The UPEI Sun, Novenber .26,‘ 1981,  6- 
     
    
   
   
    
     GheStertOn I 
     
    
   
   
    
     By Pamela Shaw 
     
    

    
     Last wednesday and 
     
     Thursday the faculty and 
     
     students at UPEI were 
     
     treated to a two day 
     
     visit by the talented 
     
     Tony van Bridge. His 
     
     trip centred upon his 
     
     performance wednesday 
     
     night as the early ‘ 
     
     'Uventieth century 
     
     author G.K. Chesterton, 
     
     but also included a 
     
     seminar, 'Koffee Klatchv 
     
     and a banquet. 
     
    

    
     Mr. van Bridge, a 
     
     British actor who has 
     
     worked on and off in 
     
     Canada since l954, 
     
     presented his acclained 
     
     one—man show in the 
     
     Duffy Amphitheatre at 
     
     8:00 wednesday night 
     
     to a large and enthUsiastic 
     
     audience. It began with 
     
     an orginal flourish when 
     
     Mr. van Bridge entered 
     
     as himself, wearing a 
     
     tuxedo and an apologetic . 
     
     look, gravely explaining 
     
     that there was a serious 
     
     problem, but the "show 
     
     must go on".' A good 
     
     number of the audience 
     
     fell for this, actually 
     
     becoming anxious for the 
     
     problem to be solved. 
     
     Then, as Mr. van Bridge 
     
     smiled, he showed he had- 
     
     fooled them by saying 
     
     the problem was the fact 
     
     that G.K. Chesterton had 
     
     not yet arrived; he had 
     
     probably missed his bus 
     
     or train. But, as Chester— 
     
     ton said, "The only way 
     
     to catch a train is to 
     
     Kiss the one innediately 
     
     before." 
     
    

    
     The novelty of the 
     
     Opening continued as Mr. 
     
     Van Bridge chatted 
     
     merrily with the audience 
     
     While taking off his 
     
     tuxedo, donning wool 
     
     padding to give more of 
     
     an idea of Chesterton's 
     
    

    
     , large form, then putting 
     
     on a suit of comparable 
     
     size. While he used 
     
    
   
   
    
     spirit gum to apply a 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     r 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     walrous moustache and 
     
     a pice-nez, he told an 
     
     amusing little anecdote 
     
     about how George Bernard 
     
    
   
   
    
     Shaw once prodded CheSter—> 
     
    
   
   
    
     ton in his ample 
     
    

    
     stomach and asked, "What 
     
     are you going to call it?" 
     
     Chesterton replied, 
     
    

    
     "Well, if it is a girl, 
     
     Elizabeth. If it is a 
     
     boy, Gilbert Keith. 
     
    

    
     But if it is only wind, 
     
    
   
   
    
     - I'll name-it George. 
     
     _Bernard.Shaw.V 
     
    
   
   
    
     And, 
     
     after he finished telling 
     
     the story, he straightened 
     
     up and the audience saw 
     
     that Tony Van Bridge was 
     
     no longer before them, 
     
     but now G.K. Chesterton 
     
     was in their company. ‘ 
     
     Enchanted by the trans—- 
     
     fornation, the audience 
     
     burst into spontaneous 
     
     applause. 
     
    

    
     The majority of the 
     
     first act centered on 
     
     Chesterton's essays, 
     
     including "What I Found 
     
     In My Pocket", a very 
     
     pleasing piece which 
     
     discussed the veritable 
     
     treasure trove one finds 
     
    
   
   
    
     occasionally in one's 
     
     poCket. 
     
     essay was titled "TWelve 
     
     Men", a rather tongue- 
     
     in-check look at how the 
     
     judicial system has a few 
     
     quirks to it, considering 
     
     the fact that they have 
     
     to get men outside the 
     
     law in order to\have 
     
    

    
     a jury and get things 
     
     done. ' 
     
    

    
     Throughout the 
     
     various essays presented, 
     
     Mr. Van Bridge took . 
     
