This year the Beothuck Street Players hosted the Provincial Drama Festival in St. John's from June 24 - 29, 2002. Our Festival Production was a main stage adaptation of David Holman's "Drink the Mercury" by Fred Hawksley. Fred also directed the play.

This story of the infamous "Minamata Outbreak", in which mercury poisoning from a polluting multinational factory hit the people of a Japanese fishing village, focuses on the family of 9-year-old Ioka who succumbed to what has come to be known as "Minamata Disease". The story chronicles the struggle of the people of Minamata Bay in exacting justice and compensation for this ecological and human tragedy. "Human suffering and legal wrangling still continues 40 years after the Minamata pollution incident." This play is heavily influenced by Japanese theatre forms of Noh and Kabuki and blends images of Japan that are recognisable to a western audience. This is an important and powerful metaphor for contemporary environmental issues.

The production received several awards at this year's festival:

Winner of Awards for ...
	Best Visual Presentation - Fred Hawksley
	Excellence in Lighting Design - Clar Doyle
	Imagination and Excellence in Sound - Rob Power
	Best Supporting Actress - Jacinta Mackey-Graham
	Best Stage Management - Katherine Elliott
	Scholarship - Jason Card
Nominations for ...
	Best Supporting Actor - Clar Doyle

Workshops and Auditions

This piece is a highly visual work with exciting acting challenges. In preparation for the festival play, Director Fred Hawksley invited all members of Beothuck Street Players to workshops on mime, movement, and choral speaking he conducted, laying the foundations for the play. These workshops, in addition to preparing actors for the auditions in March, focussed on building the acting skills of our membership.

As mentioned, this play draws on some dimensions of Japanese Noh Theatre. Noh is a classical Japanese performance form which combines elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly aesthetic stage art. For more information, check out the following links: