DRAYTON – The second show of the season at the Drayton Festival Theatre is a celebration of the theatre’s rural setting. Buying the Farm is a three-actor show that touches on some of the issues that modern farmers are dealing with right now.
Magnus is an aging bachelor who has been running the family farm his entire life. He takes pride tending the land that his grandfather helped to clear and has been in his family for generations. But without any children to take over, and with some health issues looming, Magnus has some difficult decisions to make.
Enter Brad, a young eager realtor who offers Magnus a fair price for his farm so it can be developed into housing like all the farms around him. Magnus has little patience for the “cidiot,” a colloquialism used by rural people for urban residents who aren’t well-informed about farming and rural life.
But more objections are raised by Magnus’s great-niece Esme, who is staying with him after an unsuccessful time in the city acquiring a post-secondary education. Her impatience and disdain for Brad and his offer borders on rudeness, but she doesn’t care. She and Magnus take great delight sending Brad to their outhouse when he asks to use the facilities.
(It should be said here that when they referenced their outhouse, I inwardly groaned. Yet another corny outdated stereotype being perpetuated about country living, I thought. But that changes as the story progresses, much to my relief.)
Esme is dealing with some secrets of her own, as well as worrying about her great-uncle’s health. Brad ends up staying at the farm longer than intended and discovers why Magnus is so attached to the land. They all have decisions to make, reconciling modern needs and practicalities with the desire to preserve the land that was so hard-won by their ancestors.
The show could be classified as a dramedy – part drama, part comedy – and it’s a charming look at contemporary rural life.
With only three actors who are onstage most of the time, it is crucial that the casting is just right, and these three bring believability to their roles. Magnus is played by Drayton veteran Terry Barna, who is the perfect combination of gruff and sentimental. Alex Furber, who plays Brad, is another Drayton veteran, who happens to be an actual realtor when he’s not acting. He is great as a youthful go-getter who has a lot to learn about rural life. The connection between the two is Esme, played by Kelly Van Der Burg in her Drayton debut. She does a great job exasperating the audience with her stubbornness, while also drawing sympathy as her story unfolds.
The set is remarkable, in that an entire farm house with a wrap-around porch is on the relatively small stage, with lighting that creates the ambience of dappled sunlight through the trees. The show is directed by Lee MacDougall, with set design by Meaghan Carpentier and lighting by Lyle Franklin.
Buying the Farm isn’t one of Drayton Entertainment’s big splashy musicals or big-ticket dramas. It’s a fun, introspective look at modern farm life through the lens of one family’s challenges that reflect what many farmers are going through right now.
Buying the Farm has various afternoon and evening shows at the Drayton Festival Theatre until July 16. Call the box office at 519-747-7788 or toll-free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866) or online at draytonentertainment.com.
