This Sunday (February 11), New Stages Theatre Company continues its popular The Page on Stage reading series with a presentation of Beverley Cooper’s play If Truth Be Told at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough).
Under the direction of New Stages Artistic Director Randy Read, If Truth Be Told is a tale of literary censorship with a strong connection to Peterborough, as it is partially inspired by iconic Canadian author (and former Lakefield resident) Margaret Laurence’s battle against having her books banned from high schools in the late 1970s.
Although it takes a look at both sides of the censorship issue in a story set in the past, the play is still relevant today.
Making its debut at the Blyth Festival in 2016, If Truth Be Told originated from a conversation between Randy and playwright Beverley Cooper.
“A few years ago Beverley Cooper wrote Innocence Lost: A Tale of Steven Truscott,” Randy recalls. “I knew her fairly well and I said to her ‘I always thought a good play would be about what happened to Margaret Laurence and the debacle in Peterborough in the ’70s and ’80s when they took her work out of the schools.”
VIDEO: “Margaret Laurence’s books banned” – The National CBC – January 25, 1985
The incident Randy speaks of is a now infamous part of our local literary history. Laurence had moved to Lakefield where she wrote her final novel The Diviners. The book would be awarded the Governor General Award for English Language Fiction in 1974, and soon became part of the high school English curriculum.
But before the end of the decade, a local religious organization calling themselves Renaissance Canada sought to have The Diviners — as well as Laurence’s previous novels The Stone Angel and A Jest of God — banned from school libraries. The battle to have the books banned made national headlines and, although it made the books more sought after, upset Laurence tremendously.
“Beverley said she was looking for an idea and so she started doing some research.” Randy says. “She found out that Alice Munro, down in her neck of Southern Ontario, was also experiencing somewhat the same thing with her book Lives of Girls and Women. In Alice’s case, it was a fundamentalist backlash about any sex in her stories.”
In her notes for Sunday’s performance, which will be read by five actors, Beverley acknowledges the battle between parent groups and school boards is not a thing of the past, but continues to this day.
“While I was writing this play, parents were voicing both support and concerns over the proposed Ontario Sexual Education Curriculum,” Beverley writes. “Their voices have helped me try to understand both sides of this story. As a parent, I know that our desire to protect our children can bring out the best and the worst of human nature.”
In If Truth Be Told, Beverley amalgamates Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro into a new character named Peg Dunlop. A successful writer living in British Columbia, she returns to her hometown of Wayford to take care of her ailing mother. Upon arriving home, she meets local high school English teacher Carmella, who eagerly assigns Peg’s book to her grade thirteen class.
However, upon hearing that the book has been assigned, a local parent group lead by the town’s zealous preacher, Harry Briggs, seeks to have the book banned from the classroom.
“The writer is trying to come to terms with her own life,” Randy says of the story. “Her marriage hasn’t worked, her mother is ill, and she is not in good shape personally, so it takes a big toll on her. The play is about where you draw the lines in terms of censorship, but done a very personal level.”
Although Randy never knew Margaret Laurence personally, he did encounter her during a workshop he ran at Trent University, where she served as Chancellor from 1981 to 1983.
“Margaret Lawrence sat in one of my seminars at Trent one time,” Randy says. “She was extremely shy from what I could see in that seminar. She was smart, but shy. People who did know her said that it was devastating to her when they tried to have her books banned from the schools.”
As is always the case with The Page on Stage series, Randy has managed to assemble an incredible group of performers to bring To Tell the Truth to life.
Reprising her role of Peg Dunlop from the original production of To Tell the Truth is Gemini award-winning actress Catherine Fitch. Catherine is joined by two additional members of the original cast: Anita La Selva as Carmella and Meghan Chalmers as Jennifer.
In the role of Harry Briggs, Randy welcomes back six-time Gemini award-winning actor Michael Riley. A familiar face on Canadian television, Michael is best known to audiences for his role as Brett Parker from Power Play, Elliott Sacks on This is Wonderland, and Dr. Tom on Being Erica.
Local favourite Linda Kash, who recently appeared in the third season of Fargo, will be completing the cast in the role of Maysie.
Although she is not performing in the reading, Beverley will be attending the reading and taking part in the pivotal “talk back” feature of the evening, which is always an important feature of every Page on the Stage reading.
After watching the performance, audience members will be able to ask the playwright and the actors about their thoughts on the performance and the subjects presented within the show.
New Stages’ The Page on Stage readings are among the best nights of theatrical performance in Peterborough. The scripts Randy selects are always filled with thought-provoking and timely material, and he always manages to assemble some of Ontario’s best theatrical performers for the readings.
It’s a true treat to see actors of this caliber perform in Peterborough, and it’s an affordable night of theatre that should never be missed. To Tell the Truth is an important telling of a darker time of literary history in Ontario, especially relevant with its inspiration being so close to Peterborough.
To Tell the Truth will be presented on Sunday, February 11th at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $20 or $15 for students or art workers, available at the Market Hall Box Office, by phone at 705-749-1146, or online at markethall.org,
