Donald Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE June 15, 2018
Some ole-timey radio stars and their penchant for booze-fueled mischief had an audience in Shawville bursting at the seams with laughter on Friday, as Theatre Wakefield brought their touring performance to Pontiac High School that evening.
With over half the theatre full, the leftover seats were more than made up for by the abundant laughter, as guests enjoyed the production of Keith Davidson’s Jack King, Ace Detective.
Set in the later days of radio plays, a group of voice actors battle the changing times – plus a case of alcoholism – as they attempt to reinvent their craft to compete with television. Featuring a healthy dose of word play mixed with a few racy scenarios, not to mention the familiar character-types brought to life by the actors, the crowd loved every minute of the old school comedy.
Starting off with the usual programming for the radio station, the characters were faced with drunken actors gone off on benders, a hardened advertiser, with a voice riddled by his own company’s cigarettes, looking to end his funding, and a desperate plan to keep it all together.
In an effort to break the norms, the troupe decides to put on a condensed production of a Christmas classic, but halfway through, their missing actor returns from the bar and continues to ad-lib his main character, the detective Jack King, into the story.
Immediately, the detective character derails the production, as the rest of the actors try to improv their story into a cohesive structure. With a loaded gun, disgruntled advertiser and a couple of white lies, the troupe finds themselves not only successful, but landing a television deal, too.
Starring the talents of Theatre Wakefield’s Andrew Rooney, John Michie, Leah MacQuarrie, Jeffrey Ferguson and Claude Laroche, plus the behind-the-scenes coordination of Sophie Doucet, Dan Imbrogno and David Park, the show was a hit amongst the audience and surely an evening to be shared with those unable to attend.
The ability of this production to come to the Pontiac was achieved with the gradual establishing of a new cultural circuit of theatre shows – aptly titled the Circuit – in the West Quebec area.
“We have support now, from Canadian Heritage, to build a network for any kind of cultural activity that you could possibly want, throughout West Quebec, Pontiac, Val des Monts, Wakefield, all the way up to Maniwaki,” said Park, as he prefaced the show. “It will be multi-lingual, multicultural and the idea is to establish in each of the communities what the people there like to see, what kind of opportunities they have, and what kind of venues they have for different types of activities.”
Greg Graham, of the Pontiac Community Players, said that while there are no concrete plans as of yet to bring one of their shows on the road, there is a definite interest in taking part in the near future.
“The circuit will be a huge benefit for future Pontiac Community Players productions – the ability to bring what we do to a wider audience helps encourage original works and helps share our culture,” added Graham, in an email.
As well, though there was no cost to enter the show, half of the collected donations will go right back into the venue, as the high school continues to fundraise for their theatre renovations.
