Dearly beloved: you will be gathered in the fields and forests, the beauty and the glory, that is the lands of the Syilx and Secwépemc territories. You will witness love, animals, and music. You will be regaled by local history.
You are cordially invited to The Bear and the Proposal, the summer offering of Spallumcheen's legendary Caravan Farm Theatre, which runs July 9 to Aug. 4. The play is, as director (and Caravan artistic director) Estelle Shook describes, "a saucy take on Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's hilarious plays, set in the Okanagan, circa 1800s.
"The land was peopled by the Indigenous and settler characters whose relationships were instrumental in establishing what we now know as the main cities and towns of the Okanagan," said Shook, sitting in the theatre's Cook Shack, enjoying lunch. It was Shook who did the adapation of The Bear and The Proposal. "Right now, preparations are very good.
We have a fantastic cast. It's a great story, really fun material." Shook also describes Bear and Proposal as a "historical fiction romance," using the Netflix television series Bridgerton as an example.
Theatre-goers will be introduced to historical characters, well-known early settlers of the Okanagan. You will meet Susan Allison and Capt. Frederick Houghton, an army captain with significant ties to Coldstream Ranch.
Houghton's daughter, Marie Houghton Brent, along with Allison, contributed many writings in newspaper articles and the Okanagan Historical Society with reg.
