BarTalk December 2002
Volume 14, Number 6

Theatrical lawyers plot Murder on the Nile

by Tom Bulmer

Mr. Bulmer will appear as Gandolf in the Kaleidoscope production of The Hobbit. It begins December 6 and promises to be the largest attended single theatre event in Victoria’s history with over 6,000 tickets already sold.

For some Victoria lawyers Shakespeare’s quote “All the world is a stage” takes on a different meaning as they briefly retire from the theatre of life in order to challenge the life of the theatre. Lawyers On Stage Theatre (LOST) is a troupe of thespian lawyers, legal support staff, sheriffs, and law students that annually present their talents and shortcomings in a main stage presentation for colleagues and the public.

Past productions include Twelve Angry Jurors, Breaker Morant, Tom Jones, and Romulus the Great. Last year LOST held a dinner theatre with a comedic improvisational piece written by the cast as things developed with a faulty time machine and 1970-ish sitcom characters.

This season, LOST returns to Victoria’s MacPherson Theatre with their production of the Agatha Christie classic, Murder on the Nile – February 21 and 22, 2003. The story has all of the romance, intrigue, twists and turns that one would expect, and will be performed by a cast and crew of more than 30 lawyers, students and legal support staff.

LOST is a fundraiser for Kaleidoscope Theatre Productions Society, a non-profit, professional theatre company that has brought the arts to children in BC for the past 29 years. The society tours provincially, nationally and internationally with inspirational and educational artistic presentations for young people. LOST also offers the legal-minded an opportunity to express themselves in areas such as music design, sound design, props, set and costume design, all with the support of a professional theatre company.

Leslie Bland, Artistic Director of Kaleidoscope says, “Lawyers are in the communication business. They take a professional attitude while approaching tasks that perhaps they have never before been faced with. There is magic in theatre and also magic in their commitment.”

But we all have a lot of fun as well.

LOST and the Kaleidoscope wish to thank the Victoria Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association for their support!

Tom Bulmer, who has a general law practice in Victoria, is the president of Kaleidoscope Theatre Productions Society. Mr. Bulmer appeared as Tom in Tom Jones, Breaker in Breaker Morant and will be doing sound design in Murder on the Nile.

This article was published in the December 2002 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.