In the Classic Theatre Festival production of J.B. Priestley’s mystery thriller An Inspector Calls, playing until September 11 at 54 Beckwith Street East, Sean Jacklin gives a compelling performance as the troubled young man Eric Birling, who battles demons and drink as he, along with his family, all become suspects in the death of a young woman. This gripping story is a very different role from Jacklin’s comic appearance as an overweight telephone repairman battling six flights of stairs in the Neil Simon comedy, Barefoot in the Park, at last year’s Festival. “I love playing Eric because I can identify with a lot of what he’s going through,” Jacklin says. “He’s suddenly becoming socially aware in a time that is completely controlled by the generations above him who don’t think anything like he does, for the most part. There’s a frustration there, a genuine desire to do good but a complete inability to do so faced with the stagnation and repression around him. It’s not all that different today.” Jacklin points out that the play, written in 1912, features a younger generation that will soon bear the wounds and scars of the First World War.  He knows Eric is likely to “be part of the first wave of British soldiers sent into the machine gun fire two years later when war breaks out across Europe.” Local audience members who recognize the man playing Eric Birling are not mistaken, as Jacklin has been a regular fixture on Perth stages for two decades, beginning with a role at the age of 7 as Ricky, the son of the main character in The Seven Year Itch. “I got to run around the stage with one of those horses on a stick things, firing a cap gun and wearing a cowboy hat. I guess that pretty much sold the whole acting thing for me. I’d love to be able to do that on stage again someday, but somehow I don’t think it would be as cute as a 26-year-old.” Jacklin came by his profession honestly, as his parents, David and Janice Jacklin of Barn Door Productions, have a lengthy history as the producers of over 100 community theatre shows in Perth. Jacklin recalls a production of Hamlet his parents produced on the grounds of Perth Manor over a decade ago, “playing about four roles in total while also running around backstage opening trap doors and doing little technical things. I love the rush of playing one character and switching over to another. I played Johnny Frazier and Corky the Clown in Circus Gothic for our Sears Festival show in grade 12. That’s a pinnacle show for me; one of those shows where everything you’ve been learning and feeling over a set time culminates in something really special. “When I got to high school (PDCI), I had the great fortune of working with Carolee and Geoff Mason in their last 4 years at the school running the drama department and extra curriculars,” Jacklin says.  “Suddenly theatre was this great bastion… Continue reading

As the final week of the Classic Theatre Festival production of An Inspector Calls comes to a close (the last show is on Sept. 11 at 54 Beckwith Street East in Perth), among those who have won critical kudos from the country’s top theatre reviewers are Anna Burkholder and Fraser Elsdon, who play a young couple about to be engaged as the gripping mystery thriller begins. Burkholder and Elsdon are part of a new generation of Canadian talent who made their debuts at the Classic Theatre Festival this season in an edge-of-your-seat thriller in which a body has been found and everyone is a suspect. Burkholder got her start on stage by auditioning for a fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She recalls being too scared and nervous to perform a monologue, so she tried out for a non-speaking forest creature with a movement-based audition. She was cast as Cobweb, “and I created a crazy spider walk for her. It was special because I realized I was able to create Cobweb however I wanted and I don’t think I’d experienced that type of freedom before.” She trained in physical theatre at East 15 Acting School in England. “The first several months we didn’t speak in our training. Silent play and listening to each other was a huge foundation of the training. It was a powerful experience.” Her first professional stage gig was a coming together of connections in British theatre’s royalty: the National Theatre production of Timon of Athens on the Olivier Stage, where she recalls she “learned a lot, especially from watching the work of such gifted actors. It was a great eye opener for me to see how a performance has the potential to be new each night. Unspoken games were played on stage between actors and this kept things unbelievably free and spontaneous. I began to see how a sense of play was so important. I was also very fortunate to witness what it was to be truly open and vulnerable and have these moments reach even the furthest of seats. It felt magical.” Physical theatre has always held an attraction for Burkholder, who says, “I think that when I’m truly following my impulses, it’s my body leading the way. My thoughts can’t be in the way – nor my words – for me to sincerely follow my impulses. These impulses (or gut feelings) come from somewhere within, somewhere physical. That’s what interests me! As an audience member, I think the actors’ bodies on stage are so fascinating. Watching an ensemble and seeing how bodies move together, or not together at all, says so much for me.” Elsdon was bit by the theatre bug with a Grade 5 performance of the Green Day song Basket Case, played on a recorder, that truly rocked his school’s talent show He also won the speech competition with a story about living on the moon. As a teenager, he found himself singing, playing guitar, and performing, and was then cast in… Continue reading