South Simcoe Theatre’s (SST) third YouTube production in the Four Play Fridays series will be presented live this Friday night at 7:30p p.m. Mourning Belle, by Barrie’s Nathan Heydon, is “a darkly humorous play about one man's attempts to cheat divorce and death with fringe science”.
In an interview with the local theatre podcast, Stage Whispers, Heydon says, “It was conceived and written for Four Play. The plotting, the number of characters, what happens during it were designed to be consumable through this medium; which is four people sitting in chairs talking to you from the stage, which has evolved to four people on the screen talking to you from their computers.”
Director Chandra Pepper, says “This play is fun, lots of twists and turns. I love being challenged as a director and to do this play as a reading and through the computer...challenge accepted!”
Four Play: a Showcase of Play Readings is a popular in-person event that in usual times takes place the first weekend in June at the theatre in Cookstown. Because live in-person theatre is not possible right now, SST put together a virtual version featuring Canadian playwrights.
The plays are presented live on YouTube, so the immediacy and impact of a live reading comes through the screen. The evenings are recorded for later viewing. A program called ScreenYard, run under the technological skills of stage manager Lesley Coo, makes it all work in a lively and smooth way.
Four Play Fridays is a fundraising effort for SST, a fully volunteer-run theatre, to finance ongoing costs. Without ticket sales for in-theatre plays, it faces financial challenges. It is a pay-what-you-can event. To donate, please see below.
Pepper who directs, teaches theatre, and acts says, “I have been doing so many creative and theatre projects online. While I see a whole new avenue for entertainment to reach more people, it is not my favourite. I can't wait for theatre to open up again live!”
There is hope on the horizon for the resumption of in-person theatre and SST has announced an exciting lineup for the 2021/2022 season. It is slated to open with The Last Resort by Norm Foster, Music & Lyrics by Leslie Arden Nov. 4 - 21, 2021.
In the meantime, SST offers excellent entertainment through Four Play Fridays and its YouTube channel. The fourth and final evening in the series is May 21. It will showcase three short plays.
To enjoy this Friday night’s play, Mourning Belle, a play uniquely suited for this format, please go to SST’s YouTube channel.
To make a donation any time:
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Rosaleen Egan is a freelance journalist, a storyteller, and a playwright. She blogs on her website rosiewrites.com
