From December 7th to 14th, join 4th Line Theatre for a lantern-lit journey through the streets and history of Millbrook with the outdoor theatre company’s latest original production The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale.

Written by Beverley Cooper and directed by Kim Blackwell, The Other is not only 4th Line Theatre’s first-ever holiday play, but it’s an immersive experiment following the format established in their popular Halloween show The Shadow Walk of Millbrook. The streets and buildings of the town of Millbrook provide a sensual backdrop for a potent story that is extremely topical, but filled with glimpses into the township’s past.

With shades of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, mixed with plot devices from some old The Twilight Zone episodes, the play begins at a Christmas pageant held at St. Thomas Anglican Church in Millbrook. Community members Phyllis (Linda Kash) and Reggie (Mark Hiscox) are surprised when local curmudgeon Ebbie Krank (Robert Winslow) shows up with his granddaughter Leanne (Jalen Brink), sent to visit her grandfather by Ebbie’s estranged daughter Judy (Naomi Duvall) — who has not spoken to her father since her marriage 15 years earlier.

Unsure how to communicate with his granddaughter, Ebbie becomes frustrated with Leanne’s focus on her phone, and Leanne meets her grandfather’s demands with pure defiance.

Then, when a mysterious woman speaking in a foreign language (Mosun Fadare) shows up at the church and approaches Leanne, Ebbie violently pushes her away from his granddaughter while shouting prejudiced remarks at her about her ethnicity.

Upset and disgusted by her grandfather’s blatant racism, Leanne flees the church, prompting Ebbie to follow. What happens next is a journey through Millbrook’s past and future, as Ebbie travels through 1909 to 2019 and discovers his family’s legacy of bigotry and intolerance towards those who are different — “The Other” of the play’s title.

From the Roma visitors who came to Millbrook in 1909, to transient people looking for work and food during the Great Depression, to the Protestant feud with Catholics, to Canada’s current aid to Syrian refugees, Ebbie takes a long hard look at his past, leading to the events that tore his daughter out of his life.

Is it too late for an old bigot to change his ways, or will he lose his family forever? Only a Christmas miracle can show Ebbie Krank the error of his ways and put love in his heart.

While keeping to the local historical themes that 4th Line Theatre is famous for, The Other is a very modern tale that strums a powerful emotional chord. Although it is sad to admit, we currently live in a society where the political backdrop in the United States, as well as in Canada, has allowed xenophobia, bigotry, and intolerance to once again rear their ugly heads.

Where once bigots stayed quiet in their beliefs, the politics of hate and intolerance has become dominant once again and racists now feel comfortable letting their slanted world view be aired out in the open.

The Other addresses this disturbing current trend head on by introducing the audience to a bigot. But instead of simply vilifying him, the play seeks to understand what elements in his life brought him to this point, exposing that history repeats itself. Playwright Beverley Cooper puts forth the idea that intolerance is generational and it is passed down from grandparents, to parents, to children.

The Other doesn’t hold back, and packs a powerful and potent punch when dealing with this sensitive subject. It’s refreshing to see such sensitive subject matter being dealt with in a Christmas story.

Robert Winslow gives another commanding performance as Ebbie Krank. Krank is a difficult character to play: he is insufferable, explosive, and intolerant. While playing a racist is never easy, Robert shows a very human side of his character. Despite his character’s reprehensible behaviour, Rob creates a character who becomes more and more sympathetic as he moves through the different vignettes.

When the audience first leaves the church, they witness Robert pacing the street frantically, up and down the asphalt and through the crowd as he searches for his granddaughter. In the process, he envelops himself in a frantic nervous energy that rips through the audience. It’s an interesting performance by a talented actor.

Robert is joined by a strong supporting cast of performers making up his past, present, and future. He meets his match in Naomi Duvall as his daughter Judy, who breaks the circle of hate when she falls in love with Haitian-born student Bill Toussaini (Danny Waugh).

One of my favourite local performers, Naomi shows a heroic defiance as she chooses the man she loves over the legacy of bigotry that her family has tainted Millbrook with for over a century. Naomi and Danny are a charming pair, making a statement that love is colour blind and knows no boundaries.

One of the most important elements of this show is the performance by Mosun Fadare. With an unearthly beauty about her, Mosun has an otherworldly presence that creates the air of mystery to make the mysticism of this show work. Mosun is the embodiment of Christmas magic.

