Having completed a very successful run of the musical Fiddler on the Roof at Showplace Performance Centre, the Peterborough Theatre Guild is returning to its own stage in March with a production of the dramatic four-hander Willow Quartet, a play about grief, healing, and forgiveness by Canadian playwright Joan Burrows.
The play tells the story of Kim, estranged from her husband Ben after a family tragedy three years earlier, who seeks solace by moving back to her childhood home, a rural farm owned by her mother Marjorie. She invites Jim, a visiting violinist in town for an arts festival, to stay at the farmhouse in a bed-and-breakfast arrangement.
Much to the chagrin of her mother and her estranged husband, Kim becomes infatuated with the sophisticated and charming musician, who helps her temporarily forget the tragedy that ended her marriage, until her grief inevitably boils to the surface. With Jim at her side and under the watchful eye of Marjorie and Ben, Kim — who is continually haunted by the voice that comes from her favourite willow tree — struggles through her unresolved grief and eventually begins to explore her buried feelings.
Willow Quartet was written by Joan Burrows, a playwright based in Richmond Hill who was a teacher of English and dramatic arts for the York Region District School board for almost 29 years. After the success of her first play Staff Room in 2004, which won both the Association of Community Theatres Central Ontario award for best production and the Best Provincial Award, Burrows retired and began her second career as a playwright.
As for Willow Quartet, it won The Playwrights of Spring award in 2009 and was workshopped at Theatre Aurora become premiering as a full production in 2011 at Papermill Theatre in Todmorden Mills in Toronto. Despite dealing with themes of loss and grief, the play also has plenty of lighter moments. In 2018, the play was transformed into a musical version that was nominated for the Tom Hendry Award.
A member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Burrows’ other plays include The Photograph, Four Hours, and Gloria’s Guy.
Directed by Tami Whitley with Marilyn Robinson as production manager, the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s production of Willow Quartet stars Tristina Haines as Kim, Laine Williams as Marjorie, David Adams as Ben, and Peter Cain as Jim.
Willow Quartet runs at the Guild Hall at 364 Rogers Street in Peterborough’s East City for nine performances from March 8 to 23, with 7:30 p.m. evening performances on March 8 and 9, 14 to 16, and 22 and 23 and 2 p.m. matinee performances on March 10 and 17.
Tickets are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, and $20 for students and are available by calling 705-745-4211 or online at www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com. The Peterborough Theatre Guild is offering a two-for-one ticket special for opening weekend (March 8 to 10) by using the promo code “Willow” online during checkout.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s 2023-24 season.
