Lynn

BALLET CREOLE

Soulful Messiah

From the press information:

Ballet Creole, one of Canada’s 1st professional Black dance companies presents one of the city’s favourite holiday traditions, Soulful Messiah. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Soulful Messiah is a soulful combination of tap, jazz, afro-caribbean, ballet, contemporary, hip hop and free-style. This Canadian-grown holiday tradition is rooted in music and movements from the African Diaspora, integrating traditional and contemporary vocabulary created by Caribbean-born, Artistic Director, Patrick Parson.

Soulful Messiah’s soundtrack is a modern reworking of the 30 years-old Grammy Award-Winning album Handel’s Messiah – A Soulful Celebration, produced by Quincy Jones. The holiday classic includes Hip Hop, Soul, R&B, Gospel and more.

The diverse range of disciplines and styles are connected through a celebration of life, death and universal love.  Tickets are on sale through balletcreole.org.

Artistic Director: Patrick Parson

Special guest: David Cox

December 17 – 18, 2022

Performance Schedule

Livestream – December 17: 7:15 PM

In person – December 17: 7:30 PM

In person – December 18: 3:00 PM

Location: Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre

York University.

110 ACE (Accolade East Building)

83 York Blvd

Toronto, ON M3J 2S5Tickets $10 available only through balletcreole.org and by phone at 416-736-5888.

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Produced by Eldritch Theatre. Closed, Dec. 4, 2022. Played at the Red Sandcastle Theater on Queen St. E. Toronto, Ont.

Created and written by Eric Woolfe

Directed by Dylan Trowbridge

Set and costumes by Melanie McNeill

Puppets by Eric Woolfe

Sound by Verne Good

Lighting by Gareth Crew

Cast: Mairi Babb

Lisa Norton

Eric Woolfe

NOTE: I was only able to see the second to last performance last Saturday night, but this show and its hugely gifted creator, Eric Woolfe and cast, warrant comment.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Eric Woolfe (the artistic director of Eldritch Theatre) arranged that I should have a printed programme rather than have to use the Q            R code, because I have been complaining so much when theatres don’t provide one. This does not constitute a bribe. A bribe would have been a two-scoop cup of Ed’s Ice Cream (next door) and that was not provided. I gladly bought it myself.

The Story. From the website to give a perfect sense of the wildness of the story:

“A weird-noir, hardboiled, cosmic-horror mystery told with sultry actors, terrifying puppets and dark, arcane magic. A warlock running from his past. A woman running from the End of the World.

“Rick Fischmascher is a rumpled private detective and warlock for hire, haunted by the death of his son (Howie), and entrenched in the arcane murder of a troubled opera singer. And he’s the chief suspect. Requiem for a Gumshoe is a weird-noir hardboiled mystery, re-telling of the Norse legend of Ragnarok in the pulpy style of Raymond Chandler infused with the cosmic horror of HP Lovecraft.”

Get the picture?

The Production. Because Eric Woolfe’s wild play suggests a world unbalanced, askew, off-kilter, designer Melanie McNeill has created a set that looks off-kilter too. The black door that leads off stage for some scenes and is actually the bathroom door for the theatre, is ‘framed’ with one white frame that is askew and another black frame behind that that tilts the other way. The result is an ‘optical illusion’ for most, but a dandy optical confusion if one is slightly sight impaired. The effect is the same—unsettle the folks.

Beside the black door is a larger area closed off by an opaque curtain. Behind the curtain is Rick’s office: a simple desk with all sorts of stuff behind it, including Rick (Eric Woolfe). I would not quite describe Rick as rumpled. He wears a fedora, a brown suit and a loosened tie. This suggests a certain care the man takes when he goes to work—a guy who wears a tie.  

I would describe Rick more as a man who is harried and brought down by the world and his worries. His son Howie died by drowning and he is desperate to find his body. His marriage to the sultry Myrna (a wonderful Lisa Norton) has gone bust. He is visited by a frantic Alice (an equally effective Mairi Babb) who is the opera singer frightened for her life and she wants Rick to help her. He’s not impressed that she sings opera. As Rick says to her: “I don’t go in for highbrow caterwauling. I like my music like I like my dames. Hot and rhythmic with plenty of syncopated percussion.” He tells her to come back the next day. Too late. She is found uh, erh, almost unrecognizable—shredded?—the next day. Rick’s interest is piqued at this turn of events so he wants to find her killer.

