Lynn

OCT. 18-Nov. 5

THE WILD ROVERS

Winter Garden Theatre

“A story based on the music and magic of The Irish Rovers.

My review here: https://slotkinletter.com/2023/10/review-the-wild-rovers

OCT. 19-29

BREMEN TOWN

Buddies in Bad Time Theatre

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY GREGORY PREST

“Bremen Town” is a rural folk tragicomedy about what happens when we outlive our use.

After forty-five years of hard work and dedication, Frau Esel, the longest serving housekeeper of Völksenhaus, has been fired and sent out to pasture. In a rage, she sets out on a winding journey to Bremen to live with her estranged son, meeting a host of trying characters along the way (and doing her best to avoid the stupid Kite Festival).

www.fringetoronto.com

Oct. 21-29

Knock Knock

OCT 21-29, 2023.

Harold Green Jewish Theatre

Written and performed by Niv Petel

How would you raise your child if you knew that one day their turn will come to hold a rifle? As a liaison officer for the army, Ilana, a single mother, supports families who’ve lost their sons and daughters to the wars. But when the time comes for her only son to wear the army uniform, she faces a life-changing dilemma. Through drama and comedy, Niv Petel weaves a vivid and detailed familial relationship in Knock Knock, an immersive physical mono-drama about the effects of National Service on everyday life.

With presold tickets alone, we’ve already committed $50,000 towards this donation. A sold-out run could triple this contribution. This is our chance, as a community, to rally behind our friends and family in Israel.

The Greenwin Theatre | Meridian Arts Centre
5040 Yonge Street, Toronto

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Live and in person at the Winter Garden Theatre 189 Yonge St. Toronto, Ont. Produced by terrabruce Productions. Plays until Nov. 5, 2023

https://www.ticketmaster.ca

Book by Steve Cochrane

Inspired by the music and magic of The Irish Rovers

Directed by Jason Byrne

Music direction, arrangements and additional music by Kelly-Ann Evans and Josh Ward

Production design by Graham McMonagle

Lighting design by Leigh Ann Vardy

Sound design by Don Ellis

Puppet consultant, Baptiste Neis

Cast: Julia Dunne

Philip Goodridge

Vicki Harnett

Liam Lynch

Steve Maloney

Powell Nobert

Melanie O’Brien

Sean Panting

Nicole Underhay

Band: Alex Abbott

Sultan Dharamshi

Keith Doiron

Kelly-Ann Evans

Grant King

Paul Kinsman

Dan Smith

Josh Ward

Sitting through this self-indulgent, incomprehensible story was life shortening.

The Story. Here’s one of their versions: “Inspired by the music and magic of the beloved Irish Rovers. The Wild Rovers is a mad-cap adventure that sees the famed band whisked away to a fantastical land of Athunia, not to be confused with their sworn enemy, Ethunia (and yes they are pronounced exactly the same). These fictional countries find themselves on the brink of war and the loveable, hard-working band must help them find a path to peace through song!. There will be puppets, there will be no intermission and there most definitely be no fourth wall.”

Or another version of the Synopsis: “ Our tale begins way, waaaaaay back in 19 and 89. The Wild Rovers (Billy, Jordy, Joe, and their bus driver Sheila) are touring the country. The band is just outside Grand Falls, Newfoundland, when they are suddenly whisked away to a magical world.

Here we meet two fairy tale nations at war, and as fate (and plot) should have it, the band is directly in the middle of it all.

The Wild Rovers battle and seduce a wonderful, mad cap cast of characters along the way, as they try to reconcile their own deepest doubts and fears in order to broker a lasting peace.

Will they save these warring kingdoms from themselves with songs? Or strike a sour note and force an entire world into the ravages of war?!

You’ll soon find out.”

This gives a sense of the assumption of cleverness and barely funny writing.

The Production. To get a further idea of how incomprehensible Steve Cochrane’s book is: as Sheila (Vicki Harnett) is driving the band in their bus, she decides to stop and pick up Maggie (Sean Panting) who is hitchhiking. He, the hitchhiker changed his name to “Maggie” because it would be easier (?!!!) He is carrying a leg. A lame joke is made about it, but it made little sense. Maggie is our narrator and fills in the story as well as offers limp remarks that someone perhaps found pithy. They drive along and accidentally are sucked into a portal, or perhaps it was the king driving his golden chariot with several horses that appeared from the portal first, some of the cast tended to mumble and not annunciate. In any case the bus crushes the king and his chariot and the band is sucked into the portal where they meet the inhabitants of Athunia/Ethunia: Princess Hiya (Melanie O’Brien) is about to be married to Prince Farid (Powell Nobert) of the warring side. It’s a marriage supposedly for peace. Princess Hiya is waiting for her father—the aforementioned crushed, dead king. He’s got the secret of her dowry and of a weapon he is to tell her about. Unbeknownst to her, Prince Farid and his conniving mother Queen Keerthi (the gifted but underused Nicole Underhay) plot to kill Princess Hiya once they have the secret weapon.

