Kings County author celebrates book release
Ami McKay has another literary hit to share with fans
Three hours of celebration will be enjoyed Thursday in Wolfville when Ami McKay launches a gem of a book, Half Spent Was the Night.
McKay’s coven will gather at the Box of Delight’s bookstore for a reading, some conversation and treats. That’s because there are some family recipes scattered in with this new plotline.
In Half Spent Was the Night, McKay has brought her three New York witches together for the yuletide. Before the fire, they tell ghost stories and perform traditional divinations.
Then a series of odd messengers arrive on the doorstep bearing invitations for a New Year’s Eve masquerade hosted by a woman they’ve never met. Who is this woman and what are her motives? And why is a black raven so integral to the novel?
The Scott’s Bay writer chuckles recalling how she completed The Witches of New York in 2017 when she had three important projects lined up.
She was going to work with Xara Choral Theatre in Halifax on an explosion anniversary concert. There Go Online: www.centrestagetheatre.ca
On the screen at Fundy Cinema
Fundy Cinema screens The Children Act on Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
While her marriage to Jack (Stanley Tucci) is at the breaking point, workaholic British High Court judge Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) is asked to rule whether to make Adam (Fionn Whitehead), a 17-yearold Jehovah’s Witness suffering from leukemia, undergo the blood transfusion that will save his life.
Fundy Cinema also screens Sir on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.
Indian director Rohena Gera’s fiction feature debut is a socially observant, character-driven drama about a transgressive romance between a widowed domestic servant who dreams of becoming a tailor and her employer, the disillusioned son of a wealthy Mumbai family.
Shows are at Al Whittle Theatre, 450 Main St., Wolfville. Tickets are $10 and available 30 minutes before screening.
Go Online: fundycinema.ca Go Online: facebook.com/FundyCinema-1692183731024542
Phone: 902-542-1050
‘One Man, Two Guvnors’
at Lower Denton
The world of ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ mixes the criminally seedy with the pompously posh. Pratfalls, spit takes, puns, improvisation, slamming doors, audience participation, double-entendres and triple takes: ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ leaves no comic stone unturned.
That shouldn’t imply any lack of genuine wit in the broad farce and bawdy humor of ‘ One Man, Two Guvnors’ when the Acadia Theatre Company’s production hits the stage at Lower Denton Hall theatre was the writing and arranging of the music for the Two Planks play Nothing Less to do and she’d signed a contract to craft a memoir.
The concert and the play have rolled out, but McKay’s many readers kept asking her about the raven named Perdu. She says he wouldn’t
at Acadia starting Nov. 16.
An ideal farce requires events to be unfolding mostly in a state of blind panic, but ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ strikes an ingenious balance between meticulous planning and what plays like anarchic spontaneity.
This production owes no obedience to theatrical tropes, so there’s no need to brush up on Commedia dell’Arte, Christmas Pantos, or Music Hall ditties to enjoy ‘One Man, Two Guvnors.’
Remaining shows are Nov. 22, 23 at 7:30 p.m. with a 1 p.m. matinee on Nov. 24.
Tickets are $15 for regular admission and $10 for students and seniors. There is also a group rate of $7 (per ticket) for a group of eight people or more. The production will be held in Lower Denton theatre at Acadia University.
Beauty and the Beast by Greenwood Players
The Greenwood Players Theatre Group presents a pantomime Beauty and the Beast Dec. 4- 8 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. at 14 Wing Greenwood, Morfee Centre, on 24 School Rd., in Greenwood.
The pantomime is a wonderful love story, with beautiful songs and lots of laughs too, a must see treat for the entire family.
Cost: $12 for adults; $5 for youth age 12 years and younger. Tickets — cash only — are available at the door.
Round Hill Studio offers new exhibit
Round Hill Studio’s Twila RobarDecoste exhibit ‘Field and Forest’ continues until Nov. 30.
Robar-Decoste is a published illustrator and botanical artist. Her exhibit will be comprised of paintings in both watercolour and acrylic stop talking, even though she kept telling him she had a different book to write.
Knowing her first non-fiction book about hereditary cancer would be lengthy process, she found herself listening to the raven. McKay delved into German folklore, classic Christmas tales and ghost stories, saying of the witches, “I don’t think they’re done.”
Her editor, Kelly Hill at Penguin Random House Canada, liked the concept of a little seasonal book. Her aim was always to build the mood in a Victorian parlour with the fireplace blazing and chestnuts roasting.
Like many popular Christmas books, this story is meant to be read out loud, McKay says, in that timeless season between Christmas and New Year’s. She has even prepared an audio version.
Her non-fiction memoir, which she is focused on now, should be out in the fall of 2019. The isolation and beauty of her Bay of Fundy home, McKay says, allows her to
and include many native and introduced spices of plants, animals, and birds of Nova Scotia.
“The colours, forms and details of our natural landscape and its flora and fauna continually fascinate me,” says Robar-Decoste.
Round Hill Studio is at 280 StGeorge St., in Annapolis Royal.
Info: 902-955-0365.
Go Online: www.roundhillstudio. com.
Bohemian Rhapsody at King’s Nov. 23 & 25
King’s Theatre in Annapolis Royal screen’s Bohemian Rhapsody? Nov. 23 and Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. both nights.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a footstomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury who defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the concentrate when she must.
McKay also gets support from her husband, Ian, and their two sons. Ian and 17-year-old Jonah have collaborated on a ‘grimoire’ of spells and incantations. They’ve created for her a unique reading eye that is digitally embedded in an old book, she says. Ian also fashioned a magical masterpiece when The Witches of New York was published.
McKay’s first novel, The Birth House, was a number one bestseller in Canada and winner of three CBA Libris Awards. In it she examined midwifery in her home community.
The Virgin Cure came next. It was inspired by her great-great-grandmother, a female physician in 19th century New York. Her third novel was The Witches of New York.
McKay has readings lined up in Halifax and Lunenburg as well, but no country wide tour planned. The upcoming Wolfville book signing will take place on Nov. 22 from 5 to 8 p.m.
most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, he leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.
Tickets: $11 for an adult, $10 with Film Buff Card, $8 for a youth.
Doors open 45 minutes before show time.
Phone: 902-532-7704
Go Online: www.kingstheatre.ca