The events are many and fantastical. And there is magic and there are puppets. Rick does not carry a gun. He carries a magic wand that he uses to punctuate a point or to tap on a cup to magically produced coins or balls or magically make them disappear. Coins appear in his hand and then disappear through his fingers. And how he got that thread to combine with those razor blades he swallowed separately and then brought them out of his mouth, strung together, well, don’t ask. And he does this magic ‘innocuously’ while he is telling the story.

Puppets are manipulated by both Lisa Norton and Mairi Babb either worked on a hand or fitted on the head and manipulated that way. Each puppet is vivid, imaginatively created, angry and compelling. They represent the dark world that Rick and the other characters inhabit.

The Norse legend is evoked and it’s unsettling. A Norse god of sorts promises Rick he will see his son if Rick helps the god with getting something back from the Norse world. It was dense—I might have missed some points—but the Norse god tricked Rick leaving him bereft again.

Joining in the mayhem to guide it all with his own brand of ghoulish invention is director Dylan Trowbridge. He keeps the pace moving quickly. When a character dies it’s in the most gruesome, funny way—bits of guts in the form of shredded red boas fly through the air. Bits of corpse plop on the ground for an added “eeeewwww” effect. Trowbridge keeps the magic, the storytelling and the puppets involvement all in a seamless whole.

At the heart of Requiem for a Gumshoe is Eric Woolfe. Eric Woolfe is a gifted creator of weird work. He is keenly aware that for comedy to be successful—and his play Requiem for a Gumshoe is hilarious—the playing must be absolutely serious. He never tips his hand to show us where the joke is. He lets his dialogue do that. If anything, his Rick is pained and always has a furrowed brow or knitted eye-brows at the strangeness of what he is dealing with.

His dialogue is a mélange of gumshoe slang reminiscent of old detective stories or Damon Runyon. As an example besides the line about how he likes his dames, there is line that many characters are looking for: “The dread Necronomicon of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.” If there is a bit of a concern it is that occasionally the funny idea of a line is repeated perhaps too often and past the point where it’s funny. A bit of trimming might be in order.  

In any case one wonders, where does a brain come up with dialogue and stories like this? What was that man (Eric Woolfe) smoking when he wrote it? Or was he in a place where the air is rare (like Denver) and he was lightheaded by it all, and that got him going? No matter. Eric Woolfe produces works like this, the puppets, the masks and the ideas of a dark, angry world that are also hilarious. His plays are rich in clever, wild story-telling, full of their own dark, anger of a world gone wrong, and yet there are characters like Rick to try and set it right.

Comment. Requiem for a Gumshoe is the second in a trilogy dealing with the apocalypse. I am terrified and longing to see part three.

Produced by Eldritch Theatre.

Closed: Dec. 4, 2022.

Running time: 90 minutes.

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Live and in person at Hart House Theatre, produced by Bygone Theatre. Plays until Dec. 10, 2022.

https://harthouse.ca/theatre/show/the-birds

Written and directed by Emily Dix

Set and lighting by Wes Babcock

Props and costumes by Emily Dix

Cast: Chad Allen

Alex Clay

Anna Douglas

Oliver Georgiou

Kiera Publicover

This is the tenth anniversary of Bygone Theatre Company. Emily Dix, the founder and Artistic Executive Director, has guided the company for all of its 10 years and expanded its mandate to include community outreach. Lasting 10 years for any theatre company is an accomplishment, and while Bygone Theatre is a non-equity theatre company (and my reviewing focuses on Actors’ Equity companies), I thought I would check them out, certainly since they were doing a provocative play such as The Birds.

It should be noted that The Birds is an original play by Emily Dix, although it does borrow details from the Alfred Hitchcock film, who in turn based his film on the Daphne du Maurier short story, but expanded it.

In a tip of the hat to Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock, Emily Dix names her heroine Daphne Daniels; one of Dix’s characters is named Mitch Brennan, as in the Alfred Hitchcock film. Dix names another character Annie Hawthorne which is close to the last name of Annie in the Hitchcock film.

