Coming Soon: Grace & Glorie, Opening October 16

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Deep in the mountains of Virginia, a determined hospice worker meets her match in her 90-year-old patient. Grace, an altogether feisty, illiterate, and “amazing” woman, is living out her final days. By her side is Glorie, a lonely ex-New Yorker; a begrudging, woeful, and Harvard-educated hospice volunteer. They couldn’t be less alike. Or could they?

Confined in the remote forest cabin, the odd couple struggle to find common ground. Each has powerful things to confess and insight to share with the other. They tackle the great unknown that is death, with varying degrees of horror and humour. Hilarity ensues as the two overcome their culture clash and they begin to rely on each other. Two very different yet ordinary women, the stories they share reveal the honour in an ordinary life well lived. Grace and Glorie is a tale of hope and connection, its homespun wisdom born of hardship appeals to audiences of all ages and experience.

Join us for a play of easy laughs, a few tears, new perspectives and inspiration. This show runs October 16 to November 7, 2015. Tickets for Grace and Glorie are available now for evening and matinee performances.

By |September 29th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Jeeves Intervenes: Sample Menus

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Jeeves Intervenes

September 11 to October 3

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During the run of Jeeves Intervenes we are offering a table d’hôte in the Playbill Dining Room. This is a set menu with your choice of three main courses and served with two selections from the available sides. The regular salad and dessert bars will also be included. Your server will be pleased to take your order when you arrive at the Playbill Dining Room.

Feedback Survey:

We appreciate your time and invite you to provide us with your honest and constructive feedback. All submissions are confidential, anonymous, and secure.

Your feedback is extremely important and will help us determine the future direction of what we offer in the Playbill Dining Room.

As a thank you for completing our survey and sharing your expreince and valuable insights, we are offering a chance to win two Dinner and Theatre tickets to Elf: The Musical.

To enter the contest, please complete the survey, then enter your information before submitting your responses. All submissions must be received by Oct. 13, 2015.

Please follow this link to the survey:

Jeeves Table d’Hote Survey (Now Closed)

Thank you.

By |September 22nd, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Jeeves Intervenes: Director’s Notes

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Ian Farthing

We all need to laugh. Life has many trials, complications and hurdles and laughter is often the best medicine. The wonderful world of Jeeves and Wooster created by P.G. Wodehouse offers us a welcome respite for a couple of hours.

There’s something endearing about the innocence of Bertie Wooster and something comforting about the constant, calm and efficient presence of his butler, Jeeves. Watching them, it helps us feel that no matter what goes wrong in the world, it can always be fixed – with a few chuckles along the way.

So sit back and enjoy these colourful characters, their silly scrapes and their wry wit – hopefully some of that enjoyment will spill over into your lives after you leave the theatre!

About Ian

Previously seen on stage at Chemainus Theatre Festival in A Christmas Carol and Jeeves in Bloom, this production marks Ian’s directorial debut in Chemainus. Other directing credits include award-winning productions of Macbeth, Othello & Two Gents of Verona at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON. His acting career has seen him perform in London and across Canada with Shakespeare’s Globe, Arts Club, Pacific Theatre & Mirvish Productions amongst others.

By |September 18th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Bertie & Jeeves Return, Hijinks Ensue!

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Hapless playboy Bertie Wooster (Warren Bain) and his save-the-day-valet Jeeves (Bernard Cuffling) in Jeeves Intervenes (photo: Cim MacDonald)

“great laugh-out-loud comedy”
Andrea Rondeau, Cowichan Valley Citizen – 15 Sept 2015

Cast hits comedic high in new ‘Jeeves’

An excellent cast will leave you with a big grin on your face as you leave the Chemainus Theatre following a performance of their latest production, Jeeves Intervenes.

Warren Bain and Bernard Cuffling reprise their roles as Bertie Wooster and all-knowing butler Jeeves, respectively, following on last year’s successful run with the classic P.G. Wodehouse characters in Jeeves in Bloom.

