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Margot Sampson has performed in the Charlottetown Festival before, in 18 Wheels, and she has played the lead role in A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline ten times in twelve years—but this summer will be the first time she has combined the Charlottetown Festival and her signature role.
“It's working with Wade that brings me to Charlottetown,” Margot says, referring to Wade Lynch, the show's director, set and costume designer, and co-performer in the role of “The Little Big Man.” He and Margot have performed the show together many times off-Island. “We work really well together,” Margot says. “It's so great to work with someone who believes in the good of the show, not just sending it out there to make a box office hit.”
The show has been a perennial hit. Margot thinks it is enduringly popular because “most people are interested in learning about other people's lives. The thing about Patsy's story is that she died when she was just rising to stardom…but her music has lived on. It's timeless. She was the first person to cross over pop and country. And she opened the door for so many women.”
Margot's relationship with the character of Patsy Cline is “almost like a friendship.” The friendship has developed as she has come to know more about the performer and her life—through books and biographies (as you might expect, since the legendary singer is long dead), but also through her voice. “The more I sing, the more I learn about Patsy…Her voice is so real…You pick up as many nuances as you can, so you can bring to the role something true.” The audience, then, connects because “everyone has their own memories of the songs…and everyone can connect to heartbreak.”
The last time audiences saw Patsy Cline in Charlottetown, the role of Patsy was played by Marlane O'Brien, but Margot hopes audiences will judge her performance on its own merits. “I know a lot of people saw Marlane as Patsy, and I hear she did a fabulous job,” she says, “but each production is different.” She trusts that changes in the show will allow people to judge her performance on its own merits: “It's a lot more biographical, now. It tells more of the story of her life, with more connection between her life and the songs.” There are also more costumes and several new songs and scenes.
When the Festival season gets rolling, Margot hopes to have time to enjoy PEI summer weather and pursue her own creative projects, which include painting abstract watercolours and songwriting. Like many Maritime-based artists, she's kept her career diverse to help make ends meet—performing not only on the stage but on cruiseships and with jazz bands. And she used to run a production company, producing events for major corporations. Oddly enough, her experience on cruiseships ended that—not because she was too busy performing but, she says, because “it's an amazing perspective, so far away from everything. It gave me the clearness of vision to close the production company.”
While Margot says, “I don't sound anything like Patsy when I sing as myself,” she doesn't think about how she would interpret Patsy Cline's songs in her own voice. “I love her voice, and I love what she does with the songs…When I sing as Patsy, I have to do things physically I wouldn't do naturally —for her it was natural.” Margot especially notes “the way she'll back off a note, then move back in on it,”or even the occasional “growl.”
Margot's director, co-performer, and friend Wade Lynch will help bring out the best in her performance this summer. “We work really well together,” she says. “It's a joyful process, not just a job.” That this is “probably” Margot Sampson's last time playing Patsy, the friendships are all the more important. But when it comes to old friends, Margot Sampson never says never.