Opening night in Bellrock

Oct 18, 2012

Photo: Mark Veno and Deb Lovegrove played their roles with gusto in “Here Come the Cows”, the Bellrock Schoolhouse Theatre’s inaugural production

The Bellrock Schoolhouse Theatre presented their inaugural production “Here Come the Cows” or “Never Say Moo in Bellrock” on October 13, officially opening what looks to be an exciting upcoming theatre season in the newly renovated community hall/theatre. Close to 50 theatre goers enjoyed a sumptuous ham supper and then sat back to enjoy the melodrama, a corny and rollicking good guy/bad guy script that tells the tale of the day-to-day struggles of the small cow farming community of Bellrock. The quirky townsfolk have been beaten down by dust storms and drought and then they’re visited by a pair of greedy evildoers that turn the town upside-down.

It was director Doug MacIntyre's second time directing the play (his first debut was in Arizona), and he said that he felt it would be the perfect play to open the new Bellrock Schoolhouse Theatre. “The first time I read it, I thought, this play has got to come north. I approached the people in Bellrock to see if they would be interested and they were and it seems that this kind of melodrama is the perfect fit for community theatre.”

The cast included newbies to the stage as well as seasoned actors and it was the entire cast’s fourth reading of the play. Rather than memorizing their lines, the actors read from the script, which in no way detracted from the play’s overall effect and together with the script’s comedic characters, plentiful corny puns, slapstick action and special effects, it in fact made for some of the play’s funniest moments.

The play tells the tale of Molly (Jane MacKay) and her adopted daughter Penny (from heaven) who are struggling to make the rent at the Bellrock Soup Shack and Trading Post. They, along with the other townsfolk, who are each played to great comic effect, are visited by a couple of first-rate evildoers, Miss Trilby Tango (Connie Shibley) and Mandrake Mothdust (Dick Miller). The plot thickens when the cranky, cheapskate, soup-slurping Grouchy Backwater suffers a classic melodramatic death from a scorpion bite, which invites the normally law abiding townsfolk to break the law in a secret scheme that will keep them in the black. As the plot thickens, the evildoers Trilby and Mandrake threaten to make public the secret scam. Much further drama unfolds but as in most melodramas, the good characters triumph, thanks to the appearance of one Mr. Dan Delion and his offer of $50,000 to purchase the good guy and Penny's love interest, Bronco Bronco's herd, which will save the town. The beauty of this melodrama was the chance it gave for all its characters to shine. Jennifer and Marc Veno played the parts of the smitten young lovers way over the top and to great comic effect while Jane MacKay's character Molly, more of the straight man, carried most of the plot. Dick Miller milked the evilness of Mandrake and allowed for some very funny impromptu laughs when some of the lines got mixed up in the second act of the play. Hats off to Connie Shibley, who played the southern vixen Trilby Tango impeccably with her hilarious southern drawl and spot-on comedic timing.

Director Doug MacIntyre was not exaggerating when he said at intermission that his cast was more than able to pull off the play with just three rehearsals under their belts. “I'm just delighted with the cast and am totally in awe of their talent and the fact that they have been able to pull this off with so little rehearsal time.” For those who missed opening night in Bellrock, a second dinner/theatre performance of the play will take place on Sat. Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. For ticket information, call 613-374-2344. All proceeds from the performance will go towards the Bellrock Community Association, a not-for-profit corporation.