Skip to content

Where different views on Israel and Judaism are welcome.

  • Home
  • Subscribe / donate
  • Events calendar
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Israel
    • World
    • עניין בחדשות
      A roundup of news in Canada and further afield, in Hebrew.
  • Opinion
    • From the JI
    • Op-Ed
  • Arts & Culture
    • Performing Arts
    • Music
    • Books
    • Visual Arts
    • TV & Film
  • Life
    • Celebrating the Holidays
    • Travel
    • The Daily Snooze
      Cartoons by Jacob Samuel
    • Mystery Photo
      Help the JI and JMABC fill in the gaps in our archives.
  • Community Links
    • Organizations, Etc.
    • Other News Sources & Blogs
    • Business Directory
  • FAQ
  • JI Chai Celebration
  • JI@88! video

Search

Weinberg Residence Spring 2023 box ad
Follow @JewishIndie

Recent Posts

  • פעילות עניפה באתר פייסבוק
  • Vazana at Chutzpah! Fest
  • VIFF films explore humanity
  • Past, present & future
  • VIFF 2023 ticket giveaway
  • Dialogue on democracy
  • A land of contradictions
  • Love and relationships
  • Elana Wenner joins museum
  • New librarian at Waldman
  • Tulchinsky at VPL as 2023 writer in residence
  • A heartwarming gathering
  • Six weeks of fun
  • Obligated to warn of danger
  • Recovery from surgery
  • לקנדה יש תוכנית נוודים דיגיטליים חדשה
  • Resilience in facing fire
  • Trio launches campaign
  • Moment for gratitude
  • Gondar in need of help
  • Response to death sentence
  • Train as peer support
  • CJPAC bridges engagement
  • The traveling Hebrew school
  • Volunteer from your home
  • CIJA takes campaign public
  • Film is a tribute to Burquest
  • Local teens in JCC Maccabis
  • Value of community
  • Local among new olim
  • Rockower win leads to NOLA
  • Urban warfare training
  • Kalla’s toxic new thriller
  • Habonim role pivotal
  • A yearly reminder to return
  • About the Rosh Hashanah cover art

Archives

Tag: Judy McLellan

Story of love and second chances

Story of love and second chances

Judy McLellan as Lady Russell and Roger Monk as Sir Walter Elliot in Metro Theatre’s production of Persuasion. (photo by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske)

Who hasn’t wished for at least one do-over, a second chance? Who hasn’t made the mistake of following bad advice, even if it was well-intended?

In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Anne Elliot falls in love with naval officer Captain Frederick Wentworth and they become engaged, but, based on the counsel of a family friend, Anne breaks off the engagement. Jewish community member Judy McLellan plays Lady Russell – the purveyor of that counsel – in Metro Theatre’s upcoming production of Persuasion, which runs until April 20.

“Lady Russell was a very close friend of Anne’s mother, who died, and she had taken the role of surrogate mother to Anne since that time,” explained McLellan. “She is very protective of Anne and felt that Anne was too young to get married, especially to a man who, at that time, had no money and no real position in society. This is why she now sees Mr. Elliot [Anne’s cousin] as a much more desirable match for Anne.”

Persuasion was adapted for the theatre by British playwright Timothy Luscombe. The Metro Theatre production is directed by Joan Bryans. McLellan, who was part of the cast of Metro’s Calendar Girls, which the Jewish Independent quite enjoyed (jewishindependent.ca/calendar-girls-now-at-metro), auditioned specifically for the role of Lady Russell. “Got a call back and then Joan offered me the role, which I was very excited to accept,” said McLellan.

Pride and Prejudice was McLellan’s “first venture into Jane Austen.”

“Loved it,” she said. “Went on to read the rest!”

About Persuasion, she said, “It’s a wonderful period piece of mid-19th century. The characters are diverse and interesting, and very reflective of society at that time. But, above all, it’s a love story, which, after all the trials and tribulations, comes to a delightful happy ending. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?!”

For tickets to Persuasion, visit metrotheatre.com.

To raise funds for building up-keep, Metro Theatre is holding a silent auction during the run of Persuasion for a painting by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske. “By tying together appropriate colours and soft textures, the painting reflects suggestions of [Jane] Austen’s historical multi-location story line, full of ships, seaside beaches, grand old manors and tidy cottages.” The opening bid is set at $300 and the winner will be announced on closing night. Bidding ballots, the artist’s bio and more information can be found at metrotheatre.com/show-persuasion-2019.

