Northern Ontario boomer's catchy tune raises money for charities
President of North Bay's search and rescue, Stan French, released a song and music video celebrating boomer life, with proceeds supporting local charities linked to Project Lifesaver. Eric Taschner explains.
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Bard on the Beach to present Much Ado About Nothing with small but mighty edit
People line up to enter Bard on the Beach in Vancouver. (The Canadian Press / Chuck Stoody) To the casual theatregoer, this year's Bard on the Beach production of Much Ado About Nothing will seem delightfully typical of the company's crowd-pleasing spectacles, but to the seasoned Shakespeare fan something might seem afoot. To modify or not to modify? That was the question posed before director Johnna Wright decided to update her version of the 16th century comedy with additional text by playwright Erin Shields. Shields had tweaked the text for Ontario's The Stratford Festival in 2023, including a prologue for one of the lead characters and a new scene for the production's fifth act. Wright assures all the major elements are the same: The production is set in the Italian city of Messina, and the storyline focuses on the two romances between Claudio and Hero and Benedick and Beatrice. The modification addresses a particular element of the storyline without changing the ending, she says. It is an addition to the script, not a rewrite, that Wright describes as 'giving voice' to a character that is silenced in the original play. 'I was very excited when I read Erin's script because it does such a beautiful job of being true to the play and to the characters that Shakespeare created, but also linking it to a modern audience and how we respond to the kind of things that are happening,' she says. Shakespeare's original grapples with the theme of gender as it reflects the expectations of women in Elizabethan-era England. It has elements that Wright says appear in many Shakespeare plays, elements that can be 'difficult to get to grips with' as a modern-day viewer. Often they made gender assumptions or acknowledged societal norms that might seem unacceptable now, she says, but were typical of the times then. 'When you do these plays, you're always thinking, 'How am I going to make that part work?' says Wright. 'Because this is a comedy, and it is supposed to be a happy ending, but there are some things that are kind of disturbing that an Elizabethan audience would have accepted as a happy ending, but we don't see it that way.' Wright expects the additional scene, which sees the young and naive Hero respond to the violence endured throughout the play, to surprise Shakespeare devotees but to ultimately incite a warm reception. 'I will be very interested to find out how people respond to that particular aspect of the show,' she says. 'I think that most people will appreciate it because it just says what most people, I think, would be thinking when they watch these events. Which is 'this is wrong, this is terrible.' We get a chance to address that, so you don't have to feel that you've watched something disturbing and nothing was acknowledged.' Bard veteran Jennifer Lines, who has been working with the company since 1996 and will be playing Beatrice in the upcoming production, says the adjustment made by Wright marks a shift in theatre that will hopefully cause a ripple effect leading to the tweaking of other productions where needed. 'I've been doing this for a long time now and I see the need for accessibility and engaging a modern sensibility, and having those broader interpretations,' says the actress. 'Making it relevant and inclusive, it is important, but it is a dance.' Lines assures the tweaks do not take anything away from the brilliance of the original, a brilliance which, as someone who has performed in the play multiple times as Margaret, Ursula and Beatrice, she says she can attest to. 'It is a play that keeps coming back to me. It's comedic, it's dramatic, it's romantic, it's got everything,' she adds. 'The characters are well fleshed out. There's intelligent banter. It's one of Shakespeare's loveliest plays in my mind, and it's such a thrill to be a part of.'
CTV News
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Christine Sinclair visits Edmonton-area school to discuss importance of recycling
Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair visited a Sherwood Park elementary school on Thursday to talk to students about recycling and sign autographs.
Globe and Mail
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Saskatchewan RCMP charge two in wildfires while Manitoba fires force 1,000 more to evacuate
Prairie wildfires developed on two fronts Friday as 1,000 more Manitoba residents were forced to flee their homes, while Saskatchewan's RCMP laid charges against alleged fire-starters. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told a news conference that two people have been charged with setting wildfires. He said one of them was charged in relation to a fire around La Ronge, which has forced 7,000 people to flee their homes. 'The RCMP have informed us that they have now charged a couple of individuals,' Moe said. RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wildfire smoke is affecting air quality across the country. Here's what you need to know Saskatchewan has 24 active wildfires that have forced between 10,000 and 15,000 people from their homes. 'Many if not virtually all of the fires that we're dealing with in Saskatchewan, although not intentionally, are human caused. Some of those have been intentionally human caused,' Moe said. The province, along with Manitoba, is under a state of emergency, making it easier for different levels of government to co-ordinate a response. Manitoba has received help from the military to evacuate residents, mainly in remote First Nations. Moe has faced calls from the Opposition NDP to follow suit. The premier said while his government is in daily contact with federal officials, provincial emergency crews have so far been able to get evacuees out. He said the Canadian Red Cross is also working to set up shelters for evacuees in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. In Manitoba, the town of Snow Lake, near Flin Flon, issued a mandatory evacuation order for its residents due to a large wildfire threatening the area. 'You must leave because of the danger to your health and safety,' reads a notice on the town's Facebook page. That fire, which has grown to more than 3,000 square kilometres, has already forced out all 5,000 residents of the city of Flin Flon and about a thousand more in surrounding cottages and homes. When the Snow Lake evacuees are added in, Manitoba has about 19,000 out of their homes. There are 27 total fires in the province, eight of them out of control. Earlier Friday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said evacuees have found a place to stay with friends or family, in hotels or in congregate shelters. He said getting those evacuees into private accommodations is tricky because many hotel rooms are being reserved for people with 'intense' medical issues. 'We just have to do a balancing act,' Kinew said. 'At this point, the big-picture challenge around rooms has largely been addressed. 'It's now just about the daily balancing act of triaging people coming in and people who are already in shelters and matching them up with rooms.' There are shelters in Winnipeg, Thompson and Brandon. The City of Flin Flon, on social media, said that no structures have been lost in the city or in nearby Creighton, Sask. 'Winds in the area are now blowing from the south, resulting in heavy smoke and fire moving towards the south side of Flin Flon,' the city said in an update Friday. The city added that fire protection, including sprinklers, is set up and firefighters would work to protect property. Provincial fire officials said evacuations have been completed at First Nations at Pukatawagan and Cross Lake. In northern Alberta, approximately 1,300 residents of the town of Swan Hills were allowed to return to their homes Thursday, about a week after fleeing from a wildfire. But about 340 kilometres west in the County of Grande Prairie, people in the Municipal District of Opportunity were ordered out.
