Eleven generations of Winslows later
See 17th-century Ireland come to life at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook
MILLBROOK — Robert Winslow leans forward and watches as actor Jake Vanderham draws back on a bow. An arrow flies, and with a little stage trickery, smacks into a wooden post inches from actor Griffin Clark’s right ear.
Winslow, holding a handcarved walking stick, smiles and nods. It’s all coming to life here on the 4th Line Theatre stage, which isn’t a stage at all — it’s a field, a barn, a hill and a forest. But in July, it will be 17th-century Ireland as
The Winslows of Derryvore opens 4th Line’s summer season.
“It’s coming together,” says writer-director Winslow, 4th Line’s founder and artistic director, as he watches the cast rehearse for local media.
The play, a prequel to 4th Line’s signature piece The Cavan Blazers, was first staged in 1995. This is the second time Winslow has tackled it, and this gave him the opportunity to tighten it up a bit, shortening some scenes and adjusting others.
Winslow wrote the play after a journey to Ireland in 1993, where he dug through old church records and explored cemeteries to unlock the stories of how the Winslows, an English family, colonized northern Ireland nearly 400 years ago.
That wave of colonization set off Anglo-Irish tensions that exist to this day.
“People don’t often realize that while the 13 Colonies (the presentday U.S.) were being settled over here, the same thing was happening over there,” Winslow says.
The stories he found were fascinating.
“There’s an old crypt from 1802 where Daniel Winslow is buried,” Winslow says. “During the revolution in 1820 the IRA was breaking into these crypts, because they were lined with lead, and taking the lead to make bullets. So the crypts were sealed, which means Daniel is the last Winslow buried in it.”
Much of the story was taken from writings left by ancestor Thomas Winslow, who was taken prisoner in the 1641 rebellion. Centuries later, Winslow is directing Vanderham in that role.
The idea that descendents of some of the real-life characters in the play might be living in this area, and may come to see it, isn’t lost on Winslow, and he likes the thought.
So does Dov Mickelson, who plays lead character O’hEoghusa, a poet and bard who’s at the centre of things. Mickelson remembers appearingi in 4th Line’s The Right Road to Pontypool, another Winslow play exploring area history.
“There were people there in their 80s and I was playing a real person, their grandfather,” he says. “That was something else, talking to them afterward and thinking about that. It means you really do bring something more to the performance.”
The Winslows of Derryvore is an action-packed epic, with more than 70 actors, romance, adventure, sword fights, archery and derring-do. The outdoor nature of the theatre means actors perform on horseback, and scenes range across the fields Winslow’s ancestors have farmed for almost 200 years.
Seven generations of Winslows lived and died at Derryvore before the line crossed the ocean. Since then, five more generations have farmed (and now make theatre) near Millbrook.
“I hadn’t really thought about that,” Winslow says when it’s suggested that his family tends to find a spot, settle down and stay put. “There’s something about this place — we’ve never wanted to leave.”