Playwright Keith Roulston on Powers and Gloria

Keith Roulston — playwright, journalist, and Blyth Festival co-founder — joins us to talk about his sharp, funny, and quietly moving play Powers and Gloria, now returning to the Blyth stage nearly 20 years after its premiere.

In this intimate conversation, Keith reflects on the inspiration behind the story, the complicated relationships at its heart, and what it means to revisit the play in 2025. He also shares, with striking honesty, how his own health journey — including a stroke four years ago — has deepened his understanding of Edward Powers, a character grappling with the loss of control and purpose.

Whether you’re a longtime Blyth patron or new to the Festival, this episode offers a thoughtful look at rural stories, resilience, and the heart behind Canadian theatre.

Tickets on sale now! 1.877.862.5984 | www.blythfestival.com 

Got something to say? Send me your thoughts any time. I read everything you write: jwallace@blythfestival.com 

The Blyth Festival Podcast is presented by our Exclusive Communications Partner, Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative (TCC). Thank you!

Today’s episode was recorded at  the Wild Goose Studio https://wildgoosestudiocanada.square.site/  in downtown Blyth.

Credits: Producer/Host: Joanne Wallace | Sound Designer/Engineer: Jim Park

Music: Easy to Imagine, Gotta Give Me Something, (theme); River Run Dry. All via Epidemic Sound

Transcript

Playwright Keith Roulston on Powers and Gloria

Wed, Jul 30, 2025 9:44AM • 28:18

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Blyth Festival, Keith Ralston, Powers and Gloria, rural audience, playwright, Edward Powers, Gloria, relationship dynamics, small town, class exploration, stroke, family conflict, Canadian theatre, rural stories, audience engagement.

SPEAKERS

Keith Roulston, Joanne Wallace

Keith Roulston  00:05

And then we came along, and we wanted to do plays for this rural audience, and so we determined that the plays should be about people that they met every day and so on. And that excited people and started a theatre that, 50 years later is still here.

Joanne Wallace  00:33

Hi, I'm Joanne Wallace, and this is the Blyth festival podcast presented by Tucker Smith, communications Co Op. Today I'm speaking with playwright Keith Ralston, and I'll tell you more about that in a minute. But before I do, I have a couple of notes. First off, we have just announced a 12 performance extension of Emma donahue's Play the wind coming over the sea. The original run is completely sold out, which is amazing, but I know many of you have been disappointed because you couldn't get tickets. So this extension runs September 24 through October 5. You can get your tickets right now at www dot Blyth festival.com, and then you can start planning a gorgeous fall drive through the fields and farms of Huron County to see this spectacular show. Don't miss it. Secondly, I want to give a shout out to a listener who wrote me a lovely email. Her name is Linda, and she told me all about her late husband and how much the two of them loved to visit Blyth, and now she comes with her sister, and it just really warmed my heart. So Linda, if you're listening, thank you so much for sharing your story with me and to the rest of you, I really do love hearing from you, so don't be shy. Let me know about your story with Blyth. Tell me what you like or don't like about the podcast. What's your favourite play or anything else you want to share. And now back to Keith Ralston. Keith is retired now, but he had a long and storied career as a journalist, a playwright, and course, he's one of the original co founders of the Blyth festival. Keith has been telling stories in one form or another for decades, and every one of them is full of humour, heart and the quiet drama of life in small town, Ontario. You've probably seen some of his works here at Blyth, including the shortest distance between two points McGillicuddy lost weekend or another season's promise. All these stories have helped shape the festival's voice from the very beginning. So now, almost 20 years after his premiere, we're bringing Keith's play powers and Gloria back to the stage. It is smart, funny, and maybe even more relevant today than when Keith originally wrote it. Keith sat down with me to talk about what inspired him to write the story, why it still matters, and what he hopes audiences will take from it today. You

Joanne Wallace  03:03

Keith Ralston, journalist, playwright, co founder of the Blyth festival. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome. We're going to talk about your play, powers and Gloria, and just going to dive right in. Can you tell us who exactly are powers and Gloria?

Keith Roulston  03:19

Well, years ago, when I wrote the play, I was looking out the window one day and saw someone walking down the street being pushed by somebody who would have come from a totally different part of society, two very rare people that one was a very upper crust and one was just an ordinary person.

Joanne Wallace  03:48

You said, being pushed. She was in a wheelchair. Okay, all right.

Keith Roulston  03:53

So it kind of inspired me to come up with the idea for powers and glory, which would be two people, an older person who had so much power within the community, and Gloria, who was so young and hadn't got her full education, and bringing the two of them together, and eventually she becomes more more interested in things because of her relationship with powers.

Joanne Wallace  04:30

Okay, so it's a relationship story, but these are not the only two characters in the show. So what else is going on around these two characters? What's the setup?