They have to find a magical egg and so Prince Farid goes with Princess Hiya and a courtier, Roguish Rick Castley (Liam Lynch) (really??? Is this a riff on Rick Astley? Oh, God!) to find it. The plan is that Prince Farid will be able to kill Princess Hiya on the journey. But of course, well, you know what happens when two warring sides come face to face and sing about it….exactly.

They meet a dragon who has clogged a river because the farmers didn’t appreciate nature or take care of their crops properly and are now starving.  They meet pirates who will kidnap Prince Farid thus awakening Princess Hiya’s love for him. Somebody will look like they die but then everybody sings and magic happens because that is the power of music.  The suggestion of singing together heals all wounds seems disingenuous when one is so aware of the horrors going on in the world.

When Sean Panting sings “The Orange and the Green” about parents who came from different backgrounds (religions), it looks like The Wild Rovers will establish the theme of the whole show. But aside from almost willing us to believe this is about war between different factions, Steve Cochrane is so busy trying to force lame jokes into the narrative that he doesn’t spend enough time actually establishing clarity. The over emphasis of the two places: Athunia/Ethunia and similar pronunciation wears thin instantly.

Steven Cochrane’s book is dreadful. It’s self-indulgent with its smug assumption that it’s clever and chatty and disarming. It’s not. It’s tiresome and unfunny. With every utterance of Sean Panting as Maggie, one sucks air, because it’s more unnecessary commentary. This is really a one hour fringe show bloated to almost two hours.

The inclusion of such songs as “The Rising of the Moon,” “Wasn’t That A Party,” “Come By the Hills,” are cause for rousing singing—the cast sings beautifully—but they do little to forward the story, as a jukebox musical would do. And The Wild Rovers is not reinventing the jukebox music form either—it’s so not that clever.

Jason Byrne is a smart director who has done terrific work elsewhere. Here he is very clever in constantly keeping the cast moving: creating elaborate business to show the band driving in their ‘box’ of a bus, a pirate ship with some cast holding a board with a sailboat on it as they raise and lower it, suggesting it’s moving through waves, and other busy stage work, the creation of ‘the dragon’ all to deflect our attention from the paucity of what is actually going on in the story.

The band under Kelly-Ann Evans’ guidance is dandy. As I said, the cast is hard-working, strong-voiced and determined to convey they are having a great time. I wish that feeling was contagious, but alas…….

Comment: This is the second consecutive terrabruce Production that earns the Red Face of Fury. Please let this not be a trend with this company.    

terrabruce Productions presents:

Plays until Nov. 5, 2023

Running time: almost two hours (no intermission)

https://www.ticketmaster.ca

Note: the ticket prices on the terrabruce Productions website are wishful thinking. When one clicks on a seat on the Ticketmaster site, listed initially for $87 it’s then ballooned to $101 with all the ‘extra’ costs. Be warned.

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Live and in person at the Five Points Theatre, Barrie, Ont. Plays until Oct. 20, 2023

www.tift.ca

Written and performed by Jake Epstein

Developed with and directed by Robert McQueen

Music direction, orchestrations, arrangements and keyboard by Daniel Abrahamson

Set by Brandon Kleiman

Lighting by Chris Malkowski

Sound by Erik Richards

Performed by: Jake Epstein

Daniel Abrahamson

Abby David

Justin Han

If Jake Epstein’s autobiographical show Boy Falls From the Sky illuminates anything, it’s his love of performing. It’s a glorious heart-squeeze of a show.

Jake Epstein is blessed with supportive parents who nurtured his and his older sister Gabi’s love of musical theatre. Every summer he and his family made the 10-hour drive to New York City to see a Broadway show. In the back seat of the van, Jake and his sister sang duets from Broadway shows to get them prepared.

In Boy Falls From the Sky, Jake Epstein’s joyous, moving autobiographical show, he lets us know that his life changed when he saw Big—the Musical, his first show on Broadway. He realized that kids could be in a Broadway show and Epstein set about planning that for himself.

He auditioned for and was cast in the Soulpepper Theatre Company’s production of Our Town at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1999. It was his professional theatre debut. He was 12-years-old. This led to being cast as the cocky, confident Artful Dodger in a production of the musical, Oliver! for Mirvish Productions, also at the Princess of Wales Theatre.

Epstein also knew that training and education were equally important in his achieving his goals so he auditioned for and was accepted into the Claude Watson School for the Arts. His future wife said she fell in love with him when he played a hot dog going through the digestive system as one of his class exercises. That must have been one terrific performance.

Jake Epstein branched out from musical theatre and landed a role in Degrassi: The Next Generation about the trials and tribulations of teens in a high school. He stayed with the show for five years. He auditioned for Juilliard in New York City and didn’t get accepted. He describes this as ‘devastating. It wouldn’t be the last time he would experience this feeling. And yet as he was feeling despondent on the streets of New York, he was approached by some tourists who recognized him from Degrassi: The Next Generation who loved the show and him in it. It’s one of several moments in Boy Falls From the Sky that beautifully captures the heart-breaking lows and intoxicating highs of being in ‘show business.’