     advantege of Chesterton's 
     
     observant and amusing 
     
     remarks or "one-liners" 
     
     to either fill in the 
     
     space between essays 
     
     (into which he led the 
     
     audience smoothly) or to 
     
    
   
   
    
     ‘just throw out something 
     
     7 for the audience to_laugh 
     
    
   
   
    
     at. One such quip 
     
     cane when, in his 
     
     character's clumsiness, 
     
    
   
   
    
     .he knocked a paperback 
     
    
   
   
    
     book off the table, then 
     
    
   
   
    
     .picked it up to show it 
     
     .was a typiCal criminal 
     
    
   
   
    
     thriller, the kind.with 
     
     a lurid looking corpse 
     
     on the back. He showed 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     r . a . . . . K _ - p 
     
    
   
   
    
     A’ 
     
    
   
   
    
     Chrms PEI . 
     
    
   
   
    
     Burg noq 11H eurqsnbnv Aq oqoqd 
     
    
   
   
    
     Another interesting 
     
    
   
   
    
     fluetqbneqoew ppcm KquOqoqd 
     
    
   
   
    
     this to the audience, 
     
     then said it was the 
     
     usual "whodunit" : "On 
     
     one side there's someone 
     
     shot, and On the back 
     
     they tell the plot." 
     
     'After.a brief 
     
     intermission, Mr. van 
     
     Bridge returned to read 
     
     a story calledl"The Blue 
     
     Cross," which was _ ' 
     
     seleCted from Chesterton's 
     
     novel The Innocence of 
     
     Father Brown. It was 
     
     quite a feat to keep the 
     
     audience interested for 
     
     thirty-five minutes, but 
     
    
   
   
    
     '.Mr. Van Bridge did it 
     
    
   
   
    
     with apparent ease, 
     
     althodgh he later 
     
     cormented it was the 
     
     Host physically exhaust- 
     
     ing segment of the show. 
     
     The story was a bit 
     
     cenfusing, to make a 
     
     lrdld understatement, and 
     
     it was not until the end 
     
     of the story that everyone 
     
     understood the plot. 
     
    
   
   
    
     .This story ended the 
     
     ‘ perfbruance and Mr. Van 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bridge was treated to 
     
     a well earned burst of 
     
     .applause. 
     
    

    
     The next day Mr. 
     
    
   
   
    
     van Bridge attended a 
     
    
   
   
    
     "koffee klatch" to 
     
    

    
     just sit and chat with 
     
     interested persons, and 
     
     this turned into another 
     
     enjoyable sessions. The 
     
     topics ranged from G.K. 
     
    
   
   
    
     "*Chesterton to the 
     
    
   
   
    
     evolution of Canadian: 
     
     Theatre to radio drama 
     
    

    
     or the "wireless". There 
     
     was a wide variety of 
     
     people attending the 
     
     meeting in the Chaplaincy 
     
     centre, and perhaps this 
     
     was one reason for the 
     
     highly interesting and 
     
     diverse discussion. Mr. 
     
     Van Bridge, is seated, 
     
     has the sane dry sense of 
     
     humour as Chesterton,l ‘ 
     
     and his colourful wit 
     
    
   
   
    
     ' helped make the casusal ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     chat session another 
     
     enjoyable event.' ' - 
     
     Finally, at 12:30 p;m., 
     
     on Thursday, Mr. van ' 
     
     Bridge was the guest of~’ 
     
     honour at a banquet , 
     
     held by the St. Dunstan's 
     
     Board of Governors, 
     
     attended by a collection‘ 
     
     of profesSors from the 
     
     *English”Department-as 
     
     well as a grbup of if" 
     
    
   
   
    
     ~5Ehgli$h3majors.”<§he. 
     
    
   
   
    
     dinner was capped by a 
     
     sort of *"off the cuff" , 
     
     speech by Mr. van' ,/ 
     
     Bridge. Who entertained 
     
     the diners with a-20 
     
     minute talk laced with 
     
     nore of his engaging Wit- 
     
     Apparently someone had ' . 
     
     apoloqized for the,rainy/ 
     
    
   
   
    
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