Keith Roulston  04:41

Well, powers has had a stroke. He has been head of the biggest company in town, but now he's been sidelined to some extent, and. His son is got a different vision for what the company should be. And so there's that stress that's going on between father and son, and there's also the stress between Gloria and her boyfriend, who she's living with.

Joanne Wallace  05:21

I'd like to talk a little bit more about that, because, as you've said, much of the story explores this growing relationship between Edward, the Edward powers. He's the old tycoon and Gloria, and she's a young healthcare worker, I guess, who come, who comes in to help him navigate the the his recovery, and he's not exactly being gracious about any of it. He's he's going to be played by Randy Hughson, and it's going to be wonderful. I can't wait to see that. But the whole play is built on other relationships. So he has, Edward has this difficult relationship you've just explained with his son James. Gloria is struggling with this somewhat challenging relationship with her boyfriend, Daryl. So I want to talk a little bit more about these three relationships and each what each one of them explores. And let's talk about Edward and Gloria first. When I read the script, it seemed to me that maybe this Edward Gloria dynamic was an exploration of class, and this is something we don't usually like to talk about in Canada. So what am I? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Or what? What's your What are your thoughts on

Keith Roulston  06:35

that? I think it is, in a way, and in a small community where you've got people from different extremes, that challenge is more upfront. Whereas in a city, the powerful people live in one part of the city and and the ordinary people live in other parts of the city, and they may not bump into each other as often so and the illness, in this case, brings the two of them together even in ways they wouldn't in a small town so so suddenly they are sort of thrust together and into a situation, very intimate situation that they would not normally be faced with,

Joanne Wallace  07:22

what other things are you exploring in this relationship with Edward and Gloria?

Keith Roulston  07:29

I guess I'm not. First of all, I'm not as familiar with this as I was when I wrote it originally, 20 years, 20 years ago. Yes. So as I got older, I could understand the dynamic of him with a younger person who certainly had power that she'd never had before.

Joanne Wallace  07:54

She's very street smart, she doesn't have an education, but she's she's certainly bright enough when she comes on at first, you know, she's very kind of quiet and mouse like and reticent to say anything, and by the end, she's just like telling everybody what to do. When I read the script and remind my listeners, or our listeners that it is 20 years old. So you did write it in in 2005 I found the relationship a bit sexist. And I found some of Edward's comments to Gloria, he's always commenting on what she's wearing and how she's bearing her midriff and this kind of thing. I found that a bit sexist. So what do you say to that accusation? And is that something you were playing with.

Keith Roulston  08:40

Well, I mean, as I say, it is 20 years difference. Edward would not have been associating with a young woman the way he was suddenly with her. She sort of thrust into his life in a much more intimate way than ordinarily would, and so he's judgmental. I mean, he that's the type of person that he is, the he has come from the upper crust, and suddenly dealing with somebody who's not from that upper crust, and somebody is the opposite in age, and she is behaving totally different than he would have been used to a young woman behaving when he was younger. And so there's a big difference in that. And would Darrell? Darrell is a case of Daryl. You know,

Joanne Wallace  09:43

he's the biggest get laugh I get about this. Actually, is thinking and that Gil Garrett played the original Garret, the original Daryl. So I've been razzing him about that. So did you write Daryl to just be, like, kind of a bit of a. A jerk, yeah, but you succeeded, but you kind of follow a bit in love with him anyways, so you're answering my question by saying, well, Edward himself probably has no idea that he's being sexist, because he his expectations for how a young woman would comport herself or different because he's, I don't know how old he is, maybe 70, in his 70s. Yeah, I think he's, yeah, Shepherd ish, yeah. And Daryl is, as you said, he's just a jerk. But what about Okay, then let's talk about the relationship between Edward and his son James, because that's the other fulcrum, I guess, of the play. What's going on here?

Keith Roulston  10:44

Well, I mean, if you're a son in a relationship like that, it's a difficult position, because you've got your own ideas. In this particular case, they were running a furniture factory. Well, at one time, almost every town around this part of the country had a furniture factory of some sort. When I was growing up, or I was a young adult, there used to be a Piano Factory in Clinton, and they lasted for a little while, but then they just couldn't make a go of it and they had to close down.

Joanne Wallace  11:28

So the same thing that we're seeing today with offshoring manufacturing too, yeah, basically, and that's what's going on in the story, is that James is coming up with this idea to save the factory by moving it to the states, yeah, someplace,

Keith Roulston  11:45

yeah. And, and Edward is very much against that idea. He says, we built this here, and we should continue to run it here. And, and then he gets ill, and his son comes along and has more power, and so there's the conflict there, because he's still trying to maintain control, even though he's had a stroke, and his son is trying to take over and run things the way he thinks they should be run.

