History, drama, laughs and a whole lotta love in ETC production

Elmira Theatre Company’s next production is the award-winning tale of Salt-Water Moon

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

THE ELMIRA THEATRE

COMPANY IS now in rehearsal for its first production of 2023, playwright David French’s Salt-Water Moon, which opens February 3.

Directed by Robin Bennett, Salt-Water Moon takes place on a single night in 1926 and follows Jacob Mercer (Quaid Lale) as he returns to Newfoundland after a year in Toronto in hopes of winning back his former sweetheart, Mary Snow (Emily Beattie).

“They were just teenagers and going out together and then Jacob left to go to Toronto for a year without saying anything to Mary and she’s not very happy with it. And in the meantime, she’s gotten engaged to another young man, Jerome Mackenzie. Jacob comes back from Toronto, basically to try and convince Mary not to marry Jerome but to marry him,” explained Bennett.

“She is not necessarily all that thrilled with the idea, so the play’s about what he does to convince her.”

While it is a romance, Bennett describes the production as dramatic comedy.

“There’s a lot of humor in it. But there’s also a lot of family drama, especially because this is just eight years after the end of the First World War.”

Both Mary and Jacob’s fathers fought at the Battle of the Somme in France, where most of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was wiped out.

“Mary lost her father. Jacob’s father survived, but was injured and suffers some PTSD from that. So it involves a lot of the history of Newfoundland, which was not part of Canada [at that time].”

He said of the story. “A lot of pride, sometimes foolish pride, and a lot of family dynamics.

“It’s a small fishing village where everybody knows everybody. So from that aspect, it’s really an interesting story. I think it’s going to be very popular here locally because we have such a large Newfoundland expat community, and hopefully a whole pile of those folks who come see the show,” Bennett added.

Originally released in 1984,

The Grand River Film Festival (GRFF), Waterloo Region’s longest running independent film festival, is screening The Six, the story of the Titanic’s Chinese survivors, on Saturday (Feb. 4) at 7 p.m. at the Cambridge Community Players, leading up to the launch of GRFF's 2023 festival. www.grff.ca