play, I stumbled on a story about Woodside and was immediately interested,” said the author of “Secret at Woodside” which opens in Kitchener for a 10-show run on June 8.
Crossroads was a fictitious mystery woven into the true events of 1916 when the city of Berlin’s name was changed to Kitchener, a tumultuous time in the city.
This new play takes place in 1891, at Woodside, the childhood home of Canada’s 10th Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Now known as Woodside National Historic Site, the gracious Victorian house on Wellington Street was where Isabel and John King raised their four children: Max, Bella, Jennie and William.
Young discovered there was a great deal written about the prime minister as an adult but he had to do some serious investigating to find anything describing King’s youth. What Young did learn was that far from the cold and uncharismatic character he became, young King was full of boyish mischief, prone to tipping outhouses and skipping school.
King’s memories of Woodside were fond, as indicated by his own spotty diary entries about that time. In one he wrote: “The years that left the most
abiding of all impressions and most in the way of family associations were those lived at Woodside.”
“It was a happy time, it was family time,” said Young.
Those special moments with friends and family engaging in activities is exactly what Young wanted to capture in his play. The mystery, entirely imagined and involving the disappearance of a family friend during a seance, just adds a delicious tingle to King’s story. It also gave Young an excuse to reprise the role of Detective Dickson, played by Brian Otto in both plays.
Woodside was the rented home of the King family from 1886 to 1893. Young set his story when William was 16 and about to head off to university and his sisters were contemplating their own futures.
Apparently the King family, particularly Isabel, were open minded, exposing the children to people from all walks of life, all religions and like many Victorians they were deeply interested in spiritualism.
Isabel’s belief in the occult has been well documented but it was only one aspect of their lives, just a snippet of the real story. The life they led as a family is so much richer, Young said.
“I wanted to portray the family when they were just hanging out with friends,” he said. “Then I found out they were friends of (painter) Homer Watson.” That brush with fame gave the family yet another dimension.
After five months of research, Young said he learned so much about
the family, particularly how the socialite Isabel worked hard on keeping up appearances even though Woodside was a country property with no electricity or running water, hardly luxurious. John, a lawyer, was often broke and the family did struggle at times.
“They were middle class but she liked to act like more than they were,” Young said.
Bringing this story to life meant finding 12 actors to play 14 characters including the three King siblings (Max is not in the script): Graeme Currie as William, Breanne Tice as Bella and Kate Gayman as Jennie.
“They came to the first rehearsal off book,” he said, meaning the kids had learned their lines and impressed the heck out of the director. “They all knew their stuff.”
As well as being the première of this new work, Young decided to produce the play in a unique location: the Kitchener Waterloo Musical Productions facility on Shaftesbury Drive, renamed the KWMP Arts Centre for this event.
Generally used as a rehearsal and storage space, Young is transforming the hall into an intimate, unique theatre venue and his personal touches are on everything.
He’s designed the set using Woodside’s rooms as his template and he’s tried to duplicate the curtains, wallpaper, furniture, pictures on the walls as well as props such as lamps and ink pots. Everything has to look authentic.
With backing from Waterloo Region Historical Foundation and the City of Kitchener, Young has received a lot of support to bring this story to life, even if the storyline is from his own imagination.
“There is so much history and the ending; no one will have any clue,” he said.