The Life & Times of Mackenzie King: The History of the Village of the Small Huts, 1918 – 1939 (2011)
Produced by
Playwright: Michael Hollingsworth
Director: Michael Hollingsworth
Venue
Run
November 10th, 2011 – December 11th, 2011
Synopsis
The Life and Times of Mackenzie King begins with the end of World War I, and ends with the beginning of World War II – a zeppelin-ride through the soaring twenties and the diving thirties with Canada’s longest-running Prime Minister. As the grandson of the notorious rebel William Lyon Mackenzie, King was driven by a sense of destiny and spurred by ghostly outriders. He fell in love regularly but never married, preferring the companionship of other men’s wives, and seances with his late mother and other great departed souls.
King’s occult companion Mrs. Joan Patteson, beloved dog Pat, political foes Prime Ministers Meighen and Bennett, contemporaries James Shaver Woodsworth and Samuel Bronfman, are joined in the play by Joe and Vince, a couple of Great War veterans who find employment in the rum-running business, and Molly, a war widow with nothing left to lose. Vince rolls it all on the gal and the hooch, while Joe never stops fighting whatever is fighting him – union-busters, gangsters, mortgage-holders, work-camp bosses.
Between the shadows of two world wars, ideas clash and markets crash. The action spans the Winnipeg Strike of 1919, the One Big Union movement, the King-Byng Crisis, the Great Depression, the ‘On To Ottawa Trek’, Mackenzie King’s infatuation with the Third Reich and many other events that show how Canada discovered its inner communist. (http://www.videocab.com/)
Cast
| Paul Braunstein | Mackenzie King / Copping / Robert Russell / Soldier / Albert / RCMP Officer |
| Greg Campbell | Prime Minister Robert Borden / Andrews / Sid / Goon / RCMP Officer / Godfroy Patteson / Joseph Bisaillon / Butler / Etta Wreidt / Welfare Officer / General Andrew McNaughton / German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop / Spanish Peasant / Bennett's Secretary / Speaker / Communist Pamphleteer |
| Rick Alan Campbell | Gargoyle / Prime Minister Arthur Meighen / Zaneth / Sam / Pall Bearer / Goon / Muffin / Speaker / Relief Camp Worker / Hobo / Mackenzie & Papineau Instructor |
| Mac Fyfe | Joe / Crooked Cop / Lord Byng / Wilfrid Laurier / Jacques Bureau |
| Jacob James | Vince / Pall Bearer / Lady Byng / Prime Minister R.B. Bennett / Foreman / Landlord / Relief Camp Worker / RCMP Officer / Hitler / Fascist / Hobo / Quebec Liberal |
| Linda Prystawska | Molly / Fortune Teller / Informer / Judy / Mother King / Joan Patteson / Evicted Woman / RCMP Officer / Mac-Pap Volunteer |
Creative Team
| Michael Hollingsworth | Playwright |
| Michael Hollingsworth | Director |
| Deanne Taylor | Associate Director |
| Andy Moro | Lighting Designer |
| Andy Moro | Set Designer |
| Astrid Janson | Costume Designer |
| Brent Snyder | Sound Designer |
| Jake Blackwood | Sound Designer |
| Brad Harley | Prop Designer |
| Alice Norton | Wig Designer |
| Brent Snyder | Music |
Production
| Jim LeFrancois | Producer |
| Erika Connor | Wardrobe Assistant |
| Lina Falomkina | Wardrobe Assistant |
| Arber Makri | Props Assistant |
| Phoebe Norton | Wig Assistant |
| Wendy Seater | Wig Assistant |
| Patrick Wilkie | Stagehand |
| Laurie Merredew | Assistant Stage Manager |
| Andrew Dollar | Production Manager |
| Andrew Dollar | Stage Manager |
