sewn paper
Drama
1976
120 pages
ISBN 0-88984-016-4
$3.95
Baldoon
James Reaney and C.H. Gervais
`Following the text of Baldoon, James Reaney and Marty Gervais have thoughtfully
caused to be printed an "Appendix Incorporating Scholary Apparatus for the use
of EDUCATORS." And of REVIEWERS, one might add. One hopes that audiences are provided
with similar assistance, and time to absorb it before the performance begins. Both
audiences and readers need all the help they can get to digest the rich mixture of
Baldoon.
`The basic ingredient, as in Reaney's trilogy about the Donnellys, is local history.
In Baldoon, near Wallaceburg, Ontario, a nineteenth-century farm family suffered a long
series of supernatural visitations, ranging from the usual poltergeist tricks to fires
and visions. Various efforts at exorcism failed. Finally, driven nearly to despair,
the farmer obtained the services of a doctor and his psychic daughter from Long Point
on Lake Erie and, following instructions, shot the wing of the stray goose in his flock
with a silver bullet, thus causing the witch who was the source of the trouble to break
her arm and be both identified and rendered powerless. It's a good yarn, and Reaney, a
vigorous opponent of soulless modernity, likes to believe it is true. The printed text of the
play is occasionally embellished with Victorian typography which helps establish the feeling
of the dusty archives and Goodwill Shops Reaney explored to find his story. His commitment
to local history as the raw material of drama is now firmly established.' `Readers will recognize this as a typical Reaney play. In the 1830s at Baldoon settlement near
Wallaceburg, Ontario, a house was haunted by various phenomena: the sound of marching, bullets
and stones which passed through walls without leaving holes, pots and pans that flew about the
kitchen. This bit of history is the basis for Reaney's tale of John McTavish who forsook his
love, Jane Pharlan, for a rich widow. But old Mrs Pharlan prostituted Jance to him, resulting
in a baby girl. Jane died; the child was taken from Mrs Pharlan who was excommunicated as a
witch; and unknown to anyone but McTavish, the child has grown up in his home as an adopted
orphan. When his house becomes haunted and the local religious authorities cannot help,
McTavish, with the threat of excommunication now over his head, visits Dr Troyer -- a Dutch
witchfinder. He forces McTavish to see that unless the truth is revealed, he and his family
will have no peace. To complicate matters, the solution is tied up with a rivalry between
two conflicting religious attitudes: dour repressive Presbyterians, of whom McTavish and
Mrs Pharlan are part, and the joyous love of God characteristic of the Tunkards, whom
Troyer represents. Finally Troyer wins out; Mrs Pharlan is exposed as a witch; McTavish
confesses his past.
`The action unfolds in episodic scenes illuminated by a legion of inventive devices:
puppets, a miniature witchhouse complete with McTavish's poltergists, model birds symbolic
of people's souls, significant songs and other effects. But in some ways it reads better
than it plays, which points to Reaney's poetic and theatrical rather than dramatic imagination.'
- Canadian Literature
- Canadian Book Review Annual
James Reaney, circa 1976
Baldoon is one of only two Porcupine's Quill publications from the 1970s that are still available in the original edition, at the original price.