Epstein continued to audition for roles and often was successful. He moved to New York City to be closer to his dream of being in a Broadway musical and then it happened. He was cast as the alternate lead in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. Never mind that the show had a reputation for being dangerous to actors—many were hurt because of the intense aerial work. Never mind that the show has a special place as a Broadway disaster. This was Jake Epstein’s Broadway debut. He had achieved his dream.

And then he was cast in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical originating the role of Gerry Goffin, Carole King’s ex-husband. Epstein had arrived. Or had he?

While Boy Falls From the Sky is packed with Jake Epstein’s many and various theatre credits it’s much more than a: “And then I was cast in…..” retelling. The show is loaded with Jake Epstein’s beautiful singing of songs from the various musicals he’s been in. It’s full of his endless charm, joy in performing, self-deprecating humour , perceptive observations and irony. This show is suffused with irony. The show’s title, Boy Falls From the Sky, gives a hint—it’s a song from Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark a doomed musical, and the song is about a man searching for himself, dignity in humanity etc.

Epstein begins Boy Falls From the Sky with “Razzle Dazzle” from Chicago about dazzling the audience etc. with flash and grandness. Irony. Epstein takes the audience behind the ‘razzle dazzle’ of the heady world of Broadway and show business and shows them another world.

The show at the Five Points Theatre in Barrie is a smaller version than appeared at the larger Royal Alexandra Theatre last year. Brandon Keiman’s set is laid out on a simple wood platform with instruments laid out around the space. There is a stool, a chair and a coat stand. The evening is arranged like a rehearsal or a jam session. The musicians arrive as if they are coming in from outside. They take off their coats and put them on the coat stand. Jake Epstein arrives in his jacket and hangs up his coat too, to applause. He greets it with a shy smile. If anything this version of Boy Falls From the Sky has more nuance, subtlety and an even more sense of fun. In other words, it’s grow even better.

Boy Falls From the Sky is full of intoxicating euphoria when you get your dream realized.  But there’s also the angst, uncertainty, loneliness of touring and needing to hide the truth about it all from a loving family who only want to be happy for you and with you. Each time they asked with a smile how it was to make his debut here or there, he replied, also with a smile that it was great. But the smile got smaller and smaller.  The show is seamlessly directed with subtlety by Robert McQueen.

Boy Falls From the Sky is Jake Epstein’s beautiful, heartfelt, funny buoyant show that comes to terms with realizing his dreams and perhaps learning bliss might be elsewhere in performing.  

At its heart Boy Falls from the Sky is a wonderful show that lets actors know they are no alone in their hopes, dreams and disappointments, and lets audiences know that the hardest part about acting is not learning all those lines.

Talk Is Free Theatre presents:

Plays until Oct. 20, 2023.

Running time: 70 minutes, (no intermission)

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person at the St. Jacobs Schoolhouse Theatre, part of Drayton Entertainment, St. Jacobs, Ont. Playing until Dec. 24, 2023.

https://www.draytonentertainment.com

Written by Annabel Fitzsimmons, Alison Lawrence and Mary Francis Moore

Directed by Mary Francis Moore

Music Director, Melissa Morris

Set by David Boechler

Costumes by Jessica Pembleton

Lighting by Kevin Fraser

Cast: Lauren Bowler

Mark Harapiak

Sara-Jeanne Hosie

Keely Hutton

Years ago, three friends—Annabel Fitzsimmons, Alison Lawrence and Mary Francis Moore—were dumped by their boyfriends/partners at varying times. They were hurt, unsettled by it, confused about why and finally angry. That anger got them to write about their experiences using humour. Bittergirl—the play was the result in the mid-2000s. Then established songs were added to provide another layer to the story so in 2015/16 Bittergirl—The Musical was born.

Bittergirl—The Musical chronicles how three women are dumped by their boyfriend/partner—they each have a boyfriend or husband who dumps them. The women are all unnamed as is the guy. We can all identify and sympathize.  He (Mark Harapiak representing the various men) is sorry, really loves her, but he needs his space/solitude/freedom. The reason varies. The guy is still a bum. (I thought saying he was a ‘shit’ was too indelicate, although appropriate).

The women, also unnamed, go through various stages of shock, grief, regret, confusion, anger, thoughts of revenge and recovery. Insecurity factors heavily. Assuming it’s her fault is also there. Songs such as: “Where Did Our Love Go,” “When Will I See You Again,” “Be My Baby,” and “Always Something There to Remind Me” are some of the songs in Act I. But then in Act II we have a slow recovery: “Love Hurts,” “This is My Life,” and “I Will Survive.”