The Story. Daphne Daniels has come to the little cottage she inherited from her late mother.  We seem to be in the 1960s if the pillbox hat Daphne wears is any indication. She has arrived with her brother David Harper. Daphne’s husband is expected later after work. David is there because he had a bad experience in college and had to leave. We are given hints that he had a friend he thought he could trust but learned he shouldn’t have trusted him. David seems unsettled, if not unbalanced and fragile from the experience. Daphne hopes to help him calm down. They arrive with suitcases. Daphne has brought in freshly bought groceries she loads into the little icebox. There is no telephone. There is a radio.  When Daphne goes outside to check on something she is attacked by an angry bird and rushes back into the cottage.

She is visited by Annie Hawthorne who is making a cake for her boyfriend but she dropped the only egg she had. She comes to ask Daphne, whom she doesn’t know, if she can borrow an egg. Daphne invites this stranger into the house and sees that there are two eggs left in the icebox and gives one to Annie, who then leaves. Daphne is then visited by a man she doesn’t want to see: Mitch Brenner. He just happens to be in the neighbourhood and he just happens to be a man with whom Daphne was in love until he cheated on her with a chorus girl and she broke it off. Mitch is very sorry and wants to make it up to Daphne. Daphne shows him the door. A short time later, Annie returns with the finished cake and wants to give Daphne some of it as a gesture. She is accompanied by her boyfriend, Mitch Brenner.

In the meantime, Hank, the handyman, comes to warn all assembled of a swarm of birds that are attacking people. A car was driven off the road because a bird crashed into the windshield. There are news reports of this. Matters escalate. Birds crash into the cottage windows. A character falls down the stairs. Daphne frets that her husband hasn’t arrived. David begins acting stranger than usual and Mitch is calm through it all.

The Production. Emily Dix has directed the production and creates a slowly growing sense of danger. There are furtive looks out into the distance by characters who come centre stage, eyebrows knit in concern, foreboding surrounding them. A subtle rumbling sound underscores moments. A nice touch.

The time is the 1960s. Wes Babcock’s set has an ice-box in the kitchen. I marvel that the door does not have any shelving. There is a window on the stage right wall of the kitchen and another window on the stage left side of the living room. If action happens outside and a character is bashed against the window one hears the thud but can’t actually see what happened because of the angle. Perhaps that is the intention. Perhaps the audience is just told by a frantic character that something has happened to a character and the audience is supposed to imagine the worst. Somehow, I think if the windows were in a better position so the audience could see a face in the window clearly, that would raise the fear factor considerably.

 Babcock also created the lighting and at times lights flicker or fade, increasing the sense of doom. Birds bash at the kitchen and living room windows. We hear the sound but don’t actually see it happen.

The cast is very committed. Daphne is played by Anna Douglas with an accommodating lightness. David is played by Alex Clay who obviously has things to hide as he gets edgier and edgier. Mitch is played as a confident schemer by Oliver Georgiou. Annie is played by Keira Publicover as a trusting innocent. As Hank, Chad Allen is a strapping presence who nicely creates the sense of dread as a man who is terrified of the impending attack by the birds. Now if he could only slow down his frantic speech so that we can understand what he is saying, that would convey the sense of terror even better.

The theatre often requires we suspend our disbelief to enter into the sense of the story. But sometimes with this production of The Birds we are asked to suspend credulity. Daphne has just gone shopping but there are only two eggs in the icebox when Annie comes to borrow an egg. Were they from the last time she was there? How old are they? Mitch just happened to be in a relationship with Annie? How long and when did that happen because the coincidence challenges ‘credulity.’ Characters are attacked and perhaps killed by other characters and the shifts of focus in the story-telling and the production are obvious—perhaps a bit more subtlety might be in order.

Emily Dix says in her long free association ‘Director’s Note’ that “The Birds” purposefully leaves some blanks unfilled, and I hope each audience member has a different idea as to what exactly has happened….” I have always known that there are as many opinions about a play, what happened, etc. as there are people in the room watching it. All of the opinions are different. All valid.  A playwright doesn’t have to purposefully leave blanks. That’s unfair to the audience. In some quarters that would be called faulty playwrighting.

Still, helming a theatre company that has produced work for 10 years and is expanding its reach into the community is to be commended.

Bygone Theatre and Hart House Theatre presents:

Plays until: Dec. 10, 2022.

