| Pontine to Premiere Kittery Point Stories |
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
April 27 – May 13, Pontine Theatres co-directors, Greg Gathers and Marguerite Mathews, bring their unique literary adaptation to George Savary Wasson’s early 20th century stories drawn from Cap’n Simeon’s Store (1905) and The Green Shay (1908). Performances are Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and Sundays at 2pm. (Continued below)
There is an additional 8 pm performance on Saturday 28 April. Tickets are $24 and may be purchased online.. Tickets may also be purchased at the door, based on availability, a half-hour prior to each performance. Pontine's West End Studio Theatre is located at
The stories contained in George Savary Wasson’s Cap’n Simeon’s Store are based on the thoughts and language of Kittery Point fishermen of the late nineteenth century, and are set against the background of the village’s general store. Upon its publication in 1905, it was hailed by one reviewer as “the only book which records faithfully and fully the quaint dialect, now passing away, of the old
Mark Twain said that its eighth chapter, “Rusticators at the Cove,” was one of the funniest stories he ever read. Although Wasson’s books have long been out of print--they have been described as “the most authentic
The Green Shay describes the results of the decline of the coastal shipping economy in the mythical town of Kentle’s Harbor, where there had been “a most alarming exodus of the young and strong, and an equally alarming stay at home propensity on the part of the weak and the worthless. It is natural selection the other end to--survival of the unfittest.” The result, Wasson discovered, was drunkeness, immorality, illiteracy and poverty. Within a few weeks after its publication it had created an uproar. Much of The Green Shay is written in an old dialect so obscure that Wasson, an accomplished sailor, occasionally used footnotes to get his meaning across. Even the title is hard to decipher: An Isles of Shoals shay, it turns out, referred to a small sailing vessel used in the islands, located off
Pontine’s original adaptation borrows elements from both books to create a lively stage production featuring masks, traditional folk melodies, projected images of historic scenes, and a full cast of toy theatre figures who represent the books’ major characters.
The plotline follows the tragic drowning of two brothers, Abram and Elmer Spurling, whose Green Shay is destroyed one stormy day. Suspicion falls on young Asa Kentle, and the residents of the harbor are thrown into conflict as they endeavor to solve the mysterious disaster.
READ MORE about George Savary Wasson
Pontine Theatre
Pontine Theatre annually creates new work, adding to its extensive repertory of productions that explore the history, culture and literature of
Pontine’s original works are devised entirely of dramatic elements drawn from
To create these works, Pontine’s co-directors undertake months of intensive research, traveling to libraries and museums throughout the region, mining letters, diaries, newspapers, ephemera and other period writings for text which forms the dramatic works’ spoken component. Pontine does not “script” its works in the conventional sense; its actors speak found text exclusively, and interpret those words through lyric and dramatic movement. Unique to Pontine, this artistic choice creates readily accessible works of extraordinary authenticity and immediacy.
The visual and sound elements of Pontine’s original works also derive entirely from period sources. Pontine’s co-directors study hundreds of period photographs, research contemporary music, architecture and art, and bring these aesthetic elements, interpreted, into the work via set, property and other visual design, as well as musical selections. Cut-out figures for
Pontine’s original works are enacted for audiences using a synthesis of period theatrical conventions, classical movement theatre, and experimental theatrical techniques. Pontine’s co-directors are both trained in classical movement theatre, an expressive discipline that combines balletic physical rigor with elements of corporeal mime and rhetorical gesture. However, the unique demands of a commitment to interpreting
Pontine is a two-actor company—yet each of its works is peopled with a full cast of characters. Roles may be enacted by articulated human figures, constructed by Mr. Gathers of wicker, wood and cloth, which the actors manipulate and speak for, and interact with. Mask performance is also employed, with the two actors often sharing masked roles as the action requires, as in traditional commedia dell’arte performance. Cut-out and projected shadow figures may also round out the cast, and may speak through the actors; a Victorian miniature parlor theatre may be set up with a flourish—complete with decorated proscenium and curtain—and plays-within-plays enacted, as the actors manipulate figures within the toy theatre and speak their roles. A Victorian “rolling panorama” may be unfurled as the actors narrate a dramatic incident. Finally, Pontine also employs striking transparencies and screen projections as set elements, which the actors and other figures move through and interact with. Through precise mastery and subtle deployment of these design elements, Pontine’s original works articulate a distinctive creative and artistic vision that remains unequaled in the region. Audiences consistently describe Pontine performances as “magical”, “enlightening”, “inventive”, “surprising”, “absorbing” and “delightful.