Director Mary Francis Moore directs a stellar cast: Lauren Bowler, Sara-Jeanne Hosie and Keely Hutton play the three dumped women. They sing beautifully and with heartfelt conviction. They go through all the emotions one would associate with such a devastating event and they go through varying degrees of neediness and strength. Mark Harapiak plays all the fellahs who dumped the women. He swaggers nicely, has all the confidence of a man with little sensitivity but also a lovely sense of humour that makes the guys seem like twits. We, of course, sympathize with the women but we don’t hate the guys because they are so full of themselves and we know the women are better off without them.

Mary Francis Moore stages the actors well around David Boechler’s flashy, efficient set. And Melissa Morris provides the musical direction with a verve and a smile.

Drayton Entertainment presents:

Plays until Dec. 24, 2023.

Running Time: 2 hours (1 intermission)

www.draytonentertainment.com

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Live and in person at the Studio Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Part of the Meighen Forum. On until Oct. 28, 2023.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Created b Rebecca Northan and Bruce Horak

Directed by Rebecca Northan

Musician, Ellis Lalonde

Costume design by Philip Edwards

Masks by Composite Effects

Props by Hanne Loosen

Original lighting by Anton DeGroot

Stage Manager, Lili Beaudoin (she is heavily involved in other ways in this epic)

Performers: Bruce Horak

Ellis Lalonde

Rebecca Northan

Three Goblins: Wug, Cragva and Moog discover the horror and humanity of humans when they (the Goblins) discover a copy of the “Complete Works of William Shakespeare.” They decide they will also explore the world of theatre by performing the play Macbeth because it’s the shortest. (Actually, to be pedantic about it, Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies. The shortest play by Shakespeare is The Comedy of Errors. Google says so. It never lies. And I’m grateful to the Goblins for making me curious to look it up.)

I note one of the Goblins is sculking furtively around the lobby, making comments in a gravelly voice. This gives the humans in the lobby a chance to become familiar with ‘the look.’ The Goblin wears a mask that tightly covers the head and the face down to the neck. The head is bald with an octagon design etched on that back of the head. The ears are very long and pointed. The nose is very long, broad and pointed. There are black lines on the face and between the brow that give a sense of foreboding or aggravation. The lips are black. There is a little opening for the mouth but for the most part the mask leaves little room for facial expression. The costume is black with black pants and boots.

The other two Goblins are already in the theatre as the audience files in. They are masked the same way but with subtle differences in the face. The third Goblin joins the other two and they flit around the stage which is full of stuff: a boom box, three moveable large mirrors, one of which has a covering over it, a section upstage with lots of musical instruments and a stand microphone.  

One cannot tell the gender of these Goblins unless they speak. Two sound like men, one is gruffer than the other. The third sounds like a woman. While the director’s note said that the actors did not want to be associated with any character (for anonymity), one can assume the gruff voiced one is Bruce Horak, the not as gruff voice is Ellis Lalonde (and a hint here is that this is the Goblin who plays all the music, including a French café ditty(!), and the voice that sounds like a woman is Rebecca Northan.

Two women in the front row do something to lead the Goblins to declare that one is a witch and they bow down. They say her feet should be elevated and put a low box down so her feet can rest on it. They also race out to get her another glass of Vino. The improvisation is smooth, imaginative, quick-witted and nimble.

When the show starts, we are told by the Goblins that they find the human’s pre-occupation with gender, amusing. The Goblins say there are in fact 17 genders. That sounds good to me. They say that they have discovered a lot about humans when they discovered “The Collected Works of William Shakespeare,” and certainly Macbeth.

The Goblins begin the story by telling the audience that Scotland is at war with Norway. Macbeth is one of the leading soldiers. Then the three Goblins get ‘into it’ by playing various parts to tell the story.

The action is swift. Witches prophecy the future of Macbeth and Banquo, his companion in arms. When one of the prophecies comes true Macbeth gets antsy for more power; brave and murderous. His wife joins him.  Props are used with imagination—those mirrors are twirled for great effect. Music is played for example on accordion and a kazoo—at the same time!! The three Goblins riff off one another—are they improvising? Is it scripted? It’s all accomplished, brilliant and mischievous. They chide each other—one is out there playing three parts, it’s exhausting.

Macbeth is acted with a gruff, strong voice, vigor, conviction and power. Lady Macbeth has a softer voice, has the ability to manipulate and control and does a good job with Macbeth when it comes to the murders of her ‘house guests.’

Matters ramp up when the battle lines are drawn. Macbeth is over there in Dunsinane with his forces and the two Goblins representing the opposing forces are center stage, needing an army. Where will they get an army? They do a slow pan to the audience (this is not a spoiler alert. Where else are you going to get an army on short notice in a small town?). The audience will be engaged in the action.  

Besides open-heart surgery or a trip to the dentist, nothing strikes terror in the hearts of an audience more than these two words: “audience participation.” Goblin:Macbeth has audience participation. Lots of it. DO NOT RUN AWAY!!! You are in good hands here.  

