QNetNews.ca Belleville Theatre Guild begins work on its next production

By John Bronn BELLEVILLE –The Belleville theatre guild has started to put together its production of the play <a href="http://www.bellevilletheatreguild.ca/performances/238-marion-bridge" rel="external">Marion Bridge.</a> [1] The play opens on Feb. 1, but there’s a lot of work that goes in to getting it ready before Opening Night. Much of that work is being driven by the play’s director, Steve Forrester. He’s been involved in theatre since 1972. Forrester said the play tells the story of three sisters, two of whom live in the town of Marion Bridge and the third who’s returned because their mother is dying. Forrester said the play follows several themes but one stands out above the rest. “Well the title says it really. ‘Bridge’.” “The whole idea is that we have these two women who are trying to cross the bridge at the river that the have been stopped at for their lives and they want to move on. They want to find a connection between moving on from their past that had been kind of disappointing, and moving on to the new world.” Forrester said he has faith in the play and that he hopes “people will feel moved that they will feel they have joined these three sisters in their happy journey that they have taken during the course of it.” Forrester started looking into this play after a previous idea became impossible. When he found it he said he was “swept away” by it. “I am very impressed by what Daniel McIvor (the playwright) has done. I think he’s a very clever writer. As I look at the play I’m seeing more and more and more in it. It is beautifully written. I love they way he introduces everything in the first page than there it is. In the end it’s all nicely bookended.” Forrester said the whole thing is very well-crafted. “It’s like a wonderful sandwich in a sense it’s got a nice crusty piece of whole grain bread on each end, and a beautiful filling in between and we can see how all of this joins together into quite a moving little play.” Forrester has been involved in many plays over the years. He says some were easy and some were hard to get rolling. In the video that accompanies this piece he talks about some of the work involved in putting this play together. “I’ve been involved since 1972 in acting, directing, designing, taking out the garbage you know whatever. That’s what a community theatre is all about. That’s how we play.”