THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF BERNICE TRIMBLE
by Beth Graham
(March 7-29, 2025)
Directed by Valary Cook
Producers: Anne Harper and Debbie Krulicki
Another wonderful show is now over!
Brit Kennedy as Iris
Drea Burck as Bernice
Julia Hendrik as Sarah
Matthew Taylor as Peter
THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF BERNICE TRIMBLE is now over. Here are some reviews by audience members:
• “This was the most remarkable play I have seen in many, many years. The performances were up to the calibre of the writing and, to be honest, I am still processing the emotional rollercoaster it produced in me. It’s the best production I have seen in my 7 years of attending Village Players.”
• “I was so so impressed with everyone’s performance. It’s such a well written show and really something to relate to for everyone.”
• “The play handles complex issues sensitively and it was very well done. The performers, the staging and everything was right on.”
• “an impressive afternoon. To say I enjoyed the play is not exactly true. I was totally impressed with it. Inspired a lot of reflective thinking.”
• “I attended The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble today. I was very moved by your performances. The subject matter is not a comfortable one but the play brought out so many sides of the issue. I saw myself and my siblings and my Mom and even my kids in the characters that you portrayed. So many triggers with regard to what I am going through in my own life – and so very well done! I cried quietly through the whole thing. You touched me to the core. Thank you for an excellent production. Well done! ”
• This play was very entertaining and quite tearful toward the end. The actors did a superb job in this production with such a difficult subject. We have all been touched by Alzheimers/Dementia to a greater or lesser degree. Thank you for all your efforts. I highly recommend everyone see this production.”
• “can recommend! The cast is very good but Brit Kennedy is on stage for 90 minutes with no intermission and carries it! Very moving show.”
Production photos by Sangeeta Boondoo
About the play:
This play is really a story about Iris Trimble, Bernice’s daughter, who is trying to hold it all together and may very well fly off the face of the earth if she doesn’t hang on to the kitchen counter. At least that’s how she feels after her mother, Bernice, a lively, recently widowed fifty-five-year-old breaks the news that she has early onset Alzheimer’s.
In an effort to cope with the stress, Iris makes her mother’s famous Everything-That-Is-Bad-For-You casserole, a childhood favourite. Her siblings, on the other hand, show very different responses to this news. As for Bernice, she’s still as vivacious as ever, always up for a good laugh, and, most of all, ready to finally put herself first.
The play premiered at Toronto’s Factory Theatre, and was nominated for the 2015 Governor Generals Award, as well as the 2016/17 Sterling Award and a Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama.
About Beth Graham, the playwright:
Beth Graham is an actor and playwright born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and raised in Cochrane, Alberta. She graduated from the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Fine Arts acting program in 1998. She has acted in The Glass Menagerie, Strawberries in January (Globe Theatre), Summer of My Amazing Luck (Theatre Network), and Nevermore (Catalyst Theatre), andThe Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (Citadel Theatre), amongst others.
She was a co-founder of Bent Out of Shape Productions, a company dedicated to voicing and expressing ideas and issues that are not only important to the collaborators in the company, but ones that challenge the community and create strong roles for women in theatre. She is also one of the co-creators of The Drowning Girls, a play that toured across Canada and continues to be produced nationally and internationally. Beth lives in Edmonton with her husband Patrick and their Pomeranian Oscar.
About Valary Cook, the director:
Valary honed her directing skills over thirty years as a teacher of Dramatic Arts in west end Toronto high schools: such musicals as Into the Woods, Godspell, Peter Pan, Camelot, The Baker’s Wife, and plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, You Can’t Take It with You, and The Crucible. She also branched out into community theatre at BurlOak Theatre, several plays for Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival – and one previous play on our own stage: How to Hunt a Woolly Mammoth in Village Players’ Sweets and Treats in 2011. Not content with that, she studied directing with Richard Rose of Tarragon Theatre in 2014.
Village Players’ production of Late Company – directed by Valary – won best drama at the ACT-CO gala in 2019, along with best set design and 5 nominations including for her direction. The play went on to the Theatre Ontario Festival that year, where we won awards for Valary’s direction and outstanding performance in a leading role as well as 3 honourable mentions. In 2023, Valary directed The Fighting Days for Village Players and Innocence Lost: A play about Steven Truscott for Scarborough Theatre Guild.
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