It’s often said an actor is made for a part, and that couldn’t be truer than for Elaine Day’s role in Tide of Hope, the inaugural production from Trent Valley Archives Theatre which premieres at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough on May 15 and 16.
No better performer could have been chosen to play the role of a descendant of a Peter Robinson settler, considering Day is exactly that.
Written by Peterborough playwright Ed Schroeter and directed by Gerry McBride, Tide of Hope is a prequel to the immigration story of Peter Robinson, the 19th-century Upper Canada politician who administered the passage and settlement of over 2,000 Irish Catholic families to what is now eastern Ontario. Set in 1825 in the Blackwater District of Ireland, the play is based on the life of David Nagle, an Irish land agent and rent collector forced to flee to Upper Canada when Irish rebels branded him a traitor.
“I always knew I had ancestors who came from Ireland on one of the Robinson ships,” says Day, whose character in the play is simply called The Descendant. “When I was 10, my father had my siblings and me dress up as travellers arriving in Peterborough during an event commemorating the 150th anniversary of their arrival.”
Not only is Day’s ancestor — John Heffernan — one of the Peter Robinson settlers, but he had a connection with one of the characters in Tide of Hope.
Heffernan was an impoverished gardener on the estate of Lord George Kingston (played by Nathan Govier in the play) and married Lord Kingston’s daughter, Lady Elizabeth Kingston. Day explains that, as a poor farmer and a servant of his father-in-law, Heffernan’s marriage to Lord Kingston’s daughter was looked down upon by both her family and society. The couple emigrated to Upper Canada in 1825 to start a new life because of this scandal.
After securing the part in the play, Day pulled out the book her father had researched and written about which of the family’s ancestors had immigrated from Ireland and she ultimately saw herself in the family history.
“I spend as much time as possible outside in my gardens and grow fruits and vegetables every season,” Day says. “I believe my ancestor, the gardener, has passed that interest down through the generations to me.”
Director Gerry McBride notes that, while he was excited upon hearing about Day’s connection to the story during her audition, it wasn’t the reason she was cast as The Descendant (she had also auditioned for the role of The Stage Manager).
“I thought that was a very cool connection, but truthfully I cast her because of her strong audition more so than the connection,” McBride recalls. “Elaine has brought some family trees and family records to share with us at the rehearsals, which have been interesting and have helped us all become more aware of the real local connection a lot of people have to this story.”
Tide of Hope is the first production from Trent Valley Archives Theatre, which launched earlier this year with the mission to bring history to life onstage while raising funds for the Trent Valley Archives, an organization that promotes the preservation, identification, and care of historical archives.
Though Day is the only actual descendant of a Robinson settler performing in the play, she is not the only cast member with Irish roots. In the role of Mary is Lauren Murphy, whose ancestors hailed from Parkmore Parish in County Wicklow near Carnew before having moved to Canada in 1857. Other actors in Tide of Hope include June Govier, Brogan McKellar, Lucas Pronk, Carling Dulder, Drew Mills, and Paul Baines.
For his part, playwright Ed Schroeter is not surprised that at least one member of the cast has a connection to the topic of the play.
“Approximately 2,000 settlers arrived in the area 200 years ago,” he says. “It makes sense that five generations later, one descendent would be interested in community theatre.”
However, Day’s family history has already inspired Schroeter to write a sequel to Tide of Hope, to be set in one of the nine Robinson ships that carried Irish settlers to Canada. Who knows what other discoveries and connections he might make in the process?
Tide of Hope is coming to the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in Peterborough with public performances at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th and a performance for school groups at 1 p.m. on May 15. While Thursday’s public performance is almost sold out, tickets are still available for the Wednesday evening performance.
Tickets, which are $40 for assigned cabaret table seating or $30 for regular assigned seating, are available in person at the Market Hall box office (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough), by phone at 705-775-1503, or online at tickets.markethall.org/tide24.
More information, including educational resources, is available at trentvalleyarchives.com/tvat/.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor for Tide of Hope.
