Caledon Town Hall Players Present: The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon

By Constance Scrafield

The Brothers Grimm are attributed with 209 stories.

As Spectaculathon zips through them, 14 cast members playing 40 roles at the Caledon Town Hall Players (CTHP) are ready to rocket audiences through a hilarious couple of hours of fun.

The show is on at the theatre in Caledon Village over the weekend of September 7 to 8 and 13 to 14.

“This is part of our September Series,” CTHP director Chris Bailey told the Citizen this week.

The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon is a free-form comedy, as he explained, a “cool style of comedy, a little panto – character work and improv, where actors play multiple roles.”

The September series, like fringe theatre, is an opportunity to do shows that are different from their regular season of mystery, and comedy plays, usually with smaller casts of defined roles.

“We were looking for something to give our audiences a show that is different and, for our actors, a different creative opportunity to have some fun and even to be silly,” he said.

There is such a wealth of inspiration from the Grimm fairy tales. They are not Disney but edgier and darker. The material is pretty light but there is a darker side and a variety of characters thrown in together. The actors go from a prince to a wolf, a talking fish; some are single lines and others are speeches. Drama and comedy are parts of it, but definitely packaged up in a different kind of theatre for the audiences.

CTHP's scheduling is typically two weekends of Saturday and Sunday matinee and evening performances, taking away the Friday performance. Opening with a Saturday matinee, with a good crowd sets the tone for the whole run, Bailey pointed out.

Rehearsals have run through the summer. 

“Theatre is a hobby just like sports,” he remarked. “Audiences don't always think of the hours involved, but like any sports, you work with your teammates and people share this great hobby. As a community theatre, we also provide engagement with our members.”

Two lead roles are Narrator One and Narrator Two, and Bailey likes this consistent factor.

The narrators guide and present the stories, keeping the audience and even the actors on track.

The stories actually jump back and forth between the actors and the audience.

“There so many things I like but that makes it shine,” he said. “When I read the show, I said I would love to direct this. The narrators really keep it on track.”

The comedy in Spectaculathon is not particularly slapstick but more pantomime.

“Slapstick is different comedy but loses the drama,” he observed. 

The show's biggest draw is the revamped traditional fairy tales.

People like surprises, we were told, and Chris Bailey knows this show is going to surprise everybody – it still surprises him.

There is the possibility to go over the top and as director, Bailey had to make his cast feel safe, to bring them back. It is okay during rehearsal to go over the top but to stop and review, to grab the motivation, and keep it just right at the top.

“You need to push that,” as he knows. 

There is a BBQ between two shows on September 7 to welcome audience members and get to know their community.

After the matinee, people can stick around or come early for the meal before the evening show.

Buy the BBQ through ticket sales. Theatre members will come out and reconnect with the patrons.

Tickets are on sale now at caledontownhallplayers.com/online-ticket-orders/ or by calling (519) 927-5460.