Adjudicators were so impressed with a theatre group’s performance of Macbeth that the actors have been invited to showcase a scene at a ceremony where it could also pick up a few awards.
Calgary’s Alliance Community Theatre (ACT) invited Dewdney Players Group Theatre to perform part of its sword fight scene from its spring production, Macbeth, after the Okotoks group received six nominations in the Community Theatre Awards for the 2018-2019 season.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Calgary’s Rozsa Centre.
“We’re cooking up a sequence that involves the three witches and the Macduff and Macbeth battle,” said actor Mark Huolt, the play’s fight director and choreographer. “It’s going to be fun to highlight those sequences to… take the best of what we did into Calgary and show, what’s going to be hundreds of Calgary theatre people, the great stuff that we’re doing in Okotoks.”
Huolt, a Calgary actor who’s becoming a Dewdney regular, was nominated for best lead actor as Macbeth and best fight choreographer.
He’s been nominated for ACT awards before but not yet nabbed an award, with 20 years of experience in community theatre.
“For a whole field of productions for all of Calgary and surrounding area it’s quite nice to get the nods from the ACT’s board of directors,” he said. “I wasn’t really expecting it so it was a nice surprise, not just for me, of course, but the whole production received some nominations, which is nice. It’s going to be a great chance to really highlight the great work that’s being done down in Okotoks.”
Nominations are accepted from audience members and ACT’s adjudication team from September to June for eligible community theatre productions in the Calgary area.
Dewdney put on Macbeth in May with great feedback, recalls Huolt.
“A lot of people really seemed to enjoy it and found some great authenticity to it,” he said. “People were telling us they could hear the swords vibrating when they crashed into each other and the sounds that they made and the efforts a lot of actors were putting in a lot of people said they didn’t see that before. “
Dewdney’s portrayal of the story of a Scottish general who strives to fulfil the prophesy of becoming King, complete with treason and murder, was both gruesome and bloody, thanks to the talents of Katie Fournell.
Macbeth was Fournell’s first time directing a Dewdney play, although she’s had experience directing, managing and acting in one-act shows at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
Fournell said she used theatre of cruelty, an element of theatre she learned while studying theatre at Red Deer College, which shocks audiences through gestures, images, sound and lighting.
“I thought it went phenomenally,” she said of Macbeth. “Everybody stepped up to the plate. We had some actors who’d never been on stage before and were fighting stage fright and others who had acted many times but had never taken on Shakespeare. Everybody rose to meet that challenge. “
Fournell was nominated for best directing and best light design.
“It was a big surprise,” she said. “I didn’t think I would make it on the map. There are so many amazing artists that have been working in that industry for a while in that same category. It’s all in the hands of the adjudicators now.”
Also nabbing a nomination was Fiorentina Maione for best lead actress for her role as Lady Macbeth.
It’s a role she’s wanted since she studied Macbeth in high school English class.
“I just thought she was absolutely fascinating,” she said. “Ever since then I wished I could play her on the big stage.”
While Maione performed a monologue from Lady Macbeth in Drama 30 as an audition piece, she didn’t have the honour of taking on the full role until this year.
“Finally, my dream came true when I was cast in the role,” she said. “That role is very iconic.”
With Lady Macbeth being such a multifaceted character, Maione admits she had to dig deep to find different dimensions of her personality for the role.
“You cannot play lady Macbeth at one level,” she said. “She’s easy to hate so her humanness has to come out. The audience has to have some feelings for her or they won’t care when she kills herself. Taking on such an incredible and difficult piece of theatre… was the role of a lifetime for me.”
Maione said this is her first nomination through ACT.
“Just being nominated and recognized for the work I put into this role is a real accomplishment,” she said. “It would be amazing to actually win the award, but there are four other ladies that are also nominated. The competition is pretty strong.”
Ben Seders and Ed Sands were both nominated for best sound design.
Tickets to attend the awards ceremony cost $20 and can be purchased at www.calgary-acts.com/catawards.htm
