news | Monday October 15, 2012

NAC Celebrates Neptune Theatre With The Glace Bay Miners' Museum

In Ottawa, Ontario from October 16 – November 3, 2012, the NAC celebrates the 50th anniversary of Halifax’s Neptune Theatre with a work that embodies the theatre of Nova Scotia.

In Glace Bay, romance blossoms between Neil Currie – a musician and misfit with limited job prospects – and scrappy Margaret MacNeil, a coal miner’s daughter. But behind it all, a strike and a mining disaster loom over the community.

At once lyrical and tough, poignant and funny, this celebrated stage adaptation of Sheldon Currie’s novel digs deep into the issues of the forgotten and exploited, honouring and celebrating the people of Cape Breton.

(Francine Deschepper stars as Margaret MacNeil)

The story has taken many forms, first published as a short story by Sheldon Currie in the Antigonish Review in 1976, then adapted by Wendy Lill into a radio drama in 1991, and a stage play in 1995. This was followed by the feature film called Margaret’s Museum in 1995, and finally, a novel, The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum by Sheldon Currie, in 1996.

Director Mary Vingoe brings a wealth of experience to this story, after directing the very first production of The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum, which opened in 1995 at Ship’s Company in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.