Homespun humour
Walt and denizens of Persephone Township come to town
The last time I spoke with Walt Wingfield, sometimes known as Rod Beattie, he told me he warmed up in his dressing room to the pristine tones of Ella Fitzgerald.
Well, guess what? Walt, or is that Rod, has changed his tune. Well, maybe not his tune, but certainly his singalong companion has given way to raspy balladeer Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart, you say? Surely not. “Not the young Rod Stewart, the more recent version of Rod who sings tunes from the American Songbook. His voice range is perfect for me. And he has a real talent for phrasing. He helps me get in the mood for going on stage.”
I doubt Rod Beattie needs much help. After all, he’s been playing Walt Wingfield for 33 years.
“Where does the time go,” he shudders. “I suppose in a way I’ve been typecast, but being typecast as 35 different characters isn’t so bad.”
That’s how many folks Beattie plays in his Wingfield comedies. That means everything from crusty, irritable neighbours, to affable wife Maggie. And then, of course, there’s little Molly, the tyke that lightens his difficult days down on the farm.
As most folks know, Walt Wingfield was a Bay Street stock broker. Fed up with downtown Toronto, he gave up files and figures for a new life as a country farmer in Persephone Township. Rod Beattie is, in many ways, like him.
Beattie met Dan Needles, playwright of the Wingfield series, when they were 10-year-old boys playing ball hockey on the streets of Toronto.
“I spent summers on Dan’s farm, so I guess I’ve always known the basics of farm life. Dan’s mother believed teenagers should be useful, so we became help for area farmers. We did just about everything. We helped with the crops, the milking, even the feeding of pigs. It was an education, I suppose.”
There are seven Wingfield plays, and Beattie says there won’t be any more.
“‘Wingfield Lost and Found,’ which we did at Aquarius in 2012, is the last of them. It wasn’t really planned, but we felt that play had something deeper to say that made it the perfect choice for the final Wingfield story.”
The play that’s coming to Aquarius, “Wingfield On Ice,” is the fifth of the series.
“It’s many people’s favourite,” Beattie says. “It deals with the big things in life; death and birth. It’s a moving story. Having married into the community, and with a daughter, Walt thinks it’s all going to be a happy time. Of course, he gets whacked up the head.”
In the play coming to Aquarius ice is a central metaphor for what happens.
“There is ice in a literal sense with a huge storm based on a real event in 1998. And there is the sort of ice that freezes hearts,” says Beattie. Walt learns there are feuds and fences that need to be mended in the country, as well as the city.
“Dan always takes some issue seriously in the Wingfield plays. Things may start warm and fuzzy, but we always go out with something deeper, something to think about.”
Maybe that’s why people come to see the Wingfield stories over and over.
“I think it’s the appeal of a saga. People develop a stake for their favourite character. And I think people identify with Walt because he has the foibles we all have, but he also has perseverance.”
Walt Wingfield is something of a Canadian icon. So how does he travel when Beattie takes him to the United States?
“Well, this humanist, idealist stockbroker is more easily conceived on Bay Street than Wall Street,” Beattie says. “When I do the plays in the States, Dan’s humour translates easily, but I have to help them with Walt himself. He’s so Canadian.”
Of course, Walt Wingfield isn’t the sum of Beattie’s stage person. He’s played many other characters at Stratford Festival where he’s appearing this coming season in “The Tempest” and “The Comedy of Errors.”
“I’m more than just Walt,” Beattie says. “But, yes, I miss him when he’s not around.”
“When I play someone else, it’s a different kind of work. It’s nice to have other people backstage. It’s lonely when you’re on your own.”
“When we first did Wingfield we intended to do a trilogy. Somehow, we just kept going. The plays just happened.”
Rod Beattie has done close to 5,000 Wingfield performances.
“When you’ve worked with a character so long, something just happens. Over the years I’ve had everything. Fire in the theatre, drunks in the audience, medical emergencies; you name it. But I always feel uplifted when I come away. You know, the thing is, I’ve never felt anything but love for Walt.”