Familiarity is much maligned, its penchant for occasionally breeding contempt getting way more attention than it should. But more often than not, familiarity can be a very good thing, anchoring a productive atmosphere in which those involved are on the same page from the get-go.
Actor Katie Ryerson is living, and enjoying, that experience at the Winslow Farm near Millbrook where, as the title character in 4th Line Theatre’s second summer production Jim Watts: Girl Reporter running from July 30 to August 24, she has been reunited with playwright Beverley Cooper.
In 2016 at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa, Ryerson originated the role of Lily in Cooper’s play Janet Wilson Meets The Queen that was subsequently nominated for a Prix Rideau Award that honours locally produced professional theatre work. Now, as she prepares to make her 4th Line Theatre debut, Ryerson is grateful they have reconnected.
“It’s such a gift to get to work with her again,” lauded Ryerson during a media day preview of Jim Watts: Girl Reporter held Wednesday (July 17) at the Zion Line farm. “Knowing how we work together and our comfort levels with certain things, and how to interact, is a real benefit. I just enjoy being around her so much.”
Jim Watts: Girl Reporter chronicles the experience of Canadians youth who illegally flocked to Spain in the mid-1930s to fight fascism, attempting to stop its march across Europe. Ryerson is portraying Jean “Jim” Watts, the only woman to join the MacKenzie-Papineaus, the Canadian regiment in Spain.
The play takes its audience from Toronto to Madrid, from political rallies to battlefields in the European country.
“Last year, she (Cooper) invited me to be a part of the workshop that 4th Line was doing for this play,” recounts Ryerson, noting a later opportunity to audition led to her being cast as the title character. “It’s a very epic play. It spans quite a lot of time, and we get to see my character from when she’s a young person to when she’s older.”
“It’s an ensemble piece, but Jim barely leaves the stage,” Ryerson adds. “It’s a big arc to play but that’s very satisfying as an actor. And it’s a real gift to be able to work on something no one else has ever done. This is the first time these words will be spoken on stage. That’s very exciting.”
Ryerson describes her character as “very strong … someone who’s very driven to figure out her place in the world.”
“Jim is a reporter for the Daily Clarion,” Ryerson explains. “She goes to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War and becomes an ambulance driver. Afterwards, she continues activism all her life.”
“Hers is an amazing legacy to get to portray,” Ryerson says. “It’s very interesting to portray a real person but also a chance to honour her as human who is flawed and not perfect. That’s something we can all relate to.”
“We all hopefully try and make the world a better place in whatever way we can. In doing so, you make mistakes along the way and you try to do better the next time. But I love Jim’s sense of adventure. I really relate to her drive.”
Directing Jim Watts: Girl Reporter is 4th Line managing artistic director Kim Blackwell. Now in her 30th year with the company, this marks the 29th time she is at the helm — a remarkable run that has seen her now direct 16 world premieres.
“Directing a premiere is very different than directing Hamlet, which has 400 years’ worth of productions,” says Blackwell. “I get to be the first one to walk across the field after the snowfall and put my footprint down.”
“And it has been so fun working on the development of the script with Bev (Cooper). I’ve been working with her for almost five years on the development of the play. Bringing it to life is really exciting. I intimately know the script, but I’m still finding stuff (to tweak) all the time in rehearsal, which is the magic of rehearsal.”
Admitting to always wanting “to do something” on the Spanish Civil War, Blackwell says Jim Watts: Girl Reporter checks that box and more.
“These were people from all over Canada who had a fire in their belly try to stop the rise of fascism in Spain and, in a larger context, Europe. They were outraged that the democratically elected government had been deposed. Somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 (Canadians) went to Spain.”
“Our prime minister (William Lyon Mackenzie King) made it illegal for them to go, so they had to go across on ocean liners, pretending to be just travelling, to Paris or London to get their papers and then take buses to the border of Spain where, at night, they had to walk across the Pyrenees (mountain range). It was freezing and they were frozen. Some of them didn’t make it — more than 600 Canadians died.”
As is very often the case with 4th Line productions, there’s a strong local connection in the form of Peterborough’s own Jim Higgins played by Thomas Fournier, who acted in 4th Line Theatre’s The Cavan Blazers and The Great Shadow.
Blackwell says the union organizer for United Steelworkers was a widower who raised five children in Peterborough on his own. He fought with the battalion during the Spanish Civil War.
During a battle, Higgins jumped into a river to save a wounded Spanish child. That child, Manual Alvarez, later moved to Canada and recorded his memories of his search for Higgins in the book The Tall Soldier.
In 2018, Higgins daughter published his memoirs — an account that Cooper discovered after she had written the play. She subsequently added him as a character.
As for Ryerson’s portrayal of Jim Watts, Blackwell can’t say enough.
“This play is a hero’s journey kind of story and she is the hero,” she says. “She is not a prima donna, although in some ways she would have every right to be. She’s a hard worker and she understands space intrinsically. She really is a director’s dream: smart, playful, willing to try things.”
For her part, Ryerson is grateful for the opportunity to make her 4th Line Theatre debut, with much of her enthusiasm rooted in theatre founder Robert Winslow having “opened up his home for us to come and work and play and enjoy being here.”
“What’s so special about this place is they share stories that are often reflective of this place and of people who have spent their lives here. It’s a beautiful tribute when people get to hear things on stage that they are familiar with.”
The play itself, says Ryerson, “is not complete until there’s an audience.”
“That’s the last ingredient,” Ryerson points out. “The audience is part of the equation, part of the energy that happens. You can rehearse and get it to the place it needs to be ready, but there’s that final piece of the puzzle that needs to be added.”
And what would Jim Watts think of her portrayal?
“I feel Jim was a person who was always looking for more. I’m sure she would say ‘Give me more. You can do better. Keep going.’ But would say so lovingly.”
VIDEO: “Jim Watts: Girl Reporter” Trailer
Sponsored by Pyle Wealth Advisory – CIBC Private Wealth Wood Gundy and Alf Curtis Home Improvements Inc., Jim Watts: Girl Reporter also stars Anita La Selva (also serving as intern director, choreographer, and dialect coach), Mikayla Stoodley, and Robert Winslow among the close to 30 cast members.
Behind the scenes, musical direction is by Justin Hiscox, costume design is by Korin Cormier, set design is by Michelle Chesser, and fight direction is by Edward Belanger.
Performance dates are August 1 to 3, August 6 to 10, August 13 to 17 and August 20 to 24 with curtain at 6 p.m., with preview nights July 30 and 31. Tickets are $50 ($45 for children and youth ages five to 16), with $38 tickets available for preview nights.
Tickets can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445 or toll-free at 800-814-0055, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, or in person at at 4th Line Theatre’s box office at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook (hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays).
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of 4th Line Theatre’s 32nd season.
