Live and in person at VideoCabaret, the Deanne Taylor Theatre, 10 Busy St. Toronto, Ont. Plays until March 30, 2025.
https://videocabaret.yapsody.com/event/index/838871/SMART
Created and performed by Nicky Guadagni
Drawing from Smart’s writing, Rosemary Sullivan’s (“By Heart”) Biography of Elizabeth Smart and Carolyn Smart’s (“Ardent”) poetic portrait of Smart.
Directed and dramaturged by Sandra Balcovske
Music and sound by Greg Morrison
Lighting by Andrew Dollar
Canadian poet/novelist, Elizabeth Smart (1913-1986) lived a life that was emotionally huge, fraught with incident, passionate and fiercely unconventional.
She was born into privilege in Ottawa, Ontario. She began writing poetry when she was 10 years old. As soon as she could she left Ottawa for England to get away from the restrictive privilege. She discovered the poems of George Barker and fell in love with them and him (even before she actually met him). She was single-minded about meeting him and when she did she and he began a torrid affair. They had four children together. Never mind that he was already married and never left his wife. Matters got messy. She wrote of the relationship in “By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept,” which was described as “One of the most passionate accounts of romantic love in modern English literature.”
In one short hour Nicky Guadagni beautifully reveals what has been described as “A compelling personal exploration of the romantic legend, passionate mother and transcendent Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart.”
Guadagni created the script drawing on “By Heart” Rosemary Sullivan’s biography of Elizabeth Smart and “Ardent” Carolyn Smart’s poetic portrait of Elizabeth Smart. The writing is spare, smart and vivid. At one point Elizabeth Smart is described as “Twenty-three and terrified of missing her life.” Elizabeth Smart’s world is wrapped up in that simple sentence.
The lights go up on Nicky Guadagni sitting on a white wicker-backed bench. She is dressed in what looks like a white nightgown and loose socks. The look is quirky and careless. When you are that gifted a writer as Elizabeth Smart was, you don’t care about such frivolous things as ‘appearance.’
I first saw Smart performed in Barrie, Ont. in 2020, when Talk Is Free Theatre presented a series of plays in private backyards, because of COVID. There Nicky Guadagni’s performance was expansive as she puttered in the backyard gardens. For this iteration, in the intimate Deanne Taylor Theatre of VideoCabaret, Nicki Guadagni is more self-contained, although director Sandra Balcovske maneuvers Guadagni around the space to some extent. Nicki Guadagni’s performance has grown since I last saw the production. It’s vivid, compelling and absolutely captures the passion and drive of Elizabeth Smart whether talking about her children, her writing or George Barker.
Guadagni’s delivery as Smart is quiet (but perhaps gentle microphoning would be a help to hear when her voice drops low).
Guadagni offers a characterization of Elizabeth Smart, so full of conviction and loyalty to Barker (even when he didn’t return it in the same way), that we are not quick to be judgmental. It’s a performance full of nuance, sensitivity, detail and passion. It’s a life obsessed with the love of Barker, her children and the compelling need to write and Guadagni reveals it all masterfully. Most important, she makes us want to find out more.
VideoCabaret presents:
Plays until March 30, 2025.
Running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)