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Penticton students tackle dark themes in Oliver

Penticton Secondary School’s theatre program brings to the stage Oliver
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Students in the theatre program at Penticton Secondary School are putting on Oliver, running April 25 to 27. Left to right, Ashley Docherty, orphan, Josephine Kay, Oliver, and Julia McKibbon, as Bet. Tara Bowie/Western News

The idea of playing a character of the opposite sex piqued a graduating Penticton Secondary School student’s interest and focused on pursuing the lead role in Oliver even before auditions started.

Josephine Kay, Grade 12, said she had hoped she would land the starring role in the theatre program’s year-end production opening April 25 at the Cleland Theatre.

When she was offered the role, she knew right away she would play it the way it was traditionally written.

The other lead Hailey Sargeant, also a Grade 12 student, opted to play the character as a female version named Olivia to mix things up.

“Obviously, I’m not an 11-year-old boy. I like the challenge. It gives me a great opportunity to try something very different,” she said. “I also felt that when you change things it changes the story a bit. It isn’t as true to the original story and makes some of the storylines a little awkward.”

All the roles in the production are double cast and each cast takes turns over the run of the show.

This is Kay’s first large role in a Penticton Secondary production, but audience goers might recognize her from other school productions including Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland. She was also in the Soundstage production of Evita. She’s also a part of the school’s choir and studies at the Aidan Mayes school of music. She plans to pursue theatre arts in post-secondary next year.

“There’s choreography this year in Oliver. I’m not a dancer so that’s a great experience for me. This one is different. The orphans are kind of the chorus. Usually, we just have the mains kind of singing but this year we really have a chorus so there isn’t just a bunch of solos or duets. There’s a bunch of different singers on all the songs and there’s an orchestra, which is really fun and adds so much to it,” she said.

Ashley Docherty, a Grade 10 student in the production, has several roles one of them where she performs with three others in a round song about selling at the market.

“I”m a little nervous about it,” she said. “But, it’s a great opportunity and it’s a lot of fun.”

Docherty plays an orphan, strawberry seller and matron.

“They’re all really different. The orphan is obviously kind of dirty and wearing ripped clothes. The seller is really dirty because she’s working at the market and trying to get people to sell things and then matron is kind of cleaner because she has a job and works for someone,” she said.

Julia McKibbon, another Grade 10 student who has a larger part in the production for a younger student, said her character has a dark theme.

“Bet is a younger girl that is kind of being mentored by Nancy who is a prostitute. She deals with a lot of things and there’s kind of a part where Oliver has a crush on Bet so that’s interesting,” she said.

The play includes a lot of dark themes from homelessness, death, prostitution and illegal business activities. But, the students think that audiences will leave the production with a sense that there is a lot to be grateful for.

“It’s a period piece so it’s kind of a look back. People can think they have things bad now but really when you think about it those people had it so much worse. There are people who struggle and don’t have a lot of money but they might still have a roof over their head — not everyone obviously but most people do. It’s just when you think you have it bad just think about how bad they had it,” Kay said.

Andrew Knudsen, the theatre production teacher, said students chose the play for the year.

“I give them a few options and then let them decide. This is what they chose. I think it’s kind of normal. Kids are seeing darker things and they want to do a production that has darker themes not just this fantasy, optimistic, high energy show.”

About 60 students in the theatre program are part of the production from acting to lighting and sound. Other students in the school are helping with marketing and promotions, set design and as part of the orchestra.

“There are about 100 students that are part of this. We’re so lucky to have the orchestra led by Justin Glibbery as part of this production. It adds such a great component and the audience is going to really enjoy it.”

Kay, Docherty, and McKibbon are part of the first cast of the production, which opens April 25 at 7 p.m in Cleland Theatre and also will perform the matinee on April 27 at noon. The second cast will perform April 26 and 27 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be bought at the school, Banks Travel and at the door.