Kyle Gillis Spending His Summer in Festival Antigonish’s Secret Garden an Sìthean

Kyle Gillis is returning home to Antigonish, and to the Bauer Theatre where he spent his formative years, to play Archibald Craven in a new adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden. The Secret Garden of an Sìthean by Andrea Boyd opens on August 1st and runs until the 23rd. To keep with the theme of the play, Gillis and I chatted about the show in the Public Gardens in Halifax before he headed up to his hometown to begin rehearsals.

In this version of the story Mary Lennox, a wealthy orphan, arrives in Inverness, Nova Scotia to be cared for by her only living relative: her uncle Archibald Craven, who lives in a big manse there. Gillis plays Archibald, a man who is still in deep grief over the loss of his wife who died tragically and unexpectedly over a decade earlier. His grief is so profound that he can barely care for their sick son, Colin, who is essentially shut away, we are told, for his own protection due to his very fragile physical state. His grief is compounded by the arrival of Mary, the daughter of his wife’s sister, who reminds him vividly of her.

“It’s not until Mary shows up and wants to do things, and she hears this kid crying in the house, and she is wondering what it is, and it’s through her precociousness and curiosity that she finds out that [Colin] is her cousin, and how she needs to get him outside and to see people and interact [with others]… and she finds this garden, that was Lilias’, [Colin’s mother’s] garden… and because [her death] was so heartbreaking, Archie closes the garden, and lets it grow over, and essentially loses the key until Mary arrives.” Mary wants to be able to go into the garden and tend to it, and eventually she wants to be able to bring Colin there too. “Not only is Mary curing Colin, but I think she’s curing Archie. She’s bringing life back into him, and helping him to grow and bloom,” says Gillis.

The “An Sìthean” referenced in the play’s subtitle is Scot’s Gàidhlig for “faerie mound,” or a small hill inhabited by faeries. Boyd has infused the story with Gàidhlig music, lore, and the language, which of course is historically accurate for the time the novel is set, at the turn of the 20th Century, in Inverness where many Scotch residents still spoke Gàidhlig as their first language. Gillis notes that there is an interesting combination of styles at play in this adaptation. The book has been described as being a “thriller” and is also quite gothic and sad at times, while Gillis says that the Celtic Gàidhlig folksongs are going to bring some more fun and joy to the story. He notes that the cast, which is made up of both professional and community performers, will also be playing instruments as well as singing, but he clarifies that the show is not a musical like the adaption by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon from 1991, but rather it is a play that features music as part of the world of the characters. Meredith Zwicker, also returning to Festival Antigonish where she performed in her first professional production after a long career away, is The Secret Garden’s Musical Director.

The play will be a reunion of sorts for Gillis, who will be working with some folks that he performed with twenty years ago, including Zwicker. Gillis’ first production with Theatre Antigonish, the Community Theatre which was founded in 1974, was The Sound of Music in 1997 where he played Friedrich. It was his father who first suggested that maybe he might want to audition for the musical, and when his grandmother took him to the auditions the director, Addy Doucette, asked if she wanted to audition as well. “She said, ‘no dear, but I’ll help sweep the floors’,” said Gillis. Gillis had been playing hockey from the time he was very young, his dad was a High School hockey coach, but he also sang in the choir. “That kind of took over,” he said of his love of singing, “and then the hockey kind of went away.” His dad had the opposite experience. He started singing in the Marian Boychoir, which was established in Antigonish around 1951 and continued until 1965 under the direction of Reverend Terry Lynch from St. Ninian’s Cathedral. At the same time Gillis’ dad also sang as part of the Highland Games, which in those days were also televised. Then, a bit later he found hockey.

Kyle Gillis made his Festival Antigonish (the professional theatre company founded in 1987) debut as part of the Young Company in Jeremy Webb’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which, like this Secret Garden cast, featured a mixture of children and professional performers. In The Secret Garden, however, the community cast is made up of actors of all ages. His first time performing on the main stage at Festival Antigonish as an adult professional actor was in 2012 when they did Funny Money, Peter Pan, and The Three Munschkateers, but this will be his first time returning to FAST since then.

If you are headed to Antigonish to see The Secret Garden of an Sìthean from Halifax, Sydney, or elsewhere in the province Gillis suggests making a day of it: “if you drive ten to fifteen minutes in any direction you’re probably going to hit a beach,” he says. He mentions Arisaig Provincial Park as having an excellent beach, and also Pomquet Beach Provincial Park, which he says has “a beautiful sandy, white beach.” In Antigonish there are lots of great places to eat including Brownstone Restaurant, and The Waffle Bus Stop. “Every time I’m in Antigonish, I have to get the waffle bus,” he says, “So, the fact that I’m going to be living there for seven weeks. I’m scared,” he jokes. He also notes that S&L Bakery in Hawthorne Convenience (the former Brendan’s Fairway) is worth checking out. “They do fresh baked rolls, and bread, and cookies, and pies, even gluten free stuff, and they are chef’s kiss.”

It’s sure to be a sweet homecoming for Kyle Gillis at Festival Antigonish this summer. The Secret Garden of an Sìthean opens August 1st.

Festival Antigonish’s world premiere production of The Secret Garden of an Sìthean, adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel and directed by Andrea Boyd, plays at the Bauer Theatre (4130 University Avenue, Antigonish) August 1st to 23rd, 2025. Performances run Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm with a 2:00pm matinee on Saturdays. Tickets range in price from $30.00 to $45.00 (based on the patron’s age and seating preferences) and are available online here, by calling 902. 867.3333 or in person at the Box Office at 4130 University Avenue. August 1st is a PWYC preview performance. There is a relaxed performance on August 16th. The Bauer Theatre is wheelchair accessible and for more accessibility information please visit this website.