One-woman show in Medicine Hat a labour of love for Maple Creek lead

The show presents a daunting task for its , capturing the attention of audiences with no other cast members to rely on.

The Medicine Hat Musical Theatre put on six showings of Shirley Valentine, with Heather MacNab playing the lone, lively character.

Performing a play on one’s own can be difficult enough, memorizing two hours of dialogue in the case of this particular production.

MacNab herself made the trip from her home in Maple Creek, Sask., which adds another level of complication to the already daunting role.

“It’s a huge commitment. You know, I practice every day and have done so for a long, long time. And then I have said no to all of my commitments this fall,” she told CHAT News.

“It’s kind of convenient to have a good reason to just say no to all of your commitments. But I have because there isn’t room in my life for anything other than this. It’s a big show,” she added.

“It’s two hours of me talking all by myself in a different time zone with a drive home afterwards. And having that much focus on one thing for that length of time, I can’t be distracted by any other things.”

MacNab explained how she originally performed the same play at the Jasper Cultural and Historical Centre in Maple Creek in 2020.

She said that this time around is still a big undertaking, but she finds that she only improves with each night of showing.

“Practice is the answer to everything. Practice is what it’s all about,” she said.

“When a thought comes into your head, you let it go and you focus harder on what you’re talking about and on how you feel about it and who Shirley is and stay in there.”

Heather MacNab portraying the character Shirley Valentine during a performance. Carolyn Freeman/Medicine Hat Musical Theatre

MacNab said that she appreciates the sense of community a larger theatre like Medicine Hat’s brings.

“It’s loads of fun to do it there. When you live in a small town, you do a lot of things alone, or a lot of the things I do, I’m the one in charge of everything,” she said.

“So I love going there, and other people are in charge, and I get to just do myself, my one thing. And it’s been lovely to get there and collaborate with these people,” she added.

“They’ve done so much in this short time since the previous show ended. And it’s great to collaborate with them and be with other people that love the theater.”

Shirley Valentine made its run at the Medicine Hat Musical Theatre from Nov. 29 to Dec. 7.

by Jayk Sterkenburg

One-woman show in Medicine Hat a labour of love for Maple Creek lead

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