Having a ‘Hall’ of a time with Revels

Starring as the Duchess in The Ghosts of Haddon Hall – the 2024 production of “The Christmas Revels: A Winter Solstice Celebration” this weekend – is a real full circle moment 11 years in the making for Gillian Conway. The Montecito native saw her first Santa Barbara Christmas Revels as a family outing back in 2013, coincidentally the last time the company presented the Haddon Hall show. 

It was love at first sight. 

“My dad is English, and we love all the English traditions, the mummers play and English carols,” recalled Conway, whose day job is co-owner and manager of Conway Family Wines, the 17-year-old winery that produces under the Deep Sea and Conway labels, and runs the Deep Sea Tasting Room on Stearns Wharf. “So when my mom saw an ad for the show, we all decided to go. We were totally hooked. And we went back every year.”

But despite having acted at Laguna Blanca, Conway never considered participating in the annual community theater presentation. That was also her mother’s idea. 

“She forwarded the audition date email to me in 2021 and just wrote ‘I dare you’ in the subject line,” Conway said. “She was just being silly, but I thought, why not?” 

Conway missed the actual audition date but emailed the music director and was invited to show up that night 15 minutes before rehearsal. She landed a spot in the chorus, stepped up to acting in the mummers play a year later, and this year won a lead role in the show set in 1926 and based on historical events. The Duke of Rutland has come with his wife and children for a last viewing of his family’s historic manor house, Haddon Hall, which has sat abandoned for over 200 years and is slated to be torn down to make way for a modern motorway. But the ghosts of the estate’s multi-generational residents begin to emerge for their annual Winter Solstice gathering, treating the Duke and Duchess’ family, along with the audience, to a celebration that includes 800 years of English and European music, colorful and boisterous country dancing and amusing seasonal traditions, along with all the annual Revels traditions including sing-alongs, and even a dragon. 

The characters also don period costumes to match the era they represent in the show – once again produced by founding Artistic Director Susan Keller and directed by longtime Revel-er Matt Tavianini, with Dauri Kennedy as the new music director. Conway is playing opposite veteran Revel-er Bill Egan, who also portrayed the Duke back in 2013. 

She’s having a blast. 

“It’s been so great to get on stage again, just getting up there and doing something that maybe scares you or makes you uncomfortable, and it’s given me a new sense of self-confidence that I had been lacking in my life,” she said. “It’s just so much fun.”

A big part of the appeal, she said, was the camaraderie amongst the cast and musicians each year, serving the true spirit of the season and of community theater. 

“Everybody just wants the absolute best for the other people on stage. It is so supportive and everyone has a great time. We might not see each other for months after the show is over, but it’s like a homecoming every fall, getting back with the close-knit group of people I’d probably never have crossed paths with otherwise.” 

In other words, Conway is the living embodiment of the Revels’ original catchphrase: “Join us and be joyous!” So much so that she not only participates in all the Revels peripheral events during the year, but also hosted the recent Pub Sing at the Deep Sea tasting room. 

“I drink the Kool-Aid,” said the winemaker. “I’m super into it.”

The Ghosts of Haddon Hall performs December 21-22 at the Lobero Theatre. Call (805) 963-0761 or visit www.lobero.org