Rebecca Northan and Bruce Horak are master improvisors. They know how to engage an audience with consideration, care and respect. They have perfected the ability to look at an audience and sensitively know who is eager to participate (the hopeful eyes, the eager looks, the smile that says, “PICK ME!!!!”) and who does not want you anywhere near them in their ‘safe space’ in the audience (eyes averted, head down, telegraphing the thought: “Come near me under peril of your privates!”) These Goblins will not make you feel uncomfortable or awkward. These Goblins will make you eager to participate if you want to. That is one of their many gifts.

The Goblin who sounds like Rebecca Northan scurries up the steep stairs of the theatre to the middle of the audience. She asks the whole group if they are familiar with the name of this forest. Many put up their hands. She asks: “Are they familiar with that place over there?” They are and say the name. She asks: “What can we do to rally and charge that place over there?” Again, not a spoiler alert, it’s in the wonderful trailer…..(lighten up!) The suggestions come fast and loose. Props are provided by an eager audience. Momentum builds. Lighting flashes and changes to accompany the battle and the resolution.

The Goblins teach us a lesson about humanity and the power of theatre in their witty, irreverent, and committed presentation of this glorious production. They talk about how we all came in with our own individual stories, our own separate lives and in the end we were all breathing at the same time and our hearts were beating as one as well, a unified community. I found that observation so moving it took my breath away.

Goblin:Macbeth is a theatrical gift.

The Meighen Form of the Stratford Festival presents:

Plays until Oct. 28, 2023.

Running time: about 2 hours (no intermission)

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Cliff Cardinal: Photo: Michael Cooper

Live and in person at the Deanne Taylor Theatre, 10 Busy St., Toronto, Ont. A VideoCabaret Production in Association with Crow’s Theatre. Plays until Nov. 12, 2023.

www.crowstheatre.com

Written and performed by Cliff Cardinal

Directed by Karin Randoja

Set and props by JB Nelles

Costume by Sage Paul

Lighting by Raha Javanfar

Sound by Alex Williams

Original music by The Rob Clutton Trio featuring Karen Ng and Nick Fraser.

Original music by End.

In his newest one person play, Cliff Cardial, actor, playwright, observer of humanity, has created a solo show about a man who feels he is cursed. He (we learn his name only at the end), lists the people he has loved, beginning when he was a young kid in school, who have then met a terrible fate. The fates vary in seriousness depending on how old our Narrator is: young people tend to exaggerate the awfulness of a situation because they don’t have much in the way of life’s experiences with which to compare the terrible fates.

The itemization of horrible accidents and death keeps mounting as our Narrator gets older. Because he feels this curse is his fault, he decides to stop loving and hate everybody and therefore prevent a terrible fate to befall anyone else. His life is full of people and incidents and quirkiness. Affection happens. Terrible fates pile up. One person suggests she can lift the curse but that is not attended to immediately. There is more ruminating on the world, discoursing, philosophizing, bristling observations.

JB Nelles has created an intriguing set with props. There is a backdrop that is an abstract painting. In front are three different chairs over which is a different sign: Love-Cursed-Fate. Under LOVE is a hard backed chair, under CURSED is a comfortable chair like you would find in an airplane, and under FATE is a ‘basket’ chair that looks comfortable but not as comfortable as the “CURSED” chair. There is a slab behind each chair with a symbolic painting for each. For example, “CURSED” has a sword stuck in a red structure that could be a heart.

Sage Paul has designed a stylish but rumpled suit in purple with a purple shirt for our Narrator. Raha Javanfar has created an evocative lighting design that draws us into the stories and Alex Williams’ sound adds texture and atmosphere.

Cliff Cardinal has created an engaging Narrator. His manner is contained, thoughtful, gracious, gentle, and occasionally lively. He varies his position either sitting in one of the chairs, standing and talking, taking of and putting on his jacket, for variation. He listens intently and interacts with his audience, aware of any reaction and reacting to that reaction. Karin Randoja, the gifted director of the piece, has meticulously directed (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them) with nuance and detail. Cardinal has crafted a script that is poetic, lyrical in his observations, full of esoteric musings, references to the Northern White Rhinoceros which might be extinct and symbolic references.

Cardinal’s story is dense with characters, incidents and ideas—occasionally it’s difficult keeping up with who is whom. It’s perhaps a trap to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the story. When he rounds back to one of the characters, one has to recall what that person’s story was. I think the story is a stretch at 80 minutes. A tightening and shortening of the very detailed story is in order—Cardinal stumbled a few times on the opening remembering the dense dialogue.

While the premise is interesting—to hate everybody in order to save them from a terrible fate—the beauty of  (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them) is that the Narrator contradicts himself by always looking for that which he is missing—LOVE. He is constantly searching for it. The search in itself is hopeful.

A VideoCabaret Production in Association with Crow’s Theatre presents:

Plays until Nov. 12, 2023.

Running time: 80 minutes (no intermission)

www.crowstheatre.com

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Dear Friends,

The Celebration of Life for Marti Maraden will be held on Monday, November 27, 2023 at 2 p.m., at the Festival Theatre. All who knew and loved Marti are welcome. Please reserve a seat HERE.You are welcome to forward this message or post the

W.G. Young Funeral Home obituary for anyone who would want to attend. 
The message from the Stratford Festival is below.
Take care,Janet Sellery

Dear friends,

Please join with us to celebrate the life of actor, director and artistic director Marti Maraden.

