Only the imagination of a book club, and director Kat Sandler, could have pulled off the time period switcheroo of a beloved Canadian character.
The opening week performance of Anne of Green Gables started as every fan of the spirited redhead orphan remembers – on the Avonlea farm, brother and sister Matthew (Tim Campbell) and Marilla Cuthbert (Sarah Dodd) expecting a smart and hardworking orphan boy (oops!) to help them on the farm.
Anne (Caroline Toal) arrives on Prince Edward Island determined to find a loving home, and maybe a ‘bosom friend’ with a ‘kindred spirit’, of course, along the way.
Toal’s infectious energy in delivering her lines garners laughs along the way.
Always using a mouth full of words for a spoonful of thoughts, her charming doom and gloom and nervous outlooks, not to mention that notorious, fiery temper and brutal honesty are, after all, what everyone loves about the character.
We are introduced to an Anne of Green Gables book club during the opening scene, and a handful of characters led by Maev Beaty (Rachel Lynde) and Julie Lumsden (Diana Barry), pull double duty as narrators and actors in the performance.
Sandler’s adaptation moves us forward to modern times, thanks to a book club idea, turning Lucy Maud Montgomery’s version on its ear. The actors were more than up to the task, as the characters navigate complex relationships and pour their hearts out.
Barry is the perfect bosom buddy for Anne, even after professing a different kind of love for the title character, with Anne remarking they can love each other in their own way.
Watching the love grow between Anne and the Cuthberts was heart-wrenching and beautiful at times, particularly with Anne needing to make a big life decision.
Anne’s relationship with arch nemesis Gilbert Blythe was another sparkle, with Jordin Hall’s performance a pleasure to watch.
Musical numbers often wrap up Stratford Festival performances and some of the actors teamed up for a memorable talent show contest near the end.
Sandler has said the production is about the power of imagination and as a young theatregoer, she was always in awe of the simplest bits of theatre magic.
Indeed, there is plenty of magic in Sandler’s daring adaptation.
Anne of Green Gables runs until Oct. 25.
