A New Production of an Old Favourite Takes to the Neil Murray Stage Festival-goers are always in for a treat if they wander behind the main stage to take in performances on the Neil Murray Stage. This stage is unique among children's stages in the Canadian festival circuit. Unlike other festivals, whose children's stages have grownups perform for young people, the Neil Murray Stage presents some of the most accomplished young musicians on the island. This year is no exception; singers, accordion players, fiddlers, and yes, BART AND THE BREAD PICKS whose bluerass cover of Britney Spears had everyone talking last year -- they'll all be there, and their performances on the Neil Murray Stage afternoons at the festival will certainly be among the festival highlights.

And this year features an extra-special treat: a group of young musicians and actors will be mounting a production of Jack Meets the Cat. Adapted by Sheila's Brush from a tale told by Mr. Pius Power of Southeast Bight, Placentia Bay about Jack (not the Jack who's every inch a sailor, not the one who climbed the beanstalk and jumped over the candlestick, no the other Jack) and what happens when he ships to a cat for two years and two days, this play is a perennial favourite. A version of it featuring Andy Jones, Frank Barry, Agnes Walsh, Mercedes Barry and Phil Dinn, along with the rest of SHEILA'S BRUSH, was an award-winning radio play produced by Chris Brookes and used to be available on cassette. I'm sure I'm not the only one in whose heart this fabulous story, those unforgettable voices and that wonderful mayhem have lodged for good.

Eight or nine years ago, a group of youngsters got together and decided to spend the summer rehearsing and performing Jack. The performance at the festival this year remembers that effort, and in a way grows out of it, as it grows out of earlier productions of the play and the telling that inspired them: Two of the people involved in the festival's production were part of that cast of young people, and many of the other players are part of Jack's family.

Kaya Anderson-Payne, who played the narrator Uncle Val all those summers ago, is directing the play this time around, and Maggie Meyer, once Mudder, is back as the Cat and King Bolognia. She is joined by her sisters Jessie Meyer (Mudder and Cedrico the King of the Gypsies) and Sara Panting (Uncle Val/narrator); their uncle Geoff Panting has been part of many productions of the play, and Dave Panting, their father, was in Jaxxmas, the play inside of which Jack Meets the Cat found its first theatrical home.

Simone Savard-Walsh, daughter of Agnes Walsh who once played the Cat, will be on-stage as Catcha, the inquisitional gypsy.

Three of Pius Power's grandchildren, Ellen, Bill and John Pius Power, are taking part as well - Bill and John Pius play Tom and Bill, Jack's brothers, and are part of the gypsy band; Ellen is Old Perlican, the former gypsy leader, and the Lobrechaun (that strange Newfoundland blending of a lobster and a leprechaun - DO NOT APPROACH!!!).

The cast is completed by Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, who plays the Princess and Fiddliano the Gypsy; Bridget Henley, the White Tornado (a wild, woolly, white diaphanous weather hero), the Troll and the Hobby Horse; and Sylina Jones who plays our hero, Jack. Add a liberal dose of Bart Pierson, sound effectionado, and that about does it. Almost...

Jack being the kind of play it is, this cast list will grow -- more gypsies will gather, a few more musicians will come along. An audience member or two might join in. "Jack" is, after all, infectious - its exuberance, its sheer riotous joy is hard to resist. Find your way behind the main stage Saturday afternoon at the festival, and you might well find yourself shipping to Jack as he ships to his cat for two years and two days. I'm betting you will love every minute of it.

Jack Meets the Cat will go on stage Saturday, August 7th at 1:50 pm. Many thanks to the members of SHEILA'S BRUSH for permission to perform the play, for their enthusiastic support and for their help with costumes and props.

(*Words in italics are either quotations from or echos of the play.)