DATE: Monday, November 27, 2023

TIME: 2 p.m.

PLACE: Festival Theatre

RESERVE A SEAT HERE.

Marti fell ill while on holiday in Sweden and, sadly, died there on August 31.

You can read the press release we sent at the time of her passing below. 

More information is available through the W.G. Young Funeral Home.   

Sincerely,

Antoni & Anita

MEDIA RELEASE 

30/23 

Stratford Festival mourns the loss of Marti Maraden 

September 1, 2023… It is with heavy hearts that we share news of the death of Marti Maraden, an artistic director, actor and director of rare skill, as well as a beloved colleague and mentor. She died Thursday, August 31, while visiting family in Sweden, having suddenly fallen ill. She was 78 years old. 

“Marti was a much-loved member of the Canadian Theatre,” said Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “She acted alongside an extraordinary group of talents from Bedford and Smith to Henry and Hutt among many other Festival favourites. She was a pioneer as she was among the first women in Canada to work regularly as a director. At the Stratford Festival her contributions as an actor, director and artistic director will be remembered with great appreciation and affection. She was a valued colleague and I’m deeply grateful to her for our work together. My thoughts are with her many friends who will miss her dearly.”  

Maraden joined the Stratford Festival as an actor in 1974, under the artistic directorship of Jean Gascon, playing Katharine in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Antiochus’s Daughter in Pericles, along with other roles.  

With the arrival of Robin Phillips as Artistic Director, she was given every opportunity to shine. During his first two seasons, her remarkable talent and versatility were clearly evident. In 1975, she played Mary Warren in The Crucible; Cecily Cardew in the legendary production of The Importance of Being Earnest, featuring William Hutt as Lady Bracknell; Juliet in Measure for Measure, with Martha Henry and Brian Bedford; and Olivia in Twelfth Night, also with Brian Bedford.  

The following year she played Miranda to William Hutt’s Prospero in The Tempest; Ophelia in Hamlet, playing opposite both Richard Monette and Nicholas Pennell, who shared the role; Irina in John Hirsch’s famous production of Three Sisters, alongside Maggie Smith and Martha Henry; and she reprised the role of Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest.  

She went on to play, among other roles, Juliet to Richard Monette’s Romeo (1977); Sonya in Uncle Vanya (1978); Perdita in The Winter’s Tale (1978); and Regan in Peter Ustinov’s King Lear (1979). 

After the 1979 season she moved back to the United States, the country she and her husband, Frank, who was also a member of the Stratford company, had left in the late 1960s during the Vietnam war. There she pursued work in New York and soon began to teach and then to direct. She returned to Canada and quickly became one of the country’s most highly respected directors, equally accomplished in classical and contemporary repertoire.  

After working at the Shaw Festival as both an actor and director, Maraden returned to Stratford in 1990, directing a dozen productions, including Les Belles-Soeurs, featuring Janet, Susan and Anne Wright; Homeward Bound by Elliott Hayes; Alice Through the Looking Glass, featuring Sarah Polley; Macbeth, featuring Scott Wentworth and Seana McKenna; and The Merchant of Venice, featuring Douglas Rain.  

In 1997, Maraden was appointed Artistic Director of English Theatre for the National Arts Centre, a role she held until 2006, during which time she also co-founded the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, the first national festival dedicated to Canadian work. 

In 2006 she was appointed co-Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, along with Don Shipley and Des McAnuff, with Antoni Cimolino as General Director, taking over after Richard Monette’s final season in 2007 and serving in the role for one year.   

In 2008, Maraden directed All’s Well That Ends Well, featuring Brian Dennehy; and The Trojan Women, featuring Martha Henry, Seana McKenna, Yanna McIntosh, Kelli Fox and Nora McLellan. Her final production for the Festival was The Winter’s Tale in 2010, featuring Ben Carlson and Seana McKenna.  

In addition to Stratford, Shaw and the NAC, Maraden directed for such organizations as Canadian Stage, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Drayton Theatre Festival. 

The Stratford Festival will dedicate one of the 2024 Shakespeare productions to her memory.

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Live and in person at the Streetcar Crowsnest Studio. A Howland Company and Crow’s Theatre Co-production, playing until Oct. 29, 2023.

www.crowstheatre.com

Written by Will Arbery

Directed by Philip Akin

Set and props by Wes Babcock

Lighting by Logan Raju Cracknell

Costumes by Laura Delchiaro

Sound by Jacob Lin

Cast: Mac Fyfe

Ruth Goodwin

Cameron Laurie

Maria Ricossa

Hallie Saline

Explosive in every way. Listen, consider, ruminate on another point of view: the Christian right in America, and engage.

