Sisters reunite in Cape Breton to air old grievances
Siblings touch on plans for the future amid issues and grudges
an upcoming production of A daniel MACIVOR play may be A swansong for nicola cavendish.
“i’ve been mulling it (retirement) over for the last four or five or six months,” the vancouver ACtor said. “i was in A very difficult production of A beautiful, beautiful play called the humans in winnipeg. but it almost killed me — and that’s not an actor’s exaggeration. it’s A very demanding play.”
theatregoers will have A chance to see cavendish, who is perhaps best known for playing the title character of the stage hit shirley valentine, onstage one last time in marion bridge. in the 20-year-old work, three sisters (played by cavendish, lynda boyd and beatrice zeilinger) reunite in cape breton, n.s., as their mother is dying. the action takes place in the kitchen of the family home as the women face their respective resentments and plans for the future.
cavendish says that she “fell in love with the play, the language and the characters” when she saw A production A few years ago in penticton. “this play is just sparkling with moments in dialogue between two and three people,” she said.
“it’s relatable to pretty much anyone,” said director roy surette, with whom cavendish has worked many times.
surette allows that the actors are older than the characters as depicted on the page, and that they don’t really resemble sisters.
“it’s not A big deal,” he said. “we’re in the present going BACK to A story that happened 20 years ago, just as A framing device. I don’t think that it really matters that they’re A little bit older. it’s about three adult children: one that stayed home in cape breton, one that went off and became an actress, and one that joined an order of nuns.”
nor does it matter that the actors “all look quite different from each other,” he said. “their chemistry is vital. it’s three sisters who have their issues and grudges but also their memories, and they have to connect.”
cavendish says that the themes of the play have inspired self-reflection. “this play is about living and how we live our lives, and it’s about dying,” she said. “i just watched A fine friend of mine from school days measure out what was left of her life. so you think of yourself and what am I doing with my time from here on? the decision in some way was written on the wall. it’s time to settle down and not be an actress so much onstage so much, because it extracts so much.”
although the setting is domestic, vancouver visual artist tiko kerr is giving the family kitchen an AB- stract spin. and one of the things that cavendish likes about marion bridge is how the play evokes the great outdoors.
“it has A beautiful nostalgia for those of us who were able to go on holiday into the canadian campsites and riverbanks and forests and rural towns and villages, all of those places where you get an expansion of understanding what CANADA is and who we are as people.”
it sounds like the 65-year-old cavendish is looking forward to exploring some of that territory herself. after the play’s run, she says she is looking forward to “finding out what it’s like to read A book in A day again, going on bus tours with cranky old people and dipping my toe in the water off of sarnia (ont.).”
cavendish says she’s not counting out film and TV work. but, stage-wise, she says, “i’m going out on marion bridge. goodbye. goodbye my lovely.”