Format ImagePosted on April 5, 2019April 2, 2019Author Cynthia RamsayCategories Performing ArtsTags books, Jane Austen, Judy McLellan, Metro Theatre
Calendar Girls now at Metro

Calendar Girls now at Metro

The cast of Calendar Girls, at Metro Theatre until Nov. 25. (photo from Metro Theatre)

It takes courage for a small semi-professional theatre to tackle a play that was made into an internationally acclaimed film, with Helen Mirren and Julie Walters in the title roles. But that is exactly what the Metro Theatre has done. And they pull it off beautifully. Their new show, Calendar Girls, opened Oct. 28.

The play, like the movie, is based on the true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women, one of whom was recently widowed. After her husband died of leukemia in 1998, she and her friends decided to produce a nude calendar, with photos of themselves, to raise funds to buy a settee for the visitors lounge in the hospital where her husband had been treated. The calendar for the year 2000 was released in 1999 and became a phenomenal success. The women made calendars for several successive years, and the proceeds from this original fundraising campaign resulted in several million pounds for cancer research in England.

These wonderful women inspired Juliette and Tim Firth to write a screenplay, which became a movie in 2003. Later, Tim Firth adapted it to the stage, and the play premièred in England in 2008. The North American première took place in Winnipeg in 2011.

The director of the Metro production, Alison Schamberger, writes, “I approached directing this beautiful play with a degree of apprehension. There seemed to be many pitfalls attached to it…. Luckily, I was able to surround myself with very talented people who always make the director look good! This play is a true testament to friendship that endures all hurdles.”

The play opens in a village church in Yorkshire, where a group of six women do tai chi and listen to lectures about such scintillating topics as broccoli. Everything is ordinary, bordering on the dull. We meet Chris and Annie and their friends, and learn some of the mundane details of their lives and a bit about their very different personalities. When Annie’s husband, John, dies of leukemia, the women come together to support Annie.

They also want to buy a new settee for the hospital – more than one of them has had to sit for hours in the facility’s uncomfortable waiting area. They come up with the idea of a (tasteful) nude calendar. Not everyone is open to the radical approach at first, but eventually they all do it for John. The photo shoot scene is hilarious and heartbreaking in its intensity. The six actresses actually disrobe on stage, but the audience sees less skin than they would on a beach.

The second act is the aftermath. The media attention. The fame (or infamy), which none of the women expected, and the different ways they deal with it. Tempers collide, but friendships endure, even as the sales keep rising.

Music plays an important role in this production, perhaps as important as the actors. It supports the classy feel of the story, as does the simple, stationary set, the interior of a church, and the lighting, which produces the church’s colourful stained-glass windows, as well as the sunlit field into which the women venture on a couple of occasions.

The actors playing the calendar girls are on stage almost the entire length of the play. Their monologues and sharp banter are in turn sad or funny, poignant or irreverent. They take the audience on an emotional journey. Each of the six shines in her unique way.

Chris (Rebecca Walters) is the heart of the show. Her courage and optimism have no bounds – she is the one who comes up with the nudity idea – but she is as fallible as everyone else.

Annie (Peg Keenleyside) is grieving for her husband. Her involvement in the calendar is for his sake alone; she wouldn’t do it otherwise. Her main reason for participating is to contribute to the fight against cancer.

photo - Jewish community member Judy McLellan plays Cora in Metro’s Calendar Girls
Jewish community member Judy McLellan plays Cora in Metro’s Calendar Girls. (photo from Metro Theatre)

Cora (Jewish community member Judy McLellan) is a single mother worrying about her daughter’s reaction to the calendar, and all mothers would understand her concern. McLellan provides many singing interludes, and her voice is charming.

Jesse (Joan Koebel), a retired teacher, is full of pluck and laughter. She is the most comical of the cast, while Celia (Yasmin Tayob) and Ruth (Helen Martin) wrestle with their own demons.

The women’s friendship triumphs over their adversities, and their story is thought-provoking. It brings up important issues, such as how we deal with death and what we consider beautiful. As we watch the play, we contemplate our own imperfect bodies. We ask ourselves for what cause(s) would be willing to expose our vulnerability and literally ourselves to the entire world.

The play is not simply a slightly risqué comedy of manners. It raises moral questions and examines our relationships. What would we do for a friend? How would we weather the test of fame? The protagonists of Calendar Girls came out of their adventure better friends and, arguably, better people. Do we have it in us to be as brave as they were?

Calendar Girls runs at Metro Theatre (metrotheatre.com) until Nov. 25.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

 

Format ImagePosted on November 3, 2017November 1, 2017Author Olga LivshinCategories Performing ArtsTags Calendar Girls, cancer, Judy McLellan, Metro Theatre
Proudly powered by WordPress