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written by Dan Needles, directed by Douglad Beattie

Stratford Festival, Avon Theatre, Stratford

August 21-October 12, 2001

"The Wingfield Series Reaches New Heights"

Dan Needles' series of Wingfield plays starring Rod Beattie has become a national institution.  The previous four instalments have already achieved more than 2700 performances across Canada and the United States.  The fifth instalment, which had its first preview at Theatre Orangeville on March 28 this year, has just opened at the Avon Theatre in Stratford and will only increase the series's popularity.  "Wingfield on Ice" may be Needles' finest play so far.

The series began in 1985 as a series of comic vignettes about Bay Street stockbroker turned farmer Walt Wingfield and his difficulties in fitting into country life.  Over the years these anecdotes, told in the form of letters to a newspaper editor, have become more closely linked in exploring a common theme.  "Wingfield on Ice" takes on perhaps the biggest theme of all--birth death and rebirth--while losing none of its trademark country humour. 

The play finds Walt in his fifth year as a farmer in Persephone township.  Walt's wife Maggie is now eight months pregnant.  Walt's anxiety over the event is increased by his realization that country life is not as peaceful as he thought.  He has seen that feuds passed from generation to generation riddle the community and he wonders if such an environment of discord and hatred is actually a better place than the city to raise a child.  What initiates this train of thought is his discovery that his old neighbour the Squire has not spoken to his brother in over 50 years over an unknown past event.  Walt's attempts to patch this up only make things worse.  In addition, he finds that Maggie herself is on the outs with Isabel Lynch over a false view of Maggie's mother's religious views.  These and other more minor disputes are paralleled with the comic rivalry between Maggie's nephew Willy and Mrs. Lynch's "almost purebred" collie.  But the divided community is put to the ultimate test by the onslaught of an ice storm (whence the title) and the devastation it leaves in its wake.

Not only is this latest "Wingfield" more challenging in its theme, it is also more challenging for its star, Rod Beattie.  Beattie gives us reprises of characters familiar from the earlier plays--Ed the editor, Maggie, her stuttering brother Freddy, her nephews Willy and Dave with their funny laughs, the humourless Don, Calvin Curry and the taciturn Squire.  But Needles has given Beattie at least twelve more characters to impersonate, the most, I believe, of any the series.  These include three more women of widely differing ages, Don's son, Maggie's doctor, a vet, a Bible-quoting constable, a soldier, an auctioneer and Pooky the collie, thus vastly enlarging the fictional world of Persephone Township.  Beattie perfectly characterizes all of these keeping them distinct through voice, posture, and gesture, able to slip from one to the other in mid-phrase, all with consummate comic timing.  Earlier this year I praised Séan Campion and Conleth Hill of the West End hit Stones in His Pockets for these very abilities.  I was pleased to be reminded by "Wingfield on Ice" that in Rod Beattie we have an actor every bit their equal. 

As in the previous four instalments, Douglas Beattie provides the crisp, clear direction.  Louise Guinand's lighting cues are tied closely to the text and always establish the appropriate mood.  There is, however, no doubt that the 1100-seat Avon Theatre is not the ideal venue for a Wingfield play.  John Thompson's adaptation of the set common to all five is surrounded by good  deal of void and Rod Beattie is miked to fill the auditorium and to save his voice.  At half the size the Tom Patterson Theatre would have been more suitable as it was for all the previous appearances of the series at Stratford. 

A person does not have to have seen the previous four plays to enjoy this new "Wingfield".  Needles has used his rural setting and characters to convey ideas of universal import.  The play is just as funny as its predecessors, but its examination of the possibility for new hope and of hope deferred is both moving and thought-provoking.  As usual Beattie will tour of "Wingfield on Ice" around Ontario and beyond.  If you can't make it to Stratford, the next stops are Theatre Orangeville (November 6-25), the River Run Centre, Guelph (December 6-8) and the Grand Theatre, London (March 5-25, 2002).  Those who have been following the Wingfield series will need no encouragement.  For those who have not, see this one.

©Christopher Hoile

Photo: Rod Beattie as Walt. ©2011 Terry Manzo.