Blyth Festival 2024: Beverley Cooper returns to tell more Huron County history

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

The Trials of Maggie Pollock is a perfect fit for playwright Beverley Cooper, who has given the Blyth Festival some of its most successful and entertaining local history pieces of the last two decades.

 

The woman behind Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott, If Truth Be Told, The Lonely Diner: Al Capone in Euphemia Township and The Eyes of Heaven has now set her sights on one of the most historically significant and fascinating stories in Huron County history. We spoke just days after noted local author Alice Munro passed away. Cooper’s last play for the Festival, If Truth Be Told, clearly dealt with the book banning that swept up boundary-pushing authors like Munro, so we both mourned the loss of a great writer and local legend before getting to the task at hand.

 

Maggie Pollock is the last woman in Canada to be tried for witchcraft. She lived just outside of Blyth and was eventually tried in Goderich, making her story one of tremendous local interest. It had been covered by The Citizen’s second-favourite local historian, David Yates, and it was his article that Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt sent to Cooper to get her wheels turning.

 

And with that, The Trials of Maggie Pollock was born. Cooper began doing extensive research on the topic, as she always does with any of her plays, and she found so much of that era fascinating, especially considering that it really wasn’t that long ago.
Pollock was presented to the Huron County Gaol on June 30, 1919 based on accusations of “telling fortunes”, which was illegal in those days. It was there that a farmer testified that he’d sought out Pollock, who was known as what would be referred to now as a medium, and paid her 50 cents for a reading in an effort to find oats and grain that had been stolen from him.

 

Cooper found it fascinating that Pollock, in her reading, did say she was hearing from people on the other side, but, for the most part, heeded the warnings issued to her about engaging in illegal activity. Really, she was simply a member of the community who felt she had this ability, but was trying to live her own life and be left alone, for lack of a better term. 

 

However, people were fascinated by what she could do and sought her out for help. The cries of Pollock being a “witch” imply dark arts and nefarious intention, but Cooper said that was far from what she found in her research of Pollock. Through that reading, she just found a normal woman trying to live life on the farm with her brother just outside of Blyth. Notably, Cooper said, people continued to seek Pollock out, and not the other way around.

 

Cooper’s research expanded well beyond stories about Pollock as she combed through local newspapers from the time to understand the period and the people of the time. She found the obsession with spiritualism at the time fascinating and, of course, not unrelated to the way the community interacted with Pollock.

 

Once Cooper began writing, she was aided by Blyth Festival Associate Artistic Director Severn Thompson as a dramaturge, as well as Garratt himself, who also provided feedback on the show as it continued to develop.

 

As for the production itself, Cooper has a lot of ideas regarding how she wants the play to be visually interesting, complementing her writing, which is why she’s thrilled that award-winning director Ann-Marie Kerr has been brought on, making her Blyth Festival debut in the process.

 

Another big step will be hearing the actors read her words for the first time, which is always a milestone in the journey of any playwright’s work. 

 

The summer, however, will be a busy one for Cooper. In fact, if we were to zoom in even further, it’s going to be a busy August for Cooper. She has also written Jim Watts: Girl Reporter for 4th Line Theatre near Peterborough, which will open on Thursday, Aug. 1. Not to worry, though, as Cooper has a whole day to get to Blyth after that for the opening of The Trials of Maggie Pollock the following evening. So, it will be a busy and stressful summer, yet one that is sure to be tremendously professionally fulfilling.
And while her time may be torn between the two theatres this summer, Cooper assured The Citizen that her heart belongs in Blyth. To have a play be part of the storied theatre’s 50th season, she said, is magical to her. It’s a place that has very much been her professional and creative home and she’s proud of the work she has had produced in Blyth. Being part of this season, she said, means a lot to her.

 

The Trials of Maggie Pollock opens on Friday, Aug. 2 after preview performances on July 31 and Aug. 1. It closes on Aug. 29.