The Farm Show Then & Now with Miles Potter and Gil Garratt

05/27/24 • 33 min

In the long, hot summer of 1972, a group of barefoot Toronto actors made their way to an abandoned farm house in Clinton, Ontario. There they began a theatrical experiment that would result in a collective creation known as The Farm Show.

Quite possibly the most influential play in Canadian-theatre history, The Farm Show became a massive run-away hit and an international phenomenon. It also contained the seeds of what would become the Blyth Festival several years later.

This summer, Blyth mounts The Farm Show Then & Now, an updated version of this beloved Canadian classic.
Join host Joanne Wallace as she chats with veteran actor/director Miles Potter - who was part of the original collective 52 years ago - and Blyth Artistic Director Gil Garratt. Together they'll take a look at The Farm Show's rich history, and give you a sneak-peak at what this summer's production holds in store.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com
Bus transportation available from Stratford, Kitchener and London for select dates. Performance dates and details: https://blythfestival.com/tickets/stratford-bus/
We love your feedback. Send us your thoughts any time: [email protected]
The Farm Show Then & Now is sponsored by The McGavin Family and by our loyal Blyth Festival Members. Our season sponsor is the amazing Bruce Power. Thank you all.
Credits: Research/writing/host: Joanne Wallace | Sound design/production/editing: Jim Park

Music: Harvest Month and Ole-Time Fiddlin', River Run Dry, via Epidemic Sound | Theme Achaidh Cheide, (c) Kevin MacLeod, licensed under CC BY 3.0

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Music: Harvest Month and Ole-Time Fiddlin', River Run Dry, via Epidemic Sound | Theme Achaidh Cheide, (c) Kevin MacLeod, licensed under CC BY 3.0

Previous Episode

2024 Blyth Festival Season Preview with Kelly McIntosh

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Need help choosing what to see at Blyth this summer? We've got you covered!
Playwright, actor, and avid Huron-County historian Kelly McIntosh walks us through all six shows on Blyth's 2024 playbill in this episode. Kelly has appeared on stages across the country, and will be familiar to Blyth audiences as co-writer of In The Wake of Wettlaufer and The Outdoor Donnellys. Most recently at Blyth, she co-starred in 2022's Cottagers and Indians.
Get the inside scoop on what each play is about. And we dare you not to fall in love with every one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:49 - The Trials of Maggie Pollock

8:06 - Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes

17:03 - Saving Graceland

23:32 - Resort to Murder

28:46 - The Golden Anniversaries

32:45 - The Farm Show: Then & Now

40:01 - Episode wrap-up
Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com
Bus transportation available from Stratford, Kitchener and London for select dates. Performance dates and details: https://blythfestival.com/tickets/stratford-bus/
We love your feedback. Send us your thoughts any time: [email protected]
Our season sponsor is the amazing Bruce Power. Thank you<3
Credits: Research/writing/host: Joanne Wallace | Sound design/production/editing: Jim Park

Music: 15 South, Roy Edwin Williams; The Nightingale is Singing Our Song. Martin Landström; So Many Roads, Headland; Ole-Time Fiddlin', River Run Dry, all via Epidemic Sound | The Music Box, Vivek Abhishek via No Copyright Music | Don't Die on Me, Myuuji via BreakingCopyright, licensed under CC BY 3.0 | Theme Achaidh Cheide, (c) Kevin MacLeod, licensed under CC BY 3.0

Next Episode

Canadian Theatre Icon James Roy on the Founding of the Blyth Festival

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Fifty years ago this summer, an actor, a playwright and a newspaper editor walked into a bar ....

OK, kidding, it wasn't a bar. But James Roy, Anne Chislett and Keith Roulston DID sit down in Keith's living room and decide to start a summer theatre festival in Blyth, Ontario. Miraculously, nobody told them they were crazy. Fifty years later, theatre-lovers around the world are still enjoying the fruits of their hard work and imagination.

Join host Joanne Wallace for an intimate chat with James, who became Blyth's founding Artistic Director. He'll share the inside story on how the festival came into being, who rallied around the cause and became the new theatre's greatest champions, and exactly how director Paul Thompson once talked some local farmers into hoisting two live cows on and off stage every night - for art.
Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com
Bus transportation available from Stratford, Kitchener and London for select dates. Performance dates and details: https://blythfestival.com/tickets/stratford-bus/
We love your feedback. Send us your thoughts any time: [email protected]
The Blyth Festival is supported by many amazing sponsors, along with our loyal Blyth Festival Members. Our season sponsor is Bruce Power. None of this could happen without you!
More about James Roy at Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Credits: Research/writing/host: Joanne Wallace | Sound design/production/editing: Jim Park

Music: Million Things I'd Rather Do, Binkley, via Epidemic Sound | Theme Achaidh Cheide, (c) Kevin MacLeod, licensed under CC BY 3.0