Friday, November 21, 2008

So we purchased a season pass

...for the Flin Flon Arts Council's 2008-2009 season, which I think will work out great for us. In the past we've missed a lot of shows either because we've been out of town or simply because we heard about them after the fact. Now the list of upcoming shows is pinned to my bulletin board.

Tonight we ventured out to see "Re-Fractured Fairy Tales," adapted from Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes and Rhyme Stew, starring the local drama group Ham Sandwich and directed by Doug Peterson. Because I've been working to meet a deadline, I didn't take the time to google and see what I was getting into. Boy was I surprised. It kicked off with a Mom in a chair and Dad beside her on a chest and kids in front of a tv. Mom and Dad broke into Dahl's poem "Television". After that Dad picked a book off the shelf and began reading Dahl's "Jack and the Beanstalk" and as he read the curtain rose and there was Jack and his drunken mother. And the giggling began.

In the "Director's Message" Peterson says "involving a growing group of young actors was an amazingly unexpected treat." Indeed, it was a treat. The cast included quite a number of young people who all did an amazing job of narrating and acting. And the sets, props and costumes were incredible. In addition to "Jack and the Beanstalk," we saw "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Hansel and Gretel, "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" and "The Three Little Pigs" in a whole new rhyming light. It was great.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! If the season keeps up like this, you'll have a great one.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ya, it will be. I've been thinking about the local scene lately as I prepare for the beginning of a big year of sorts. It's a really neat community with plenty going on. Ham Sandwich has been together for years now. I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into staging a play. Every performance we've attended has been a full house. Same for the choir and the other shows they bring in. Now they're showcasing a local visual artist at each of the shows, so the audience can check out the work during intermission or before or after a show, which is really great for the artists and the community. This time it was the work of photographer Mark Rowe.