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People who remember the 1970s – or who vicariously wish they had been there by watching the nostalgic That 70s Show – will be in for a treat with the Classic Theatre Festival’s production of Neil Simon’s 1979 comedy, I Ought to Be in Pictures, running June 24 to July 17 at 54 Beckwith Street East in Perth. The script is full of references to 1970s Hollywood icons like James Caan, George Segal and Suzanne Pleshette. Also mentioned frequently is actor Jane Fonda, a hero to Libby Tucker (played by Alison Smyth), the show’s 19-year-old vagabond who has left New York to find her Hollywood screenwriting father after years of disconnection. For the Classic Theatre Festival’s Associate Producer, Matthew Behrens, the Neil Simon comedy brings back many memories of the years he spent in Los Angeles during the 1970s. The son of actors Bernard Behrens and Deborah Cass, Matthew was privileged to walk on the sets of shows ranging from Kojak and The Bionic Woman (where the trepidacious teenager almost fainted after meeting his hearth-throb, Lindsay Wagner) to Columbo and Baretta. He frequently visited the backlot of Universal Studios, where The Waltons was filmed, and where the studio hosted a world-renowned tour that really took off with the installation of a Jaws set complete with a ferocious automated shark. “Hollywood in the 1970s was still an industry very much in transition from the glamour of the golden years and the big marquee stars, like Betty Hutton and Robert Young, to the newer heavyweights, like Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergman,” recalls Behrens, who points out that the power of network TV in those years was still potent given a three-channel universe and the still-dominant role of print and radio. “We tend to forget that entertainment options in the pre-internet world were comparatively limited, and so the concentration of viewers you would get for a show like Mary Tyler Moore or MASH was absolutely huge. A guest spot on episodic television, the like of which my father did quite a few, would be seen by millions.” That world of 1970s Hollywood forms the backdrop to I Ought to Be in Pictures, when “the business,” as it was called, was a significant economic driver for the state, employing thousands of performers, technicians, and makeup artists like a key character in the show, Steffy Blondell (played by Barb Scheffler), who works at Columbia Pictures. She’s in a relationship with Herb Tucker (played by William Vickers), a screenwriter with a massive case of writer’s block. Tucker rails against the facets of LA life that are all too familiar to the huge Canadian expatriate community who live there, from the narrow range of seasons (364 days of sunshine, 1 day of torrential downpours when there isn’t a drought) to the fear that the whole state will break off and sink into the ocean following “the big one,” an earthquake like the one that played theatres worldwide in “sensaround” in the mid 1970s. “Los Angeles is a… Continue reading

Themes of reconciliation across the generational divide underscore the opening show of the Classic Theatre Festival summer season, Neil Simon’s 1979 comedy, I Ought to Be in Pictures, running until July 17 at 54 Beckwith Street East in Perth. The story of young vagabond Libby Tucker (Alison Smyth) who shows up on the doorstep of her writer’s block-plagued father, Herb (William Vickers), after years of disconnection, is a universal tale that every family can relate to. As these former  Brooklyn denizens hash out differences in sunny California, their backdrop is the world of 1970s Hollywood, when tinseltown still had a certain amount of glamour and “the business,” as insiders call the world of filmmaking, was still one of the main economic drivers for the state. The verbal fireworks and wisecracks that ensue are delivered courtesy of Vickers, a 28-year Shaw Festival veteran who returns for his third season in Perth, and Toronto-based Smyth, who was nominated for best actress by the Capital critics Circle in last year’s CTF production of Wait Until Dark. “I can relate to Libby because both of us carry a lot of hope inside of our heart,” says Smyth. “We both fantasize about the future and plan out important conversations so that we’re well rehearsed in the actual situation. We both seem like very confident people but have to combat a lot of fear inside of ourselves. We’re always trying to be positive about life but are constantly battling negative voices inside of ourselves.” Smyth also likes her character’s bravery. “The fact that she made a plan and stuck by it even though she had no idea what would happen when she reached her destination. She had to go find her father because she wanted to let go of the hostility she had towards him. She wanted to go forth in her life without carrying that around. She did something for her own well being at a fairly young age. I also love the way she’s unabashedly herself, with no qualms about others’ perception of her. She just does her thing. When I was 19 I was the same way.” Libby is inspired by actress Jane Fonda, still a major Hollywood icon after 5 decades. Turns out so is Smyth, who was impacted in a big way when she read the actor/activist’s autobiography in 2010. “At the time I had no idea, but now I see that book as a catalyst for change in my own life, change that has taken 6 years to manifest, and continues to do so.” For Vickers, the character of Herb is “ a middle-aged, intelligent, articulate, Hollywood script writer at a crisis point in his life.  He’s reached this point due to immaturity.  But he has a wonderful child-like sense of humour.  He takes delight in making others laugh.  I’m pretty sure he was a class clown.  He can be someone who is selfish, stubborn, lazy, fearful, and loves to blame others for his failures……but don’t we all?  He’s human. So when Libby enters the pictures, there’s a fantastic… Continue reading