See "The Known Soldier" for dramatic theatre at the Gros Morne Theatre Festival

by Keith and Heather Nicol

      “The Known Soldier” is one of 6 performances that the Gros Morne Theatre Festival (GMTF) is doing this summer in Cow Head. On the 100^th anniversary of World War 1 it is fitting to produce a play about one of Newfoundland’s heroes of that war- Tommy Ricketts. And “The Known Soldier” was written and directed by the talented Jeff Pitcher, GMTF’s artistic director! What is significant about Tommy Ricketts is that he lied about his age when he signed up (he was just 15 at the time) yet in just a couple of years he had earned the Victoria Cross, the Britain’s highest award for valour. His sprints over open fields in the heat of battle are legendary. Yet when he returned to Newfoundland he avoided the limelight and didn’t like to talk about the war.  The cast of Adam Brake, Jennifer Furlong and Craig Haley do an impressive job of telling his story from his early days growing up in Middle Arm to his war years and then returning to Newfoundland. The simple set allows the actors to move quickly around the stage and is transformed into trenches for the war scenes.  “The Known Soldier” is fine dramatic theatre and is it is an appropriate play to see on this centennial of the beginning of World War 1. For more information on TNL’s Gros Morne Theatre Festival schedule or to book tickets to a show see- www.theatrenewfoundland.com or call 1-877-243-2899. 

Jennifer Furlong (left) and Adam Brake perform in "The Known Soldier"

      Looking for moose is a big past time for people visiting Gros Morne National Park (GMNP) . After all GMNP has some of the highest moose densities in the world so visitors think they should be everywhere. But come summer time they are often hard to see since they aren’t often at the side of the road where most people might see them. We have had most luck seeing moose on some of the hiking trails that cross the coastal plain. For instance, on a recent hike in late July on the Baker’s Brook Falls trail we saw 3 moose and 2 were quite close to the trail browsing in the forest. Although we couldn’t get a clear photo of them we could easily see the rack on the large bull. And last summer we had luck on the Western Brook Pond trail where we saw a moose that had been laying down in the tall grass about 15 meters in from the trail. At that point it was not visible to hikers but for some reason it decided to get up just as we walked past and we got some good photos of it. So head off on a hiking trail and you might see a moose. 

A moose near the Western Brook Pond trail