Samuel Benefit a Success

The sold out performance of Desperately Seeking Samuel was a success. The production raised $800 for the Champlain Elementary School breakfast and lunch programme. The cheque will be presented to the school at the end of month at the school assembly by request of the principal, Jan Ross. 

Paul Rapsey performed both the role of Samuel in the main play and of Marianna in the Epilogue. The powerful Epilogue was not in the film version. Audience members who had already seen the film, repeatedly said how different the play was from the film version. It had more energy and less darkness. Paul says that is because an actor feeds off an audience. An actor cannot do that in a film.

In his brief introduction, Paul said the play was not a linear one. He described it as like a slow paced road trip of discovery. It starts off in the early morning darkness. Sometimes the road is smooth and straight. Sometimes one is dodging potholes. There are curves and bends. Sometimes the scenery is stunning, sometimes dull. Here and there they may be a construction delay and detour on gravel roads. Perhaps the GPS, or the navigator in the passenger seat, tells the driver to turn left, instead of right; so there is some back tracking to do. At the end of the day one arrives at the destination with a little bit of sunshine.

Paul says that independent theatre operating with no funding and no budget very much depends on the goodwill of the community it supports. The recent Benefit Performance would not have been such a success without it. 

In particular, he thanks Holly at the Mad Hatter Bookstore in Annapolis Royal for selling the tickets for this and his previous productions. He offers thanks also to Lewis at The Reader in Bridgetown for running, in two consecutive editions, both an announcement and a prominently placed advertisement for the play. And he also gives thanks to the local NSLC, Arch n Po Bakery, Sissiboo Cafe, the Annapolis Brew Pub and the Mad Hatter Wine Bar for putting up posters. 

He says that we are so fortunate in this province to have the small local community Halls, run and managed by countless volunteers. These provide a valuable venue for public meetings, a variety of community social events, markets, theatrical productions, music, and film. 

We are richer for them.