Bain is a bundle of energy, managing to make the shallow, unambitious and well-to-do Bertie someone we are both happy to laugh at, but also root for in his capers to avoid matrimony.

Cuffling as Jeeves is the comedic straight man to a “t”. His dry delivery is perfect as he reins in and directs Bertie’s life from the behind the throne, so to speak, but is nonetheless able to convey a sly wit. Behind the stoic facade the audience just knows he is rolling his eyes at the silliness around him, and we know he’ll fix it all in the end.

Download the rest as PDF

 

By |September 16th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Jeeves Intervenes: The Cast & Designers

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Warren Bain

Bertie Wooster

Warren is thrilled to return to Jeeves and Wooster! Selected credits include: Jeeves in Bloom (Chemainus); A Comedy of Errors (Company of Fools); . . . And Then, the Lights Went Out (Stage West Calgary); A Christmas Carol (Upper Canada Playhouse); Red Light Winter (Another Theatre Co.); and six seasons with the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School, and is one half of the Bain & Bernard Comedy duo. My deepest love to Katie, and my family.

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David Baughan

Stage Manager

Born in England, David is a theatre stage manager, lighting designer, author and photographer. Stage management credits in BC include numerous productions for TheatreOne (Nanaimo), Graffiti Theatre (Salt Spring Island) and Chemainus Theatre. David is pleased to return to Chemainus where he has already stage managed over 30 productions. Many of David’s photographs are held in the Musée National d’Art Moderne collection in Paris.

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David Boquist

Lighting Designer

Darren is thrilled to return to Chemainus having designed last season’s Over the River and Through the Woods. Based in Vancouver, he has had the pleasure of designing for Pi Theatre, Axis Theatre, Carousel Theatre, Western Gold Theatre, Upintheair Theatre and Theatre North West to name a few. He also continues to pursue his passion on the stage acting in an upcoming production of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.

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Bernard Cuffling

Jeeves

Previous work for Chemainus Theatre Festival includes: Jeeves in Bloom, Dracula (Director), Hay Fever (Director), Woman in Black (Actor/Director). Last season he was a member of the Bard on the Beach company in Vancouver, where he lives, in The Tempest, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Later this season he will appear in The Arts Club Vancouver’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life playing Clarence, the angel.

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Ian Farthing

Director

Previously seen on stage at Chemainus Theatre Festival in A Christmas Carol and Jeeves in Bloom, this production marks Ian’s directorial debut in Chemainus. Other directing credits include award-winning productions of Macbeth, Othello & Two Gents of Verona at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON. His acting career has seen him perform in London and across Canada with Shakespeare’s Globe, Arts Club, Pacific Theatre & Mirvish Productions amongst others.

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Olivia Hutt

Gertrude

A recent graduate of Studio 58’s conservatory acting program, Olivia is thrilled to be at the Chemainus Theatre Festival for the first time! Recent roles: Cosmonaut in Studio 58’s original production of Kosmic Mambo, nominated for a Jessie Richardson award, and Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! She and fellow graduates have launched their theatre company, SpeakEasy Theatre. Their first show was performed at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, 2015.

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Laurin Kelsey

Set Designer

Laurin Kelsey obtained her BFA in Set & Costume Design from the University of Victoria and attended the National Theatre School of Canada for Design. Laurin is happy to return to the island after living and working in Germany for three years, where she designed for both theatre and film. Recent credits include Macbeth (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre), The Mousetrap and Over the River and Through the Woods (Chemainus Theatre Festival), and My Romantic History (English Theatre Berlin) www.laurinkelsey.ca

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Näomi Lazarus

Costume Designer

Näomi is very excited to design her first show with the Chemainus Theatre Festival. She has designed over fifty plays and half a dozen films since she began in 2003. Recent productions include The Boy With The Enchanted Hands (Mortal Coil Performance Society), The Winter’s Tale (Classic Chic Productions), and The Cripple of Inishmaan (Ensemble Theatre Company). Näomi lives in Vancouver with her husband Jason and daughter Elizabeth who likes to “help” by decorating her
dressforms behind her back.