But the real star of The Other is Millbrook itself. The locations used for the backdrop of the show are very well chosen. From the church, to home porches, to parks, to the front of the Nexicom building, to dead-end streets, the production team makes clever use of space, and the old-fashioned small town architecture of Millbrook’s scenic downtown core believably takes you back in time.

Some performers are only seen in the shadows, while others disappear into the darkness. A roaming choir of familiar theatrical faces goes from location to location, creating a beacon of light and song to lead the roaming audience to the next location. A horse and a dog help bring the illusion of reality to the show. The journey through Millbrook is scenic, beautiful, and well done.

While the trek through the streets of Millbrook is the point of this theatrical experiment, it also becomes a burden for the drama of the play. Each scene in The Other contributes a powerful piece of the story, dealing with some very emotional material that has the potential to trigger audience members. However, as the audience listens to the comical banter of Linda Kash and Mark Hiscox while travelling to the next location, the audience is momentarily taken out of the drama and some of the power of those scenes is lost.

Once at the next location, the company starts all over again. Through the drama and performance, they eventually recapture the audience, but are at risk of losing them once again as the journey continues.

I would be interested to see how The Other would work as a conventional production done on a traditional stage. I wonder if the material would be even more potent with shorter scene transitions and less comical banter.

However, what would be lost would be the irreplaceable scenic backdrop of the Village of Millbrook. The journey through the streets is truly the magical element of the show. Trying to mesh together the journey and the story is a complicated theatrical experiment that works on most levels, and successfully creates a memorable and unique experience.

But in the end this is a holiday story. Although there were only one or two young people in the audience at the show I attended, The Other is a perfect story to start a discussion with your children about the perils of bigotry and hatred for families and communities. It is a story simple enough to understand and engaging enough for audience members of all ages, without softening the blow of the material. Beverley Cooper shows a remarkable balance in her script.

There are many holiday theatre options in the Kawarthas, but The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale is a definite winner in regards to material, originality, and in creating a memorable theatrical experience. It combines the warmth and mystery of the Christmas season with an important message of acceptance and tolerance in a world that seems to be full of hate.

The play includes fear, pathos, history, joy, and redemption. But most of all, it features the town of Millbrook in a majestic journey through its colourful past and beautiful streets.

The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale will be performed on Friday, December 7th and Saturday, December 8th, and through Wednesday, December 12th to Friday, December 14th. While the December 7th show is sold out, tickets are still available for the other performances. Each show begins at 7 p.m. at St. Thomas Anglican Church (16 Centre St., Millbrook). Tickets are $27.50 and can be purchased by calling 1-800-814-0055 or 705-932-4445 or online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca.

Note: Dress warmly and prepare for the elements. The outdoors portion of the show last approximately an hour and, even if it’s a mild winter’s night, it gets nippy after a while.

Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, December 6 to Wednesday, December 12.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

A documentary film about the youth environmental movement by a former Peterborough high school student is headlining the 2019 ReFrame Film Festival.

Filmmaker Slater Jewell-Kemker made Youth Unstoppable to amplify youth voices against climate change. The film will screen on ReFrame’s opening night at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 24th at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough.

Born in Los Angeles to filmmaker parents, Jewell-Kemker moved to Kawartha Lakes when she was 10 years old. While still a student at PCVS in Peterborough, she began her work as a filmmaker-activist chronicling the global youth movement, and most of her early work was made right here in Peterborough.

“One of my very first short films, Peace Begins, screened at the ReFrame Film Festival around the time I started this documentary,” she says. “It always kind of stuck in my mind … wouldn’t it be great to come back here when I’m done with this film, to come back to my home area where I can bring my friends and have them see what I’ve been doing for the past ten years?”

At 16, Jewell-Kemker dropped out of high school to pursue her passion for filmmaking. Now 26, her work has been covered by national media including The Toronto Star and in Flare’s 30 Under 30 list. The UN, TIFF, Forbes.com’s “Millennials on a Mission”, Mountainfilm, and SilverDocs have all recognized Jewell-Kemker for her activist filmmaking.

Youth Unstoppable documents Jewell-Kemker’s decade-long involvement in the youth climate movement, as well as her efforts to give young people a voice in the fight to combat climate change.