The Story. Wyoming. 2017. Four college friends (Justin, Teresa, Kevin and Emily), all graduated, have come back to their college, Transfiguration College of Wyoming, to celebrate their former professor (Gina Presson) who has been appointed the president of the school. The college is focused on Catholic teachings (anti-abortion, anti-gay). The four friends gather at the home of Justin who has organized a party in celebration of their professor’s promotion and wait for her to appear. The conversation indicates varying degrees of Conservative to right-wing thinking, intellectual rigor, delusion and blinkered attitudes. In some quarters these ideas might be considered terrifying.   

The Production. Wes Babcock has transformed the Studio Theatre at the Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre, into a stylish back drop of Justin’s (Mac Fyfe) home. A sliding glass door separates the back of the house from the backyard. There is a neat bar with bottles of liquor on the other side of the sliding door. There is a bench in the back yard, some stumps used as seat, a place for the storage of wood, a shed stage left and woods beyond. It’s both modern and rustic.

Justin (Mac Fyfe) quietly appears from inside the house—jeans, work shirt, boots.  He is imposing and thoughtful. He is bookish. He works at the college. He sees something in the distance. He quietly goes into another part of the house and brings back a rifle. He aims it into the distance and shoots. He goes off in that direction and comes back carrying a dead deer (?) on his back. He hangs it up on the shed and when he tries to skin it his hand cramps, several times. He hides the deer. I note that something is attached to his belt. It’s a handgun in a pouch. Justin is hosting a party for his former professor and he needs to wear a handgun on his belt. (Kudos to costume designer Laura Delchiaro and perhaps Wes Babcock too).

Emily (Hallie Seline) appears. She is a young woman but she uses a cane. She is in pain most of the time. She is nicely dressed in an understated dress. Justin is very attentive towards her, checking on her health, wanting to know if she wants to go home. There is no romance, just friendship.  There is mention of ticks as a possible cause of her medical issue. I’m thinking she has Lyme’s disease, but this seems worse. She is the daughter of Gina Presson, the woman being celebrated. Emily has texted her several times to hurry up and arrive. Emily seems frustrated when her mother doesn’t appear.

Kevin (Cameron Laurie), in shirt and slacks, is an anxious, awkward man who tries to be upbeat and jokey. He just comes off as confused and needy. He’s in a job he hates.  He’s desperate for a girlfriend. He drinks a lot–he has a bottle of liquor in his back pants pocket.   

The fourth member of this quartet of friends is Teresa (Ruth Goodwin). She is the ‘star’ of the group. She is smartly dressed in a form-fitting dress and heels. She is making a statement with her sophisticated clothes. She moved away to New York to work in the media, as a political writer for a website. We get the sense it’s a right-wing website from what Teresa says during the play. She reveres Donald Trump and Steve Bannon. She lives in Brooklyn and prides herself that it’s close to a place that George Washington fought a battle. Perhaps this makes Teresa think she is broad minded—to live in such a place, close to those who represent ‘the other side’ of political ideology with such a history. She is about to be married but worries that the wedding will not be as beautiful as she hopes.

Teresa and Justin had a relationship when they were students. She finds him alone in the backyard and chats him up. As Teresa, Ruth Goodwin is flirty, coy and very confident. She is not overt in her body language, not physically pushy as such. She’s ‘careful.’ She loves the ‘chase,’ the tease. As Justin, Mac Fyfe is quiet, reserved, thoughtful and does not play into the flirting.

Teresa knows her ability to be the center of attention. She’s teasing and off-handed with Kevin when they are alone in the backyard. Cameron Laurie as Kevin plays his desperation for a girlfriend so well, he practically lunges at her. She dispatches his ardor with a flip remark and just a hint of disdain.  

The discourse and politics of the group gets ramped up when the four friends talk about politics, abortion and attitudes. This is where Teresa comes into her element and Ruth Goodwin is wonderfully terrifying. She almost seems to lecture her friends about the state of the world: the philosophy and history of the cyclical “Fourth Turning,” Plato, religion, etc. She likens abortion to the Holocaust. Emily is horrified and challenges her on this. Teresa stares that down and offers another stunning statement saying, “It’s true. You can look it up,” as if that phrase gives nonsense credibility.  We learn Emily works in Chicago at a “pro-life” organization counselling women. She is not as blinkered as her friends. She has friends who are pro-choice and gay.

With every self-righteous statement Teresa makes, Emily counters with moral indignation. While Ruth Goodwin as Teresa is measured, nuanced and matter of fact, Hallie Seline as Emily is more and more emotional and agitated. It is a beautifully created scene between these two gifted actors.

And then Gina Presson (Maria Ricossa) arrives. She is buoyant with the joy of becoming president of the college. She’s delighted to see her former students, although her daughter Emily is not happy she had to wait so long for her arrival. And in short order Gina Presson engages with her former students. Their attitudes and character are further revealed. As Teresa demolished everybody’s attitudes, that’s as efficiently Gina stares down Teresa. With a beautiful mix of terms that could be at once affectionate and condescending, Gina reveales how Teresa is blinkered, rigid, and incapable of seeing any side but her own. As Gina, Maria Ricossa is always calm, intellectually nimble and gracious. The result is devastating.

