By Sally Cole | Saltwire | Posted July 4, 2023
VICTORIA, P.E.I. — When I sat down to talk to Johanna Nutter about the summer season at Victoria Playhouse, a warm, happy feeling swept over me.
It felt like deja vu.
Memories of Johanna standing on the pier at Victoria-By-The-Sea as Shirley Valentine, dressed in a yellow silk robe, flowered shirt and wide-brimmed hat, washed over me as I took photos for the story I was writing for The Guardian.
It was so much fun.
The play was a hit that summer, drawing thousands of people to Victoria Playhouse to see the Willy Russell story about a Liverpool housewife, Mrs. Bradshaw, who is fed up with the drudgery of her own life and takes a transforming holiday in Greece where she finds her new persona, Shirley Valentine.
15 years later
Fast forward 15 years, Nutter is reprising the title role.
“Now I’m at the same age as Shirley, and I understand her more deeply,” says the actress who is thrilled to perform the one-woman-show at Victoria Playhouse, July 5-23 and Sept. 6-17.
Just like her character, Nutter knows the feelings of invisibility and isolation that women experience as they age.
“It’s like the Wicked Witch (of the West) in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ when she says, ‘I’m melting!’ Where did I go?”
She also has some good things to say about aging – like enjoying her own company and feeling confident about her accumulated experience as an actor, director and playwright.
She has performed in 13 different roles at Victoria Playhouse and in hundreds of productions across North America and Europe. With her increased confidence, Nutter is broadening her horizons. After buying a house in Breadalbane, she divides her time between Prince Edward Island and Montreal.
Nutter is also the new artistic director at Victoria Playhouse.
“It’s a lot of on-the-job training – trying to figure out the job while doing it.”
She hopes to follow in the footsteps of the late Erskine Smith, the theatre’s founding artistic director and her mentor.
“Erskine taught me more than anyone else about how to be an actor and how to entertain.
“For me, that’s the torch I’m carrying – to try to be as significant in other people’s lives as Erskine was in mine, to understand when people have a desire to be involved in live performance and to give that room.”
At a glance
Following is the Victoria Playhouse Festival Lineup for 2023:
- “Shirley Valentine” – directed by Robert Tsonos, July 5-23 and Sept. 6-17.
- “The Good Time Radio Show” – Aug. 2-27.
- Pride Weekend, July 29- 30.
- Tree Huggers Ball, a cabaret series on Aug. 8, 15, 22.
- Poetry Night in Canada – Aug 20.
- “Empire of the Sun” – Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.
- Monday Night Concerts featuring Alicia Toner, July 10, Morgan Davis, July 17, Lorne Elliott, Aug. 7, Andru Branch and Halfway Tree, Aug. 14, Jeannie and Charles, Aug. 21, Jabbour, Aug. 28
- For more information, visit online.