Marking Walt Wingfield's 40th anniversary

Rod Beattie, Doug Beattie and Dan Needles of the Wingfield Farm series.

It was 1984 at the Orange Hall in the Village of Rosemont, Ont. Three lifelong pals were about to introduce a Canadian theatrical institution. They had no idea at the time.  

"We just wanted to put on the best play we could to please ourselves and those who showed up to see it," producer and director Doug Beattie said, reflecting on that first performance. 

Stratford's Rod Beattie gives life and voice to Walt Wingfield and his farm neighbours.  

The play, written by Dan Needles, was Letter from Wingfield Farm about a Toronto stockbroker who gives up his plush job to buy a farm in the fictional southwestern Ontario Township of Persephone.

The play was based on columns Needles wrote for two local weeklies. Today he is recognized as one of Canada's pre-eminent playwrights and a sage of village life in Canada. He continues to work his 40-acre farm in Simcoe County, writes books and magazine articles, and does public speaking about rural life. Needles points out in his latest book, Finding Larkspur, that the Wingfield Chronicles are the longest series of stage plays in Canadian theatrical history.

An acclaimed actor, Rod Beattie acted in more than 50 plays at the Stratford Festival over 18 seasons and is approaching 5,000 performances of the Wingfield plays across Canada.  

Many of the Wingfield characters Needles created were based on his farm neighbours. They were in the audience that first night in Rosemont. They were pleased to be part of the Wingfield scene.  

"If we have a run of bad luck, Danny takes it and turns it into a funny story," writes Alvin Currie, farmer and market gardener, in a blurb for Finding Larkspur book.

Letter from Wingfield Farm enjoyed success around southwestern Ontario after its debut but the epiphany came about two years after following a call from Miles Potter, the artistic director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, B.C.

"I was sceptical," said Rod, "What interest could a B.C. audience have in a play set in southwestern Ontario farm country?"  

Plenty, as it turned out.

Over a four-week run, it played to over 100 per cent capacity. The Belfry was in deep financial difficulty at the time. The play pulled it back from the brink and, reflecting on the success after his initial scepticism, Rod Beattie said "I realized that western farmers who didn't go bankrupt retired to Victoria."

Rod Beattie told Needles and Doug Beattie they needed a trilogy of plays. Needles wrote two more and continued until the Wingfield portfolio reached seven plays.  

In 2022, Rod Beattie performed all seven on consecutive weeks for the first time to sold out audiences at the Stratford Perth Museum, produced and directed by his brother, Doug Beattie.  

The plays have been performed in venues across Canada from Halifax to Victoria. They have been especially welcomed in rural communities across the country.  

Both Needles and Rod Beattie were made members of the Order of Canada for their services to Canadian theatre. Both of their citations noted their contribution for helping to develop live theatre outside the big cities. Needles was also awarded a Stephen Leacock Medal for his book With Axe and Flax, a History of Persephone Township.  

That the three continue working together after four decades is unique in the theatrical community. Twenty years ago, Needles observed that "at this stage, Gilbert and Sullivan were only communicating through their lawyers.”  

Their relationship actually goes back a lot further. They grew up together in mid-town Toronto, worked summers in and around the Needles family farm and, at university, appeared together in a production of Hamlet.  

Needles created a rural Canadian version of Camelot, Doug Beattie directs and Rod Beattie has played every date of the Wingfield plays.

As Rod Beattie prepares to perform his adaptation of A Christmas Carol next month at the Stratford Perth Museum, he reflects on his relationship with Walt Wingfield and the people of Persephone Township.

"I've always felt a slightly pacific joyfulness about going to Persephone Township for a while and taking other people with me," he said. "It's a good place and a healing place."

Tickets for Rod Beattie's adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with six performances over the Dec. 14 and 21 weekends, are available through the Stratford Perth Museum website.  

Needles' book, Finding Larkspur A Return to Village Life is available at Fanfare Books in Stratford.