Philip Akin has directed the play with the most delicate of touches, always in control, always keeping things coiled until matters unravel and you sit back in your seat (for protection, certainly not to relax) and breathe deeply. Akin’s sensitive handling of the most explosive scenes never let the emotion run away with the play, but illuminated it. These are intelligent, educated people who are not idiots or clowns. They are riddled with contradictions and Philip Akin’s direction of his terrific cast carefully reveals that.

Comment. Playwright Will Arbery wrote the play when Donald Trump became president. Arbery’s family is Republican and his father was the president of a Catholic University in Wyoming. He knows these people. He’s not ridiculing them. He’s revealing them. They are articulate, searching, affectionate, challenging and insecure, no matter how secure they seem. He’s written a play which represents ‘the other side.’ They have something to say. We should listen, consider, ponder, assess, although not necessarily agree.

Arbery also has a ‘character,’ unlisted who ‘inhabits’ (haunts?) Emily. She is someone none of these characters really considered with their vaulting ideas about the world, abortion, society, etc. She is a Black woman, desperate for an abortion, and her words come out of Emily’s mouth (a stunning performance by Hallie Seline) in a torrent of rage, invective, hopelessness and desperation at the world she lives in.  Heroes of the Fourth Turning is a complex, challenging, unsettling play. Perfect for our unsettling times.

A co-production between The Howland Company and Crow’s Theatre present:

Plays until Oct. 29, 2023.

Running time: 2 hour, 10 minutes (no intermission)

www.crowstheatre.com

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Live and in person at the 1000 Islands Playhouse, Gananoque, Ont. Playing until Oct. 22, 2023.

www.1000islandsplayhouse.com

Music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Book by Enda Walsh

Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney

Directed and choreographed by Julie Tomaino

Musical direction by Chris Barillaro

Set by Joe Pagnan

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

Sound by Brian Kenny

Cast: Tyler Check

Sandy Crawley

Vera Deodato

Kevin Forster

Alexa MacDougall

Jon-Alex MacFarlane

Melissa MacKenzie

Em Siobhan McCourt

Brea Oatway

Alex Panneton

Daniel Williston

Juno Wong-Clayton

Seana-Lee Wood

Haneul Yi

A beautiful ache of a musical about love at the wrong time but with the right people.

Girl (Melissa MacKenzie) hears Guy (Tyler Check) busking on the street in Dublin. His song is beautiful and mournful. She compliments him and wants to know for whom he wrote the song. It was a woman who left to go to New York. Girl is on her way to get her vacuum cleaner fixed. It happens that Guy works for his father (Da) fixing vacuum cleaners. Guy fixes Girl’s vacuum cleaner and Guy and Girl find themselves getting closer to each other. He gives her a CD of his songs. She introduces him to her mother and her young daughter (it’s complicated). Guy says that in just a few days, Girl has changed his life. He’s invested in his music again. Girl says that Guy must go to New York to talk to his love there. It’s unfinished business. But there are stronger and stronger feelings between Guy and Girl.  

Director/choreographer, Julie Tomaino has created an exquisite, heartfelt, heartache of a production. As with other productions of Once, it’s deliberate that Girl and Guy to not kiss, or even touch each other, much as the audience wants them to. Julie Tomaino has created looks between Tyler Check as Guy and Melissa MacKenzie as Girl that are subtle, even furtive. At one point Guy and Girl are standing side by side looking out. He looks at her with a look of tenderness though she doesn’t see it, then he looks away back looking out, then Girl looks at him as tenderly. But their eyes don’t catch each other, what one might call an ‘if only’ look. It raises the emotional ante.  (Spoiler alert—director Julie Tomaino does take pity on the audience. While the production might not have Guy and Girl touch each other, at the bow Tyler Check and Melissa MacKenzie take their bow and then, ever so quickly they join hands firmly and then they unclasp their hands. It’s enough to give the audience some kind of emotional release).

As Guy, Tyler Check sings beautifully and with true emotion. He is that quintessential quiet man with deep emotions, grappling with unspoken feelings for his girlfriend in New York, and this new woman who has changed his life for the better in a matter of days. His quietness is compelling. As Girl, Melissa MacKenzie is watchful and somber. She says she never jokes because she is Czech, which is pretty funny in itself. She too sings beautifully. The performances for the whole production are lovely, lively, vibrant and briming with heart.

Joe Pagnan has created a stylish set that has a guitar motif. Guy plays the guitar so there are echoes of that around the set. There is a circle above with what look like strings going over it; panels are suspended above that look like frets of a guitar neck; the floor is of wood.

Once is that special kind of theatre that tells a simple story with elegance, humour, tenderness, wit, and open-hearted generosity.  And of course, you should see it, ideally more than once.

Thousand Islands Playhouse presents:

Plays until Oct. 22, 2023

Running time: 2 hours (1 intermission)

www.1000islandsplayhouse.com

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