Director returning to Watermark Theatre after hit show last summer
Alan Kinsella's Blythe Spirit won raves, now he's paying it back to P.E.I.
It's great when a play gets rave reviews. Now an Irish-Canadian theatre director is giving them right back, with raves for his time on P.E.I.
Alan Kinsella, who settled in Canada in 2013, came to North Rustico's Watermark Theatre last year to direct Blithe Spirit.
It was a big success, helping Watermark see a jump in individual ticket sales of 31 per cent.
This summer, Kinsella is coming back, a decision he told Mainstreet's Angela Walker was an easy one.
"I absolutely fell in love with P.E.I. while I was there, and the play itself was such a lovely play to do, and I think the audiences really liked it as well," he said.
The Noel Coward play did so well, Watermark had to add extra performances.
Loves the Island
But it wasn't just the theatre experience that Kinsella appreciated.
"I was there for about four weeks, I just found it was so beautiful, and I was very lucky, I had great weather," he said. "But just the people as well. I just felt so welcomed and made part of the community pretty much straight away."
This season, Kinsella is directing another classic, Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw.
It's the story of a highly educated girl who had been put in boarding schools most of her life, and finally meets her mother properly as a young adult, discovering she runs brothers and was a prostitute.
A fellow Irishman, Kinsella said Shaw's wit fills the script, as well as his dramatic skill.
"You get both sides of an argument, and the audience can make up their minds what they think afterwards," he said. "That's always good, he's never really hitting the audience on the head with issues."
Kinsella arrives in P.E.I. in June, and knows what he's looking forward to.
"The people, I think I formed some really strong friendships, the community itself, and definitely the seafood," he said.
Previews of Mrs. Warren's Profession begin July 7 at Watermark Theatre, alternating in the summer with Neil Simon's Barefoot In The Park.
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From the Mainstreet interview by Angela Walker