Running time: 2 hours approx. (with an intermission).

https://harthouse.ca/theatre/show/the-birds

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Live and in person at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Plays until January 15, 2023.

www.mirvish.com

Written by Amanda Whittington

Music as performed by Fisherman’s Friends

Based on a screenplay by Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, Piers Ashworth

Directed by James Grieve

Choreography by Matt Cole

Set and costumes by Lucy Osborne

Lighting by Johanna Town

Sound by Dan Samson

Musical director, James Findlay and James William-Pattison

Musical supervisor and arrangements, David White

Cast: Dan Buckley

Robert Duncan

James Gaddas

Fia Houston-Hamilton

Jason Langley

Susan Penhaligon

Parisa Shahmir

Anton Stephans

Plus other singers and musicians.

A raucous, lively show of toe-tapping traditional shanty songs loosely wrapped in a slight story of being ‘discovered’.

The Story. The story of the discovery and success of Fisherman’s Friends, an a cappella ‘band of singers’ from Port Isaac in Cornwall, England, is the stuff of dreams and feel-good musicals. In Amanda Whittington’s book of the musical the Fisherman’s Friends are singing their shanty songs in their pub, as they do after a day working on their fishing boats. They are friends, fishermen and have lived in Port Isaac for most of their lives. One fellah arrived from elsewhere 30 years before and stayed.

As luck would have it Danny Anderson a tourist visiting the small fishing village, heard them sing in the pub and thought immediately he could get them a record deal and make them famous. Danny was a record producer with Island Records until he was cut off from the company because of his various dependencies on drugs and drink.

Making the ‘band’ famous, and they hoped, rich, would help enormously. One of the singers also inherited the pub which was losing money and which owed a fortune in taxes. Danny needed this to redeem his reputation.

The story has been celebrated. The band got their record deal. The album landed in the top 10 of albums. Two movies were made of the group’s story and they travelled the world giving concerts, always returning home to work as fishermen, sing in the pub and enjoy each other’s company.

The Production. Lucy Osborne has designed a huge multi-leveled set that is supposed to be mainly the pub in this tiny village and a few other locations. It all seems rather grand to me.

 Lucy Osborne’s costumes are a cross between rustic and functional. Occasionally the fishermen’s slicker-coveralls are worn and dirty from use, but often they seem rather pristine—odd for hard-working fishermen.  James Grieve’s direction is unnecessarily busy, with characters scurrying all over the place, often moving for no reason except to look like they are all busy. The scenes when the men go out fishing are very effective as a small boat is ‘created’ with simple blocks and set pieces shifted about by ropes. You get a sense of the rough waters as the sailors shift and sway from side to side of the boat.

More than anything, this is a concert of the Fisherman’s Friends singing songs that are traditional and often 200 years old, passed down from grandfather to father to son.  It’s mostly a cappella but there is accompaniment from musicians, weaving in and out of the action, playing the melodeons, drums, violin, whistle, ukulele, bouzouki, and Anglo Concertina to name a few.     The cast sing the rousing shanty songs in beautiful harmony. Johanna Town’s lighting is more suited to a rock concert as is Dan Samson’s sound design. Often with all the drumming, music in the background and over amplification, it is hard to make out what anyone was saying—they all talk quickly with little focus on who is talking.

Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical is a show that wants to be more than just a concert. But with 32 songs of which 3 are reprises, in which song follows song, that is what it really is—a concert—with the occasional bit of information about Danny and his schemes to get the group a recording contract. There are lots of dangling story bits that make no sense—the pub is sort of saved but it’s not explained how the back taxes will be paid since the new owner has no money. Perhaps we are to ignore these glitches and just enjoy the singing. With two movies about the group and albums of their work one wonders why anyone thought a musical was a natural progression since the book is so weak.  

Mirvish Production Presents:

Plays until: January 15, 2023.

Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (1 intermission)

www.mirvish.com

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Live and in person at the Five Points Theatre, from Talk Is Free Theatre, Barrie, Ont. On until Dec. 3, 2022.

www.tift.ca

Written by Sharr White

Directed by Tracy Michailidis

Set by Joe Pagnan

Lighting by Jeff Pybus

Sound by James Smith

Costumes by Camila Farah

Projections provided by William Coons of The Shaker Bridge Theatre Company

Cast: Troy Adams

Jordin Hall

Glynis Ranney

Evelyn Wiebe

From the Talk Is Free Theatre website: “Juliana Smithton is a respected neurologist whose life has recently begun to unravel. But is everything as it seems? As the play unfolds, Juliana’s facts blur with fiction, her past collides with her present, and the truth begins to be revealed.”

