Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears
In 1999, while working at the Gravenhurst Opera House, a lifetime family friend, Charlene Herrold, sent me a copy of her book, “Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears”. None in our family knew she was an author in addition to being a painter, interior designer, director, producer and stage manager. Upon finishing reading, I realized that what I held in my hand was a series of theatre pieces. I vowed that one day these stories would reach a wider audience. Before she passed in 2009, Charlene gave me her blessing and now “Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears” is a one-hour one-man show touring Ontario.
No, you don’t need to be Irish to enjoy this production. Universal themes of love, loss, friendship, and hardship, are adeptly tucked into the text. This show has been compared to Dan Needles’ Wingfield Farm in terms of style, charm, intimacy and humour. The audience is treated to a vast array of delightful characters ranging in age from 18-88 and including, Terrible Tom O’Malley, The Big and Little Jimmies, Devlin Haggerty (a corpse), Fiddler O’Flaherty, the Widow O’Donnell and even the cat, Frances O’Feline, to name but a few.
Personally, I love community halls as well as intimate theatre spaces and so far the show has played to sold out performances in Collingwood (Theatre Collingwood’s, Porchside Festival), Barrie (The Edgar Community Hall), Guelph’s ArtBar (a newly created arts venue) and numerous cafes, festivals, and arts events.
It’s a perfect show for smaller theatre spaces and rural communities and for arts groups that are looking for a live theatre show to round out their performing arts roster. It’s great for producing companies and community theatres, who occasionally need a quality offering for their patrons, but want to avoid overhead production costs. For more information visit https://www.jaywalkingguelph.ca or write jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com 519 820-3269.
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