Blyth Festival 2024: Ann-Marie Kerr wants to bring about magic moments while directing
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Despite having a long, storied and award-winning career in worldwide theatre, Ann-Marie Kerr will be making her Blyth Festival debut this summer as the director of The Trials of Maggie Pollock.
Kerr has been speaking with playwright Beverley Cooper for months about the project and both women have found themselves falling deeper and deeper into the interesting world of Maggie Pollock and understanding some of what she went through all those years ago in Huron County. They have both delved deep into the history of it all and the more they find, the more interested they become.
Cooper said she was excited Kerr agreed to work on the project because of her visual prowess with storytelling on the stage and Kerr has proven her very right, describing the fascinating way the pair will bring Pollock’s mind and experience to the stage.
Kerr says she’s working on having a light, billowy fabric around the stage, on which costumes will be hung and spirits will be ever-present. Pollock can see and hear them, but no one else can. It’s an interesting way to portray how Pollock saw the world and why she might be disturbed by it, while leaving others confused and, frankly, frightened.
And, as far as being a medium, which is how many of Pollock’s abilities would be interpreted now, Kerr says business was booming. It was right at the end of the First World War and many had lost loved ones and longed to hear from them in any way they thought was possible. However, Pollock didn’t seek out this work, people often came to her, which is important to remember when the time came to charge Pollock with wrongdoing. She was simply helping people who came knocking on her door - not the other way around.
In addition to all of the practical elements of a story of a misunderstood and different woman, who was feared as a result, Kerr admits that she has always been interested in the world of magic. She loves portraying elements of magic on stage and giving audience members the how’d-they-do-that moment, so it’s no surprise that she’s drawn to a show that will have those moments in spades.
She finds those moments - she uses the example of a table seemingly lifting off the ground and floating in mid-air - fascinating herself as an audience member, so she is always seeking to create that moment for someone else in the audience of one of her shows.
Kerr said that, since she began work on the show, she’s even gone to see a medium to further understand the process and the “buy-in” that needs to take place for an experience like that. She felt that she would gain a deeper understanding of Pollock and the particular brand of spiritualism that was gripping much of the country at the time.
As for the Blyth Festival itself, Kerr said she’s thrilled to be coming to one of the country’s most storied theatre festivals for the first time. And to do it as part of the 50th anniversary season, she said, is extra special.
She said that while she’s known Artistic Director Gil Garratt and Cooper for a while now, she’s never had the opportunity to come to the Blyth Festival before, so she’s happy that the stars have aligned and she’ll be part of things this summer.
Kerr has been working in the world of theatre for many years, with her work being produced all over the world, including New York, London, Mumbai, Edinburgh, Sydney, Melbourne, Memphis, Nashville, Cork (Ireland) and all over Canada.
She is also a teacher in the Directing Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. In fact, Kerr taught Gemma James-Smith, Garratt’s wife, in the school when she was there as a student years ago.
Kerr was a finalist for the ever-prestigious Siminovitch Award in 2022. She is a graduate of École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France and York University in Toronto.
The Trials of Maggie Pollock opens on Friday, Aug. 2 after preview performances on July 31 and Aug. 1. It closes on Aug. 29.