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Brian Linds

Sir Rupert

Brian previously appeared at CTF in Delicious Lies, Harvest, Arsenic and Old Lace and Barefoot In the Park. Other credits: Waiting For Godot, Brighton Beach Memoir, Uncle Vanya, Death of A Salesman, As You Like It (Blue Bridge Theatre), A Christmas Carol ,The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Urinetown (The Belfry), Driving Miss Daisy, August: Osage County, The Patron Saint Of Stanley Park, It’s A Wonderful Life (Arts Club).

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Seth Little

Eustace

Vancouver-born Mr. Little has played over forty character roles in the last 6 years. Favourites include celebrities and historical figures Richard Nixon, Carol Channing, Paul Lynde, Lotte Lenya, and Oscar Wilde in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily (directed by William B. Davis.) Seth recently appeared as alien transvestite Doctor Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, and as the bewigged fop Doctor Bartholio in Adam Henderson’s adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro.

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Barbara Pollard

Aunt Agatha

Barbara is thrilled to return to Chemainus for her third time, having last appeared as Ma Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life. Barbara Is one of the authors of Mom’s the Word, a trilogy of internationally successful plays. Recently she was in My Fair Lady with RCMT, Steel Magnolias for Peninsula Prods. and played a lead in the movie Harvest Moon. Barbara is currently working on her own play Mother Loving Son and has two gorgeous grown children.

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Linzi Voth

Apprentice Stage Manager

Linzi is thrilled to be back in Chemainus after working on Over the River. With a Bachelor of Performing Arts & MT Diploma (CapU) Linzi thrives as a multifaceted performing arts addict.
Production Manager: Jesus Christ Superstar (FCP). SM/ASM: Dancing on the Edge Festival; Holmes & Watson (ACE Productions); The Competition is Fierce (ITSAZOO); Time Machine (MACHiNENOiSY); Crazy for You (Gateway). This Fall: Snapshots (WRS); Mrs. Claus’s Kitchen (Famous Artists).

By |September 11th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Jeeves Intervenes: Current Exhibition

Johnny Lee and
Katherine Melanie Diewert

September 11 to October 3

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About Johnny Lee

Honoring the gift I was given, I draw in detail believing anything worth doing well takes patience, commitment and time. I choose realism, because for me it is a lot more challenging than doodling from my imagination; not the other way around. Chosen subjects evolve from memories I have as a boy.

A mother’s story of her ancestry coupled with the impact a grandfather had on this boy still today. The act of illustrating gives me peace, stillness, freedom, sense of accomplishment, purpose and pride. It allows me to exit the conceptual make believe reality of society and enter a place where time, meaning, rules and logic do not exist.

I am humbled of how nature can channel creativity through a body to a page. Drawing is in my nature and ma I never take it for granted.

More Info

For Johnny Lee’s website Click Here

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About Katherine Melanie Diewert

I was born an artist and have developed my skills through various courses and valuable instruction. My journey began in Winnipeg and I studied still life drawing, sculpture and Model drawing at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Advertising Art at Red River Community College where I first studied photography.

Art History at University of Manitoba.

I had the pleasure to teach photography with the Stuate Lelum College and also a freelance photographer.

I am a mother of two wonderful children who I draw much inspiration from and I have worked in dentistry for over 20 years.

Artists draw attention to details in life that sometimes are overlooked and make beauty out of nothing at all.

I hope you enjoy my images of the magnificent history of First Nations of Haida Gwaii.

By |September 8th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Jeeves Intervenes: About the Show

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From entanglements to entertainment. The beloved Jeeves is back!

