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GHOST PLAY SPARKS INTEREST IN CITY'S PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
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ounded im 1858, New Westminster is

filled with heritage landmarks, from
the 1865 Irving House-turned-museum on
Royal Avenue to the 1909 Fisheries Build-
ing-turned-Bernie Legge Theatre in Queen’s
Park. With stories of paranormal sightings
and ghostly tales, this city could be just the
haunt you're looking for this Halloween.

At the Bernie Legge Theatre, the Vaga-
bond Players are performing a ghost story
of their own: Elizabeth Elwood’s Body and
Soul. The ghostly romantic comedy follows
writer Timothy Grey (Alex Ross), who is
attempting to write a true crime novel
about a fictional historical figure named
Andrew Fairfax and his three wives, in-
cluding two of their suspicious deaths.

Tim lives in the fictional Fairhaven House in
New Westminster, in an apartment converted
from the Fairfaxes’ bedroom. The room is
supposedly haunted by the ghost of Andrew's
first wife, Mary Fairfax (Jacgollyne Keath).

To help with Tim’s book, his inventor room-
mate, Conrad Bright (Jeremy Heynen),
invents a time machine to bring Mary’s
ghost to present day to ask her questions
about her death. While Tim is out with his
fiancée Laurie McMardle (Heather Evens),
Conrad retrieves Mary’s ghost with the help
of his neighbours, librarian Jenny Brooks
(Tracy Labrosse) and psychic seamstress
Tibby Tailor ¢Alison Main-Tourneur).

The problem is Mary’s ghost refuses
to cooperate with the group and
comes up with a plan of her own.

“She's quite an edgy, out-
spoken lady,” Elwood said.

Mary first appeared in Elwood’s marionette
musical, The Christmas Spirit, which was
performed at the Bernie Legge Theatre in

2003. In the show, a 20th-century family
gathers for Christmas at their English manor,
which is haunted by Mary's ghost. During a
time-travel incident, one of the family members
accidentally brings the living 17th-century Mary
to the future, much to her ghost’s dismay.

“The only resemblance between the marionette
show and Body and Soul is the concept of
time travel bringing back the real person while
the ghost is still present,” said Elwood, who
has been with the Vagabond Players since the
1980s and premiered four plays with them, in-
cluding Body and Soul. “Other than that, and
maybe three or four lines that were lifted from
the marionette show, it’s totally different.”

When Elwood*started rewriting the marion-
ette show into a play in 2014-15, she decided
to change the setting to New Westminster
instead of England in order to include local
references. The change also altered Mary’s
history, which now takes place in the 20th
century instead of the 17th century.

“The history had to be something that
could relate to New Westminster's history.
| couldn’t go back to the 1600s, so | went
back to the early 1900s,” she said. “To
design things of that era, we toured Irving
House and modelled some of the wain-
scoting and style for the set design.”

Jacgollyne Keath voiced Mary in the ori-
ginal marionette musical. She repris-

es her role as both the ghost and living
version of Mary in Body and Soul.

“| have always believed in the supernatural,
so it is fun to play a ghost,” said Keath, who
has been with the Vagabond Players since
the 1990s. “It has been a wonderful oppor-
tunity to make Mary come to life onstage.”

The Bernie Legge Theatre has a long
history of ghostly happenings, which