Bawtree launches book of memoirs in Wolfville
Well-known man of Canadian theatre Michael Bawtree of Wolfville has launched the first volume of his memoirs.
Titled As Far as I Remember, the book tells the story of Bawtree’s early life - from his birth in Australia and upbringing in England to the moment when he steps on board the boat for Canada, with his full of firsts career still before him.
The occasion was a jovial affair, with over 40 people crowded into the Blomidon Inn’s drawing room. Former Acadia University president Dr. Jim Perkin, Kings South MLA Keith Irving and Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison were among those who attended.
The retired theatre professor was introduced by a former student, Orin Dash, who attended Acadia’s theatre program in the late 1990s, when Bawtree was director of drama. Dash described him as a “true renaissance man,” who had been not only a mentor to him but a friend.
Bawtree regaled the audience with several short passages from his book, recounting life on his father’s farm in Devon during the war, vignettes from his school career, an uproarious incident at his parents’ Fawlty Towers-type hotel and an anecdote from his service in the British Army in Cyprus.
Bawtree describes his years at boarding school and two years in the British army, where, at the age of 19, he commanded a platoon of 36 men. He studied at Oxford under one of the world’s greatest literary critics before crossing the Atlantic.
A pioneer in Canadian theatre, he founded the drama program when Simon Fraser University began. He worked at the Banff Centre in Alberta and spent a decade at Stratford’s Shakespeare Festival. After coming to Acadia, he founded the Atlantic Theatre Festival and led it for four years. A great proponent of Joseph Howe, he portrayed the Nova Scotia man of letters and wrote a young adult novel, Joe Howe to the Rescue.
The memoir was first published in the UK in 2014 by Memoirs Publishing. The Canadian edition was published by Like No Other Press of Wolfville.
The book is on sale at the Box of Delights in Wolfville and should soon be available at selected bookstores elsewhere. The Box of Delights will be hosting a book signing at their Main Street store on April 11 at 2 p.m.