Not Anne, but my favourite and well-worn LM Montgomery books
Anne and Maud – what “real” Canadian girl doesn’t already know where this blog post is going just by those three words! This is a modern-day story of a number of things that had to fall into place to make magic happen.
Canadian school girls grow up on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s wonderful Anne of Green Gables stories.And while personally, I was more partial to her Pat of Silver Bush stories, Anne Shirley, with her carrot-red hair and imagination was always a wonder to me. When she smashed a slate over Gilbert Blythe’s head, I think we all cheered. And the fact that they eventually became love interests and then married in future books made us swoon.
But what does this Prince Edward Island book series, the first of which is set around the turn of the century, have to do with anything today?
Let me start at the beginning I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with a friend of mine, the incredibly talented Marion Abbott. Marion is one of those wild, wacky music and theatre people, full of enthusiasm, energy and encouragement who you hang around with hoping some of it will rub off on you (just some though – the way she goes from idea to idea almost like the shiny ball in a pinball machine would exhaust me!).
Marion was bubbling with excitement about her latest project. She’s founded the Spirit of Maud Theatre Company to stage adaptations of LM Montgomery’s writing and productions to reflect her spirit. In just under a month’s time, the company’s first production – Conversations With The Ladies Of Lucy Maud Montgomery will open. Marion has collected and edited a number of conversations and monolouges from all eight books in the Green Gables series. Remember Mrs. Rachel Lynde? Phillipa Gordon? Even Anne Shirley herself will come to life in these conversations.
That in itself is pretty amazing, but the backstory makes you question if anything ever happens by coincidence, or if someone is carefully plying our puppet strings from the catwalk of our stage of life.
So. Marion, a true Anne “freak” spent a whole summer a few years ago pulling together this series of “conversations” from the Green Gables books with the idea of compiling them into a book. After an official publisher’s rejection (everyone has to have at least one), she began thinking of staging them instead. In her spare time (I have no idea how she has any of that!), she also poured over LM Montgomery’s journals and developed a second play and ideas for more.
While all of this was going on,she happened to get a new job where a new colleague put Marion in touch with Norval United Church – a church not far from Brampton (who knew!) where LM Montgomery’s husband had been a minister. She went up, got the “Maud tour” and asked for ideas on a suitable location to stage her ideas, not knowing what might be available. The minister, thinking his church wasn’t the right place, suggested another local church as a possibility. Marion took the bull by the horns, contacted St. Paul’s Anglican Church and headed back up to Norval just to meet another complete stranger, just days later.
The hall at St. Paul’s, which she knew was perfect immediately upon seeing it turns out to be – are you ready for this? – the very location that LM Montgomery staged her own productions when she was part of Norval’s Dramatic Society.
And the stranger-no-more that Marion met there? She turns out to be one of the women in Norval who oversee all things LM Montgomery legacy-related in the town: from a commemorative garden and tours to a museum and other endeavours. So an unofficial partnership was formed and the two women started thinking about tourism tie-ins and other “Maud” activities. How cool!
Never one to think small, Marion’s got her sights set on a series of productions, publishing and maybe even staging some of her works on Prince Edward Island, the home of all things Anne. Marion embodies the passion and zest of Anne Shirley with a completely modern twist, so if anyone can do it, she can.
Interested in learning more? Check out Spirit of Maud Theatre Company’s website or Facebook page.
And while you’re thinking back to days of Anne, tell me: Who’s your favourite LM Montgomery character?
