BF23: Geoffrey Armour makes his Blyth Festival debut with 'Donnellys'
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Geoffrey Armour, after growing up in Huron County and carving out a very nice acting career for himself, will be performing as part of the Blyth Festival company for the very first time this summer.
When asked about acting at the Festival for the first time, he jokes that his first reaction was “it’s about time” before confirming that the call from Artistic Director Gil Garratt was one he’s always wanted to receive. Furthermore, to be asked to be part of the company that would bring all three of James Reaney’s Donnellys plays to life in one season, a project that’s never been undertaken before, Armour said it really did make for good news for any actor to receive late last year.
To say he felt like the project was ambitious would be an understatement. In that initial conversation with Garratt, Armour said he felt the idea of the same company doing all three shows - Sticks and Stones, St. Nicholas Hotel and Handcuffs - with one company in the same summer was a Herculean task. Garratt is also directing the shows, in addition to overseeing a four-show main-stage season in Memorial Hall that accompanies the Donnellys shows, and Armour said that when Garratt told him that, he was sure Garratt was a madman.
Since beginning rehearsals, however, Armour has been amazed at the speed at which progress has been made, with the actors already up on their feet and blocking scenes less than two weeks into rehearsals for all three of the shows. He said the work is daunting and it’s easy to be intimidated by the sheer scope of it all, but with the cast assembled, Armour is sure the shows will be remembered for years to come.
While Armour has never acted as part of the Blyth Festival company before (aside from being part of a community component of Festival’s famed The Outdoor Donnellys production), he has been at the helm of the Festival’s storied Young Company before and his family’s dramatic legacy is one of few that many people in Huron County know well.
Armour’s father David has been at the forefront of drama teaching in Huron County for decades thanks to his work at Goderich District Collegiate Institute and area drama festivals. By that token, Geoffrey has grown up steeped in the theatre arts in Huron County.
David began his work in Huron County as an English teacher at the now-closed Bluewater Youth Detention Centre and soon began producing plays with the inmates. Geoffrey remembers distinctly being brought by his father to watch rehearsals of Rinse the Blood off My Toga, a famous Wayne and Schuster comedy sketch that pokes fun at Julius Caesar. However, it wasn’t long until David was snapped up by the Goderich secondary school and the rest is history.
David would teach theatre to decades of classes of Huron County students and oversee many performances and festivals over the course of his time as an educator.
Geoffrey then decided to go out for his first role in one of his father’s plays, Peter Pan, when he was just 12 years old. He got the part and fell in love with the craft. Performing in many Goderich Little Theatre shows over the years gave him a taste for the theatre before making the move to attend theatre school and pursue acting as a profession.
He attended George Brown College’s theatre program before making his way to France as a student of École Internationale De Theatre Jacques Lecoq, where he studied the art of physical theatre.
After some time in France, he returned to Ontario and performed at a number of venues throughout the region and across the country. In the years since, he has truly performed all over the world, acting in theatres all over Europe and Asia before making his way back to his home country.
As for his history with the Blyth Festival - or lack thereof - Geoffrey said the projects just never seemed to match up. He’d speak with those at the Festival about this project or that, but he’d miss out due to being contracted for another job, or age out of a role because he was busy with another theatre. It just didn’t happen, but he’s so grateful that now is the time for such a special project.
Being part of the Donnellys shows at such a time in history, he said, will be incredible. He said that many of the themes explored in the shows are both ancient and relevant in today’s world, which is part of what makes the stories so important to tell. He said we live in a very cyclical world and many of the things being discussed, invoked or challenged in the shows and in the 1800s are rearing their ugly heads once again at a time of such division and disagreement.
The Donnellys: A Trilogy will open on Saturday, June 24 with the premiere of Sticks and Stones, followed by St. Nicholas Hotel on Saturday, July 15 and Handcuffs on Thursday, Aug. 3. There will then be opportunities to see all three shows on consecutive nights several times throughout August as, after Handcuffs premieres, the shows will begin running in three-day clusters on Tuesday through Thursday and again on Friday through Sunday until Sunday, Sept. 3.