Robin Craig and Brontae Hunter in Dry Streak. Blyth Festival 2026. Photo by Lyon Smith
By Galen Simmons
If you’ve ever been curious about what it’s like living in small-town Saskatchewan, playwright Leeann Minogue and director Kate Lynch’s production of Dry Streak this season at the Blyth Festival might be the play for you.
Having lived and worked in isolated towns and villages in the middle Prairie province for a year and a half at the beginning of my career, I can tell you this play and this season’s production get it right. The traditional parents, the emphasis on farming, family and community, the only bar in town where everyone drinks a little more than they should, and the newspaper owner who also serves as mayor and an insurance salesman – it’s all there.
Dry Streak tells the story of a family farm struggling to grow anything during one of the hottest, dryest summers on record in 1988. Eldest son, John Richards (Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski), returns home from working in Calgary to work on the farm, and brings with him his new girlfriend, Kate Allen (Brontae Hunter), a worldly, highly educated, punk-rocker vegetarian who is eager to learn the trade of farming and help out where she can before leaving with John on another globetrotting adventure.
While John’s mom, Olive Richards (Robin Craig), and his siblings, Denise Smith (Hallie Seline) and Charlie Richards (Cameron Laurie), are warm and welcoming to Kate despite a few misgivings from Olive about the pair “living in sin,” his dad, Peter Richards (Benedict Campbell), finds he has nothing in common with her and butts heads with John over what he sees as Kate taking John away from the family farm for good.
A drunken, offhand comment by Kate about running naked down Main Street when and if the community ever gets some much-needed rain is blown out of proportion by the town’s mayor and newspaperman, Rob Armstrong (David Kirby), and ultimately turns into a fundraiser to rebuild the town’s beloved and ageing arena. Without giving too much away, Kate ultimately earns the respect of Peter and the whole town and decides to stay and help John and Peter run the farm.
This play is full of surprises, the most exciting of which involves Olive’s character arc and her growth. While she starts as a rather traditional housewife, serving her husband and worrying what the members of the United Church Women group might think about her son’s new girlfriend, her relationship with Kate allows her to see a world outside her community and try new things she never would have considered previously.
For me, the onstage chemistry between Hunter and Craig as Kate and Olive forms the emotional core of this production, as their characters are ultimately responsible for repairing the relationship between father and son and saving the town arena – along with some help from Denise and Charlie for the latter. Both Kate and Olive learn from one another and grow as a result – two very rewarding and well-portrayed character arcs.
I also enjoyed Campbell’s performance as Peter, a generational farmer who relies on his family’s support, and is often disappointed, as he tries to save the family farm amid potentially the most stressful growing season he has ever endured. The character of Kate offers a perfect counterpoint to Peter’s traditional way of life, allowing Campbell to deliver much of this production’s humour.
I should also compliment the design team on the set for this production. Between the “antique” kitchen and the small-town Main Street backdrop, I truly felt transported back to my days as a cub reporter in Saskatchewan – so, well done!
This play is well worth a trip to Blyth this summer.
Dry Streak runs on the Margaret Stephens Stage at the Blyth Community Memorial Hall until Aug. 16.
Leave a Reply