Stage Door News
Stage Door News
There's nothing quite like sabering a bottle of bubbly to get a party started.
But uncorking Champagne with a cricket bat, well, that's the kickoff to a real celebration.
So it was Monday afternoon, and justifiably, at the annual cricket match between the Shaw Festival and Stratford Festival in Lower Queen's Park.
The grand gesture marked the 40th anniversary of the friendly rivalry between the two companies.
With admirable dexterity, Stratford Festival veteran Bill Malmo was two-for-two at the opening ceremony. He followed up a flawless sabering of the first bottle with an equally deft opening of a second, with a bat.
Given the significance of the event, it was a perfect launch.
Malmo has been with the Stratford team for 40 years. Though his playing days are limited now, he recalled being part of the early matches as "one of the young guys" in the '70s.
He joined shortly after legendary stage actor Mervyn (Butch) Blake formed a team that competed locally against a team of doctors and another from Stratford Police.
The friendlies with the Shaw started in 1976 and, at one time, were a home-and-away series. But with actors and staff from both companies growing increasingly busy, their competition shifted to a one-game annual affair about 10 years ago.
The match is always on a Monday, when the theatres at both festivals are dark. It was Stratford's turn to play host this year.
"It's an opportunity for us to actually get together on a day when there's nothing going on, and have some fellowship together," said Stratford's co-captain Edward Daranyi.
He's been playing for more than two decades now. He noted the Festival's cricket tradition actually harks back to the theatre's beginnings in the tent days of the early 1950s, when British actors and directors would practise and play a game which is something of a national pastime.
This year, the 26-player Festival team started indoor workouts in April, before heading outside for weekly practices through May and into June.
They stepped that up to twice-weekly in July and August.
Though score is kept, and diligently so, it's often only decipherable to cricket aficionados. And to hear the players talk, it ultimately is of little concern in the grand scheme.
"To me, it's never really mattered who wins," Malmo said. "It's the day. It's the companionship and the camaraderie."
And while players come and go over the seasons, one constant remains. Stratford's team is proudly known as Blake's Blokes, in honour of its founder.
"I hope that never changes, because Butch is the spirit of this team," Daranyi said.
By Scott Wishart for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Kevin Bundy, co-captain for Butch’s Blokes. ©2015 Scott Wishart.
2015-08-31
Stratford: Annual Stratford-Shaw cricket match celebrates its 40th birthday