“Young, passionate activists are attempting to save the planet and humankind,” she says. “I wanted to help give them a voice and document our struggle, one that gives me hope that we might just be able to save ourselves.”

Youth Unstoppable is produced by Daniel Bekerman of Scythia Films and Wendy Jewell (Slater’s mother). Adrian Grenier, best known as the former star of Entourage, is an executive producer of the film.

The film screened in May 2018 in Cannes as part of the World Bank Group’s global climate communications and partnership program Connect4Climate.

VIDEO: Slater Jewell-Kemker talks about her film ‘Youth Unstoppable’

“Youth Unstoppable is an inspiring film,” says ReFrame creative director Amy Siegel. “It’s the perfect celebration of our fifteenth anniversary. ReFrame showcased the work of this local teenager, and within a decade she’s back to screen the opening night feature film.”

“Slater’s story shows us a way forward in a global crisis that often seems impenetrable, and I know it will foster critical discussion, action, and change amongst all who see it.”

Tickets for ReFrame’s opening night, as well as festival passes, are available online now at reframefilmfestival.ca.

Beginning Friday, December 7th, tickets and passes will also be available at the GreenUP Store (378 Aylmer St. N., Peterborough, 705-745-3238), Watson & Lou (383 Water St., Peterborough, 705-775-7568), Happenstance Books and Yarn (44 Queen St., Lakefield, 705-652-7535), and at the Pastry Peddler (17 King St. E., Millbrook, 705-932-7333).

Pantomime (noun) – a theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, that involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.

“Someone lift the camel’s head! It looks like she had a stroke,” yells Sarah Quick at two performers in a floppy-headed camel costume on the Lakeview Arts Barn stage.

The theatre audience, comprised mostly of children, bursts out in high-spirited laughter.

This is the high type of energetic fun brought to Globus Theatre’s annual Christmas pantomime. A holiday tradition for the last 13 years, this year Globus Theatre, under the direction of Sarah Quick and James Barrett, is presenting Sarah’s original production of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Opening on Friday, December 7th, the pantomime stars Toronto-based performers Armon Ghaeinizadeh as Ali Baba and Siobhan O’Malley as Princess Fortunia, with Sarah as the villainous Kai Ote and James as Dame Fatina, alongside a rotating cast of 50 children and six adult performers.

Sarah has been working with a huge group of children for six weeks; organizing the performers, who are separated into two different casts so that the most number of children can have the opportunity to experience acting, has been a massive undertaking. I am impressed how Sarah — despite dealing with a wide age range of actors, from elementary school age kids all the way to performers in their early teens — manages to keep everyone focused and engaged through the fast-paced rehearsal.

James and Sarah have welcomed families, as well as school audiences, back year after year in an annual performance that has become a tradition for many families in the Kawarthas. With Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves being the third pantomime I’ve seen at Globus, it has also become an unlikely yearly tradition for me. I thought I didn’t like pantomimes, until Sarah and James challenged me to attend their 2016 pantomime based on Little Red Riding Hood — which I found, much to my surprise, delightful. I allowed myself to fall under the magic of the performance, and became as involved as the kids.

First performed in 2009, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a revival of Sarah’s original take on the classic Middle Eastern folk tale from the Arabian Nights. What seems like an unusual choice for a Christmas pantomime is in fact, according to Sarah, a traditional one in England, from where she originates.

“It might seem unusual in Canada, but in Britain it’s one of the ones that gets done all the time,” she explains. “I don’t know why. It’s just one of those old stories. Although we are doing it again, it’s not exactly the same show. We have more kids now, and I write more topical jokes, but there was a camel then, and there is a camel now.”

The camel that Sarah speaks of is one of the highlights of the show, and even the performers are excited to see the two-piece camel prop come out. Complete with a fez placed on her head, Alice the Camel was created in 2009 by Victoria Schilling who went on to design costumes for Stratford.

Taking time out during a brief break from rehearsal, I quickly get some photos with the camel and get to have a visit with this year’s lead, Armon Ghaeinizadeh. A recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s theatre program, Armon made his Stratford debut at age 11 in South Pacific, and has gone one to act, direct, and choreograph productions throughout Toronto including a one-man show, Lemon Lemon, in August 2018.

After finding out about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from his friend Katherine Cappellacci, who played the title character in Globus’ Snow White pantomime last year, Armon is performing for the first time in the Kawarthas.

