—~&BI4 Terrace Review _ Wednesday, February 20, 1991

_ Brighton Beach - on the Small Screen _

draws new faces
to local stage

- Contributed by Karla Hennig

Rehearsals for Brighton
Beach Memoirs are now under-
way. Directed by Ken Morton, a
veteran director for Terrace Lit-
tle Theatre, the play is rapidly
_ taking shape. Morton is known

for his ability to bring new faces
into the theatre, and his last
play, Forever Yours, Marie Lou,
starred four actors not seen
before on the TLT stage. This
year Morton is again using new
actors and focusing their energy
and fresh talent into a viable and
humourous piece.

Playing Kate, the main
character’s mother, is Lillian
deBalinhard, whose last theatre
‘experience was playing a magic
mirror in a Grade 2 skit. With
deBalinhard, however, Morton
has found a natural -method ac-
tor.

“‘An hour before each rehear-
sal, she says, “‘I start thinking as
Kate. I wander around the house
thinking ‘how would Kate do
this?’.’? She has readily taken to
the rehearsal process even
though she sometimes finds it
frustrating. ‘‘I come to rehearsal

_with all my lines down,’ she
sighs, ‘‘and during blocking (the
moving and placing of the ac-
tors), they all disappear.’ de-
Balinhard especially enjoys
working with Kevin Oates, the
main character of the play. ‘‘We
really took to each other the very
first evening,’’ she says. ‘‘When
I tell him to go upstairs, I feel
just like his mother.’’ Playing
the strong, compulsive and con-
trolled Kate is not an easy task
to a beginner, but deBalinhard is
mastering her role well.

Working along side deBalin-
hard is Linda Zwaga, who plays
Blanche, Kate’s younger and
prettier sister. Zwaga last acted
in high school and was lucky to
go to Burnaby North, the ‘‘arts”’
school in Burnaby. Although
she has been away from theatre
for a while, Zwaga says that it is
‘fall coming back to me; the
blocking, the process, the direc-
tions.’? Zwaga finds Blanche
through looking at events in her
own life. Like the character,
Zwaga is raising two children on
her own. She likes the world-

weary, charity case, Blanche
because “life does things to her”’
and she is another character who
“comes into her own” through
self-revelation and understand-
ing. Zwaga has developed a sen-
sitive and delicate approach to
Blanche which should make her
performance well worth watch-
ing.

John McGowan is Stanley,
the big brother. John was in-
volved in musical theatre in On-
tario and his presence on stage
and efficient movements show
he is at home in the theatre. His
character acts as a foil to
Eugene, the hero of the show,
and McGowan has found a
delightful, understated style
which makes his character
lovable and laughable.

McGowan is also a hard worker |

and already knows his lines. His
work in rehearsals shows an in-
tensity which makes his
character sparkle.

Playing Jack, the father, is

_Lorenzo Campanelli. Campan-

elli originally auditioned for
Stanley and was surprised when
he was awarded Jack. Jack is ‘‘a
fatherly figure who sees things in
perspective. He is authoritarian
but sympathetic... like my
father.’? Campanelli finds play-
ing Jack a stretch, but his hard
work is already paying off.

Brighton Beach Memoirs will
be performed March 14 to 16
and March 21 to 23 at the Mc-
Coll Playhouse. Tickets are $8

for Thursday and $10 for Friday

and Saturday, and are available
at Erwin Jeweller’s in the Skeena
Mall and the Bank of Montreal.

| Video reviews by Harriett rs

Repossessed

Starring Linda Blair, Leslie
Nielsen. Produced by Steve
Wizan, Directed by Bob Logan.
Rating: PG-13. Running time:
89 minutes.

Now happily married and
with two children of her own,
Nancy Aglet (Blair) has nearly
forgotten that terrifying time in
her life when she was possessed
by the devil and subsequently
exorcised by Father Mahii
(Nielsen). But the devil hasn’t
forgotten Nancy; she is re-
possessed one evening while

‘watching TV.

Because Father Mahii has
long since retired, Nancy turns
to Father Brophy for help. But
Brophy, who questions the
strength of his faith, doesn’t
quite feel up to the task of exor-
cism. He tracks down Father
Mahii and requests his help, but
Mahii says he’s too old and
weak now to do battle with the
devil.

Then TV evangelists Ernest
and Fanny Weller latch onto the
case. And before you know it,
they’ve turned the whole exor-
cism event into a TV telethon.

You might want to screen this.

movie before letting your kids
view it; there are a few nude and
suggestive scenes.

Hardware
Starring Dylan McDermott,
Stacey Travis. Produced by Paul
Trybits and Joanne Sellab. Di-
rected by Richard Stanley.

Rating: R. Running time: 92

minutes.

Earth has been ravaged by
nuclear radiation. The land has
been laid waste, turned into a
seething cauldron of huge
desert-like tracts known as the
Zone, The populace has been

Annual Game Banquet
Saturday, March 2, 1991

Thornhili Community Centre
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

* Art Work Auction * Live Music
30.06 Winchester with Scope as door prize
$30.00 per person
Tickets avallable from All Seasons Sports, Northwest
Sportsman, Queensway Trading, Twin River Electric or
phone Terry Morris: 635-6983 or Anne Payne: 635-3955

“Keenleyside

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genetically altered by radiation,
each succeeding generation pro-
ducing more and more mutants.
All the basic structures of socie-
ty have been wiped out.

Mo (McDermott), a member
of a group of survivalist
scavengers known as the Corps,
returns home to nis girlfriend
after a particularly long absence
with an unusual gift — the head
of an android found half-buried

(ve tur
WEDDING RECEPTIONS

KEELA

BA LLRoam’ ” ard,
“THE Dotty VARDEN oan!

out in the Zone.

Jill (Travis), who is into all
kinds of weird metal sculptures,
is ecstatic. Both she and Mo are.
unaware that the android head is
part of a dangerous prototype of
artificially intelligent robot, the
Mark-13.

Much of this movie appears to

have been filmed in near dark-

ness, making it hard to under-
stand what’s happening.

4551 Greig Avenue,

Terrace, B.C,

I@ Phone: 635-6630 Fax: 635-2788
TOLL FREE: 1-800-863-8156