Joanne Wallace  12:18

I mean, that's an that's a very archetypal story, I think, for fathers and sons, but you've placed it in this small rural context that makes it seem so real. And this is one of the things I love so much about this story, Keith, something that I wanted to ask you actually about James and Edward, because this occurred to me when I was reading the script, the first time I started reading it. And, you know, Edward comes on stage, and he's so grouchy, like comically grouchy. And so you you kind of think at the beginning, oh, he's the villain of the piece, where we're going to be laughing at him, and all the other people around him are going to be trying to do good things, and he's just going to be cranky and keep them from doing it, and then James comes in and starts you hear about his concerns and his plans for the company, but like as this develops as the viewer or the reader, you start thinking, well, it's not actually as cut and dried as that, because Edward is talking about, no, we can't do that, because This whole town depends on us, and there's union jobs that are good, paying jobs that help these people make a living and keep food on the table. And I'm thinking, Well, wait, wait a minute, this guy is supposed to be the villain. Now I want to root for him. So were you constructing that kind of dynamic and purpose?

Keith Roulston  13:38

I'm trying to remember, this is so long since I've written it, I think that I definitely was trying to make people see both sides of the situation, whereas the the younger son is is looking at things the way he sees them and and the father is trying to maintain things in the way they have always been. And who knows whether he can do that or not, but he's going to try, and maybe, if it goes on and he's running the thing the way he wants to, and eventually has to go with the way the son wants. But right now, he's arguing that he's still in control and he's going to do it his way. He's

Joanne Wallace  14:35

a little bit like King Lear, if you don't mind me pointing that out, and like the best playwrights, you don't tell us what to think. You put it in front of us and let us. Let us decide for ourselves. I'm

Joanne Wallace  14:53

going to move away from the characters now and talk about the setting, the location, because most of your work as a playwright for. Focuses on rural stories. And of course, you are one of the three founders of the Blyth Festival, and we're going to talk a little bit more about that after the break. But first, I'm wondering, what did the rural backdrop of this play allow you to explore that city setting? Maybe wouldn't have

Keith Roulston  15:19

Well, as I said before, you probably wouldn't have a Gloria working for an Edward under an urban situation, a city situation, because they would have been from two totally different parts of the community, and in a small town, they are part of the same community, even though they're totally different types of people, and so you that's part of the thing that brings them together, and part of what sort of creates the conflict.

Joanne Wallace  15:57

Anything else about the rural setting that you were able to explore that wouldn't be so germane in a city.

Keith Roulston  16:04

Well, I don't think that I ever created a character in anything else that I wrote that was from the upper crust the way Edward is. I wasn't used to dealing in that kind of character with other plays that I wrote and so on. So is

Joanne Wallace  16:25

that, because that character is not commonly found in rural

Keith Roulston  16:31

there is very tiny, tiny part of the community, and so they may not be somebody that you deal with on a day to day basis. So

Joanne Wallace  16:45

all right, okay, well, we're going to take a quick break now, but don't go away when we come back, I'm going to ask Keith about his writing process, about his thoughts on the importance of rural stories in Canadian theatre, and on how it feels to be the same age as Edward powers after writing this play when he was a quote much younger man. We'll be right back.

Joanne Wallace  17:16

There's lots more to come, but first a quick reminder that tickets to powers and Gloria are on sale right now. You can order them online@www.blythfestival.com or you can call Nathaniel or Kate or Jess or anyone else in the box office. I'll leave that number for you in the show notes below. I also want to give a shout out, as usual, to our exclusive communications partner, Tucker Smith, communications Co Op, I know I keep telling you about them, but they are a full service telecom provider serving Huron County. They are also our internet provider, and we love them, and so do all our actors who love having internet in their temporary summer apartments. And we are so very, very grateful to them for their support of this podcast. They also support our exclusive members newsletter, which you will get anytime you make a gift to the Blyth festival, because when you do, you become a member of our family, and we will send you this newsletter, which I write, and I personally think is fabulous. So thank you to all our members, and thank you. TCC, we couldn't make this podcast without you. Foreign. Welcome back. I'm chatting today with Keith Ralston, playwright of powers and Gloria, the next show that's going to be opening on the Blyth festival stage, Keith, what is the what is your process when you write a play like this? Like, do you start with the characters and let them talk? Or do you begin with a structure or what?

Keith Roulston  18:43

I think, you develop a character. You have an idea of what they are, you start writing, and then these people develop from there. And then a lot of the time you go back and rewrite and develop something more. It's sort of like sitting gold in the CO in the gold mine. You know, you're, you're little by little, trying to sift through everything and develop the things that work and and get rid of the stuff that doesn't

Joanne Wallace  19:20

you. Told me earlier this story about how you the spark that started this particular script was you looking out the window and seeing an elderly fairly well to do, well known woman about town, being pushed down the street in a wheelchair by someone from the other side of the tracks. So was it Edward or Gloria who first came to life for you?

