"The Heart that Knows" presented by Live Bait Theatre

July 22-27, starting at 8:00 p.m.

On the stage of Live Bait Theatre in Sackville, New Brunswick, the lights will come up on the world premiere of “The Heart that Knows,” a musical adaptation by playwright Charlie Rhindress and composer Dean Burry of the classic Canadian novel written by Sir Charles G. D. Roberts in 1906. Although far from the bright lights of Toronto, Montreal, or Halifax, the launch is a landmark event for Live Bait, a professional theatre company that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

“The introduction of new Canadian plays has always been one of our priorities,” explains Live Bait artistic director Karen Valanne. “We’re really thrilled this year to be premiering a work that has so much resonance for the Atlantic region.”

Rhindress and Burry, who have collaborated on two previous musicals, “Under the Night” and “Home and Away,” have accomplished more than a simple re-telling of Roberts’ tale of separation and reunion on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. While respecting the literary integrity of the original, their translation of “The Heart that Knows” from the page to the stage is a genuinely new addition to the body of Canadian theatrical literature.

“The idea of a stage version was suggested to me about 15 years ago by Dr. Charles Scobie, a professor at Mount Allison University and a keen Roberts enthusiast,” recalls Rhindress. “This year, with Sackville’s designation as one of Canada’s Cultural Capitals for 2008, funding became available to write and produce the play.”

“It was a challenge to fit a sprawling novel with dozens of characters into the tight time frame of a theatrical performance,” he continues, “but we’ve done it. Through multiple casting, just seven actors convincingly re-create an entire 19th century Maritime community. Dean’s songs reinforce this with folk-like melodies and lyrics that echo Roberts’ poetic style and Jennie Wood, as music director, has done a great job of arranging them for a five-piece instrumental ensemble.”

“This is an epic love story, which means it starts with a basic human appeal,” says director Mary Ellen MacLean during a break in rehearsals. “It combines multiple dynamic opposites: devotion and betrayal, shipboard romance and adventure on the high seas, vengeance and redemption. It’s a memory play, with the action spread over a period of twenty years. The use of dramatic flashbacks and flash-forwards invites a highly impressionistic staging.”

MacLean, an experienced professional actor and director, was a founding member of the Halifax-based physical comedy troupe Jest in Time. She credits her experience as a physical performer with helping to visualize a variety of shifting emotional atmospheres on the minimalist set that Vickie Marston has designed for “The Heart that Knows.”

A strong cast, with accomplished performers Deb Allen, Sarah English, John Allen MacLean, Michael McPhee, Shayne Taylor, and Meredith Zwicker, brings a sense of confidence and purpose to the production. Joining them for his professional debut is Dakota MacLean, 12 years old and a veteran of the Live Bait Young Company.

Although the play is set in the late 1800s, it has a contemporary flavour. Dr. Carrie MacMillan, professor of English Literature at Mount Allison, has always been struck “by the liberal views that Roberts expressed in his novel. His heroine is a young woman who, according to the values of the day, has transgressed against community standards. Yet, he makes it clear that she is wholly justified in her decision while her persecutors are the moral hypocrites.”

Dr. MacMillan, for whom early Maritime literature is a particular research interest, applauds the decision to adapt “The Heart that Knows” to the stage.

“This kind of cultural innovation is a vital way of keeping key themes from our past alive for present and future generations,” she says. “I think it’s very adventurous of Live Bait to undertake such an important project.”

“The Heart that Knows” runs July 17-20 and July 22-27, starting at 8:00 p.m. For further information, contact the theatre box office at (506) 536-2248.