“This is my first pantomime,” Armon reveals. “When an opportunity comes knocking at your door, you just answer it. When Katherine told me about the audition notice, I ran out (to audition) and here we are.”

For Armon, it’s also a new experience working with such a large cast of children.

“I’ve worked with kids before and I’ve worked as a child performer, so I know what it’s like from both sides. But I’ve never worked with this many kids before. Fifty children is a lot. It’s a completely new experience but I’m ready.

“I think it’s important to create a love for theatre in the next generation of performers. Things like opera and theatre and ballet are starting to lose the cool factor with the younger generation and, in my experience, it’s not as accessible and not targeted to younger audiences.

“So I think it’s good to bring in these younger people from within the community and say you can also be on stage and you can also do theatre. That way the younger generation finds a love for theatre and we don’t lose this incredible art form.”

James Barrett reprises his annual role as this year’s dame, one of the most important figures in the traditional British pantomime. This year, James plays Dame Fatima Fandango, the highly vivacious mother of Ali Baba.

“Never until I met Sarah did I think I’d do this every year,” James admits. “I had heard of pantomime but I never saw one until we did our first one here. Sarah told me what it was and we just did it.’

In British pantomime, the dame is a female character — often an older matronly woman — portrayed by a male actor in drag.

“In the UK there are many different types of dames,” James explains. “(Some actors’) whole career is playing dames. The first one we saw was a very sexy drag queen dame in sexy outfits. I could never be that person, but you don’t have to be. I’ve become my own type of dame, and even then there are different characters. But I’m not the singing, dancing person with legs up to my eyes. It’s whatever skills that you have.”

As Globus Theatre’s resident dame, James has taken the traditional role for 13 years, requiring him to create different characters while still maintaining his unique style. James has found his own personal voice when performing as the dame, a character that remains popular with both children and adults.

“The fun of it is that the dame is in charge, and she can take control of anything that goes on the stage,” James says. “That, to me, is so much fun. The fact that I can deal with the audience in any manner I see fit is good fun. If someone (in the audience) is answering their phone, I can call them out on it. It’s not a regular thing where the play stops, but now they become part of the play.”

But as James points out, in our ever-evolving society the dame plays a more important part in the family pantomime now than ever before.

“The dame is not a drag queen, but more of a clown,” he points out. “It’s not realistic make up. It’s exaggerated and highlighted. But there are still kids walking out of the show who think I’m a woman, or are skeptical but don’t know for sure.”

James explains that the dame appeals to both adults and children for different reasons.

“It’s funny for adults because I’m a funny-looking woman,” he says. “But for kids I’m just a different-looking person than anybody they’ve ever known before, and that’s okay. They can like them and have fun. In this world I think it’s important to just say it’s for fun. You can dress up and do what you like and be what you want to be.”

One of the things that I think is so winning about the Globus pantomime is that, while it’s an over-the-top show for the kids, it’s also filled with subtle adult humour providing something for parents to enjoy too. Instead of being cute and patronizing, Sarah has a quality to her writing where the comedy comes from cleverness instead of slapstick.

“It’s a style that I’ve grown up with in England,” Sarah reveals. “Even if you watch something like Coronation Street, you see so much panto-esque comedy and writing in that. People getting the wrong end of the stick, and double entendres, and slips of the tongue.”

Filled with genuine laughs, charming performances, and a little bit of magic, Globus Theatre’s Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a holiday family show worth seeing. I was enchanted with the cast at the rehearsal I attended, and I can’t wait to go back to Globus for an actual performance.

Christmas at The Lakeview Arts Barn is a beautiful experience, and a perfect destination for your own holiday celebration. It’s no wonder that entire families return year after year to the Globus pantomime. Although a new tradition for me, it’s one that I plan to continue for years and years to come.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves has eight evening and matinee public performances: December 7th and 8th and 14th and 15th at 8 p.m., and December 8th and 9th and 15th and 16th at 2 p.m. A three-course table d’hôte menu is available at 6 p.m. prior to every evening performance.

Theatre-only tickets are $27.50 plus HST for adults and $17.50 plus HST for children (15 and under). Theatre and dinner tickets are $60 plus HST for adults and $40 plus HST for children. For tickets and dinner reservations, call 1-800-304-7897 or 705-738-2037.