22 April - 8 May, Pontine Theatre premieres its original stage adaptation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie. Performances are offered Fridays @7:30, Saturdays @4 & Sundays @2. Tickets are $24 and may be purchased online at www.pontine.org. Pontine’s West End Studio Theatre is located at 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth NH. Contact Pontine: info@pontine.org / 603-436-6660
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, published in 1847, is a story of loss and devotion set against the deportation of the Acadian people in 1755. The poem elevated Longfellow to be the most famous writer in America and has had a lasting cultural impact. Pontine Theatre’s two-person staging of Longfellow’s masterpiece features puppetry, storytelling, toy theatre and projected images.
In 1840, Longfellow heard about an Acadian couple separated on their wedding day by the British expulsion of the French-speaking inhabitants of Nova Scotia. The bride-to-be wandered for years, trying to find her fiancé.
The French began to settle Acadie, modern-day Nova Scotia, in 1604. For the next 150 years, they cultivated the land, maintained a friendly relationship with the native Micmac Indians, and remained neutral in the ongoing conflicts between the French and the English. By the mid-18th century, there were 12,000 to 18,000 Acadians. In 1755 when these British subjects refused to take up arms against the French, they were exiled from their lands, in what the Acadians call “Le Grand Dérangement.” The Acadians were scattered far and wide. Many eventually ended up in Louisiana where they formed the basis of the Cajun culture.
Evangeline is a work of fiction; Longfellow devised its heroine and her quest, as well as the scenery that she moves through. Factual or not, Longfellow’s Evangeline became a huge success. Generations of American children read, memorized, and recited the poem as part of their schooling. Schools, churches, inns, and many other businesses and social groups were named for the poem’s heroine.
Longfellow’s Evangeline created a tourist industry in the lands of the Acadians. Visitors are still drawn to sites such as the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site in Louisiana, which interprets the lifestyle of the Acadian settlers. In Nova Scotia, the Evangeline Trail stretches along the Bay of Fundy coast from Yarmouth to Grand Pré and beyond