Keith Roulston  19:45

Well, I suppose Edward, from the standpoint that there was a person there that I was thinking about when I originally created a character, and then Gloria, because. It. I mean, I wanted somebody that was an opposite there,

Joanne Wallace  20:05

you sure succeeded. Yeah,

Keith Roulston  20:08

and and Gloria was a much younger version than the person who had been caretaking that I had witnessed. And so I started looking around and came up with the idea of somebody that would have no background in that kind of thing. And Edward son was, was trying to find somebody look to care for him, couldn't find a professional caretaker, and so just hired a local girl whose parents worked at the factory.

Joanne Wallace  20:51

You wrote this play 20 years ago in 2005 Do you think audiences, especially rural audiences, have changed in what they expect from or bring to a story like this.

Keith Roulston  21:05

I don't know whether they do or not I tell the truth. I know that the audience that was here when I was 20 something, when we started this theatre, some of those people are gone, but some of them are still there and coming to the theatre. And so those people have grown with the theatre as it has grown. Some of those people have grown with me as I have changed over the years.

Joanne Wallace  21:38

But do you think I mean, the world has changed so much, right? The politics have changed. The entertainment landscape has changed. We've got all these big budget musicals playing on stages across the country. We've got streaming services. I guess that's my question is. Is, how do you think, or what do you think an audience that's been brought up on that is going to be bringing into the the theatre with them when they come to see this very classic story about people?

Keith Roulston  22:16

Well, I mean, after 50 years, the plaid festival is still going. It's producing a kind of theatre that 50 years ago wasn't produced. I mean, there weren't when we started the Blyth Festival Theatre Pastor, I was going and creating stories and so on. But even in Toronto, there were very few theatres that were doing Canadian work, and then we came along, James Roy in particular, from a rural area, and we wanted to do plays for this rural audience. And so we determined that the plays should be about people that they met every day and so on, and that excited people and and started a theatre that, 50 years later, is still here. There are so many other theatres that have sprung up over the years, but then died out because they didn't have the string the strong development of scripts that this theatre has always had under a whole bunch of different artistic directors over the years, and so that has has helped this place stay fresh and stay new and stay important to the audience.

Joanne Wallace  23:52

You told me earlier that you wrote the character of Edward when you yourself were a much younger man. How does it feel now for you personally, to be revisiting this character and this story?

Keith Roulston  24:07

Well, it's, I probably understand the guy at you know, who's 70, ish Sure. You know better now with somebody who's had a stroke. And about four years ago, I had a stroke, not as severe as his, but I had a stroke and saw what I what could have happened if I if my stroke had been more serious, I lost my licence at first, and I had to prove that I had the ability to be able to drive, and so I had to go through all that process to to be brought back to a place where I could could function on my own. And Edward. Didn't, didn't have that ability, that that didn't work, and he's hoping to get to that in the story. And so it's very real to me to deal with somebody who deals with those situations.

Joanne Wallace  25:18

Do you feel like you got him right?

Keith Roulston  25:21

I don't know. I mean, the audience. It worked, obviously, when it was first done and people thought that more or less we had got him right. 20 years later, we'll see how the audience takes it and whether they think that.

Joanne Wallace  25:46

I think they're just going to fall in love with him. He's like this irascible Frankie character, but I think he has a heart of gold, without giving too much away. What do you hope audiences will be thinking or feeling as they walk out of powers and Gloria this time around.

Keith Roulston  26:04

Well, I think relationships between young and old, between rich and poor, the full ranking of how our community works and how our society works today. And so you've you've got people from one end of the spectrum and people from the other end of the spectrum, and and how do they function together? And and so I'm hoping that people will take something from that to to see how they can work together.

Joanne Wallace  26:45

Thank you, Keith. This has just been lovely. I've really enjoyed this chat.

26:49

Thank you.

Joanne Wallace  27:00

That was Keith Ralston, an amazing playwright who's brought us all so much joy and laughter over the years. Tickets for Keith's play, powers and Gloria are on sale now, and we would love to have you join us for this fabulous revival again. I will leave the ticket information for you in the show notes below. If you've enjoyed this conversation, please like and subscribe to our podcast that way you won't miss an episode next time, I'll have an interview with Nathan. Howe Nathan is a Saskatoon based actor and playwright, and he fell in love with Blyth the first time he came he responded by writing the script for radio town the doc Cruickshank story, which it opens next at the Blyth Festival, and we are all extremely excited about it. Finally, this episode was recorded in the wild goose gallery in Blyth, and you should absolutely visit when you're here. The gallery is filled with stunning pieces and hosted by the ever charming Hans von Blyth and his partner, Cindy McKenna. They also run a beautiful B and B, so call them if you need a place to stay, I'll leave that number for you as well. That is it for now. I'm Joanne Wallace, and I can't wait to visit with you again until next time. Thanks for listening. You.