Devotees and newbies, welcome to another madcap Chemainus Theatre Festival production featuring the work of British author P. G. Wodehouse. This fall, we bring you Jeeves Intervenes, a terrific episode in the thematic series about the unlikely duo of doddering, trouble-finding Bertie Wooster, and his save-the-day valet, Jeeves.

photo_jeeves2How much mischief can these two characters get into, and out of? There seems no end or answer to that question. Wodehouse produced thirty-five short stories and ten full-length novels about their wacky adventures together, each a fresh and familiar jaunt designed to accentuate the varied notions of friendship. The characters first emerged in magazine short stories in the 1910’s, and were published during periods of economic depression, war, and political and social upheaval. Through his series, Wodehouse presents the idea that the trials of external forces may be overcome by the longevity of human bonds, and a good dose of humour.

“What’s brilliant about Wodehouse’s writing”, says artistic director, Mark DuMez, “is the world he creates. He constructs a place to step outside reality for a moment and delight in a little absurdity.”

What Jeeves foregoes in epiphanies is more than made up for in buoyant entertainment (qualities said to be attributed to the author himself). Do not be fooled by the lightness of tone, however; the story is also rich with understated meaning. Amid the tomfoolery of the tale is a warm relationship between Bertie and Jeeves, a connection between the old allies that highlights the great assurance of friendship.

“With an indisputable charm,” suggests DuMez, “the Jeeves stories remind us that friends and family provide a timeless connection we can count on – quirks and all.”

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It’s in this eccentric way that Jeeves Intervenes delights audiences. Confirmed bachelor Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and his old school chum Eustace Bassington are both desperate to escape their high-society fate – for “Bertie” an undesired marriage to Gertrude, and for “Bassy” an unwanted job in India (which he’d happily trade for Gertrude’s hand at the altar). To save themselves they must enact an outrageous scheme of deception and disguise. But before the duo can dodge the traps of meddling Aunt Agatha and Uncle Rupert, their plan spins wildly out of control. Only the quick-witted manservant Jeeves has a chance to rescue these bumbling fools from their unfortunate futures.

We hope you enjoy Jeeves Intervenes and thank you for taking the time away from sometimes-senseless reality for a gag that never spoils. Amid modish slang, shrewd insinuations, gratuitous abbreviations, bewildering metaphors, and delightfully lavish description, we invite you to let your imagination run wild as our wonderful cast and crew Intervene!

By |September 4th, 2015|Categories: 2015 Season|0 Comments

Fall 2015 Message from the Managing Director

photo_jeeves4Welcome Friends.

2015 has been a tremendous season at Chemainus Theatre. We’ve enjoyed knock-out theatrical productions and a record number of sold out houses. This season also marks the close of our current strategic plan titled Sustaining the Festival 2012 – 2015 and what a way to cap things off!

Our Board of Directors recently met to review the plan and it was so gratifying to recount the accomplishments and milestones achieved during this period.

To me, the highlights have included…

  • Striving for higher artistic standards and diversity by staging a wide range of productions from intimate dramas like A Shayna Maidel and Waiting for the Parade to musical tributes such as Buddy and our largest production to date Les Misérables.
  • The complete (and slightly overdue) renovation of the Playbill Dining Room with the addition of the popular Fireside Lounge.
  • The launch of our 60 seat Studio Theatre (next door to the Best Western) with Freud’s Last Session.
  • Expanding of our theatre networks by joining the Professional Association of Canadian Theatre as affiliate members and attending the annual conference.
  • Revamping the Gallery Gift Shop with new lighting and an updated mix of merchandise.

Of course, all this was made possible by you – our audience. We’re pleased to reach the above goals. Engaging our audience in a deep and meaningful manner is essential for sustaining great theatre. The beating heart of any vibrant theatre is its audience. As we embark on the planning process to set our next strategic plan, I thank you for your support along the way and look forward to the journey ahead.

Randal Huber