'Sticks and Stones' impresses as Blyth Festival's Donnellys Trilogy begins
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
The Blyth Festival premiere of Sticks and Stones feels like a key that has found its lock at the Harvest Stage after the Festival got so close in the last two years.
The show is the first part of The Donnellys: A Trilogy that will be produced at the Harvest Stage over the course of the summer, with three-show groupings scheduled for the end of the season, giving audiences the opportunity to see all three shows in three nights.
It’s certainly one of the most ambitious projects in the Festival’s history and one of its biggest, with a cast of 10 across all three shows.
The show’s foundation is the husband-and-wife team of Jim and Johannah Donnelly, played by theatre heavyweights Randy Hughson and Rachel Jones. (Audiences of the first preview show have another tale to tell, as the character of Johannah Donnelly had a certain Gil Garratt-ness about her, as the show’s director and writer - or, rather, “adapter” and “abridger” from the plays of the 1970s written by renowned playwright James Reaney - stepped up, in full costume, to fill the role when Jones was struck with illness.)
They play the well-known Irish Catholic couple that made its way from the island to Biddulph Township in southwestern Ontario to start a family, clear a farm and build a life together. Their Catholic-ness was just not Catholic enough for some, however, as rifts from the old country and the slur of “Blackfoot” bled over into Ontario, following the Donnellys to their new home. (In today’s political leanings, the Donnellys might be considered to the left of the so-called Whitefeet.)
As the Donnelly family grew (to include an eventual seven boys and one girl), so too did the pressure to fall in line with the controlling interests of the community with intimidation, threats and even violence waiting for them if they didn’t. Jim would not cave and thus began the plight of the family, which would lose much of its farm after a decade of working to clear it and be harassed regularly for its defiance of what was being accepted as rule then and there.
The show starts merrily with a song performed by the entire cast that sets a raucous tone for a story that will include plenty of fighting, drinking, cursing and dancing.
As the cast settles into the show, the themes of religion and those on the inside and those on the outs are established early and efficiently and it’s clear that the Donnellys are far from rid of the old jeers and threats they faced in the divided country of Ireland. Jim and Johannah set the tone for their family, however, as one that will bend, but not break and one that will fight, if necessary, to protect the honour of its name.
Much of this is all bark and no bite, until things turn deadly at a drunken logging bee when things finally went too far. And, when Jim takes an unscheduled seven-year vacation, the powerful shadow of Hughson clears and Jones takes over the show, her tide rises thanks to the fantastic ensemble cast, all of whom shine in their various roles over the course of Sticks and Stones.
Everyone has their moment and opportunity to shine. Steven McCarthy is heartbreaking and vulnerable as Will Donnelly, who learns to fiddle over the course of the story. Masae Day joins him with exceptional work on the fiddle and numerous dancing turns as a bubbly love interest, while Paul Dunn is exceptional as both Father Connolly and Andrew Keefe, the tavern owner who joins the Donnellys in their defiance of conservative pressure.
Geoffrey Armour is enthralling as a guitar-playing member of the ensemble, as well as turns as the two Jameses - the evil Carroll and the fierce Donnelly. Cam Laurie is powerful as Pat Farrell and touching as Tom Donnelly, while his real-life wife Hallie Seline emerges late as Jenny Donnelly (the eighth child and first girl of the family), an unofficial narrator who carries several expository monologues with ease and gusto. She also brings a natural humour to many of her small ensemble roles that stick with audience members.
James Dallas Smith and Mark Uhre take on two of the heaviest roles in the play, as threatening presences and clear nemeses to the life the Donnellys want for themselves. Uhre boils Donnelly blood until the bitter end, creating an affecting and troubling bad guy, while Smith takes one of the play’s most comedic turns as a travelling showman, hawking elixirs and telling his twisted and tragic version of the story of the Donnellys, all for the right price.
Hughson is powerful and intimidating when facing danger, while soft and caring in matters of his family. He brings the gravitas to the role that Blyth and Stratford audiences have come to expect from Hughson, whose spectre can hang over a play even when he is forced to disappear for a while.
As a result of Jim’s disappearing act, Johannah can safely be called the star of the show. Jones is menacing when she needs to be, but with the unspoken authority and dignity that will remind many of their own mothers.
She carries the play to its inevitable conclusion and brings you along for the emotional ride in many of the most crucial and affecting scenes of the play.
But, as Seline reminds audiences at the very end of the play, there are stories to be told, but they are for another day, with St. Nicholas Hotel and Handcuffs still to come.
Sticks and Stones is delineated as its own story, but is clearly the first chapter in a much bigger book, but not in a bad way - rather, in a way that demands you return to this group to see how the story ends for yourself.
With a quick season of one-person shows in 2021 and a return to a story that made the Festival great in 2022, it’s only now that the Harvest Stage feels like it’s reached its full potential. A show like Sticks and Stones - and no doubt the productions of St. Nicholas Hotel and Handcuffs to come - feels like the reason the Harvest Stage was created.
The fresh lumber along with the natural elements of trees, wind and birds chirping feels like the ideal backdrop for a story of clearing the land of early Canada. And, while a necessity, one hopes that the shows see as many good-weather days as possible to avoid the continency-plan move into Memorial Hall, which can’t help but take something off of the show’s fastball.
This project feels destined to be remembered among the Blyth Festival’s greats, fitting perfectly with its mandate of telling local stories of importance to the country. A story that feels at once like ancient history and more prescient than ever.
Sticks and Stones will continue on its own until Friday, July 7. The premiere of St. Nicholas Hotel is set for Saturday, July 15, followed by Handcuffs on Thursday, Aug. 3. There will then be opportunities to see all three shows on consecutive nights several times throughout August as, after Handcuffs premieres, the shows will begin running in three-day clusters on Tuesday through Thursday and again on Friday through Sunday until Sunday, Sept. 3.