I quote the website because the secrets of this clever, deceptive play would be revealed if I gave details. The beauty of Sharr White’s devilishly mysterious play is that the details should be revealed slowly. But let me give some context.

Juliana is at a conference talking about her research. She is forthright, confident, funny, and in this crowd of (male) doctors, she sees “a girl in a yellow string bikini.” Or does she? She has a fraught phone conversation with her son-in-law and harried daughter as they bath their two children. Or does she? Is Juliana’s devoted, caring husband Ian really filing for divorce or having an affair with Juliana’s therapist? Juliana has had an “episode.” She knows it’s brain cancer because cancer runs in her family, and this very young therapist she is seeing for consultation is not going to tell her differently. Or is she? As I said, the play is deceptive. But Sharr White is such a clever playwright you are with the play and the characters for the whole of it as clues give way to information and light seeps in to illuminate.

Glynis Ranney plays Juliana. She is beautifully dressed by Camila Farah in perfectly fitted slacks and a top, both of which look expensive. Ranney realizes Juliana’s confidence, almost combativeness and resolve with ease. This character is so full of conviction that you are always conflicted between what you think you are looking at and the reality. Yet there is a fragility to Juliana in her weaker moments that is quite touching, again, because of Ranney’s sensitive playing of her.

As Ian, Juliana’s husband, Troy Adams is a caring yet frustrated partner. The suspicion and accusations are things he’s lived with a long time. We do wonder where the truth is, until we realize where it actually is.

Evelyn Wiebe plays the young doctor supposedly treating Juliana. While the doctor is concerned for Juliana’s health, Juliana is so commanding that she flusters the doctor. Lovely work by Wiebe. And in another part as “The Woman”, Wiebe creates a character who is concerned when Juliana visits her, yet is compassionate when she realizes what is happening. Jordin Hall plays “The Man” again, who shows compassion.

Director Tracy Michailidis keeps a delicate hand on the staging and pace of the revelations. She never has any character tip their hand too soon or too obviously. Fascinating play. Fine work from everybody.

Talk Is Free Theatre Presents:

Runs until: Dec. 3, 2022.

Running time: 75 minutes (no intermission)

www.tift.ca

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Heads Up for some theatre treats.

THE OTHER PLACE

Until Dec. 3, 2022

By Sharr White

Juliana Smithton is a respected neurologist whose life has recently begun to unravel. But is everything as it seems? As the play unfolds, Juliana’s facts blur with fiction, her past collides with her present, and the truth begins to be revealed.

Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie, Ont.

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person at the Marilyn & Charles Baillie Theatre, Canadian Stage, Toronto, Ont. Until Dec. 18, 2022.

www.canadianstage.com

Created and performed by Ronnie Burkett
Music arranged and produced by John Alcorn

T’is the season and Ronnie Burkett, that master of sharp-speaking marionettes, is back with his freewheeling, bold, blistering show that mixes Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with Burkett’s own Daisy Theatre mayhem.  

The Beginning. Ronnie Burkett created The Daisy Theatre in 2013 as a co-commission of the Luminato Festival and the Centre for the Art of Performance at UCLA in Los Angeles. It was billed as “unleashed and unscripted.” Burkett created marionettes specifically for this show. Each marionette had a story. And because the show was unscripted for the most part, each show in the run was different. The cast of characters would vary from show to show. People from the audience would be invited to participate. What was constant was the sheer power of Burkett’s imagination and his breathtaking artistry with the marionettes.

When Ronnie Burkett began the Daisy Theatre he started with 40 marionettes. For this run in Toronto he now has 56 although he doesn’t use them all. It is presented as a ‘vaudeville entertainement.’

The Story, sort of and Performance.  Theatre diva, Esmé Massengill is looking forward to performing her show for her adoring fans. But she has been told by her stage manager, Bob Cratchett, that there is no show that night, Christmas Eve, nor the next night, Christmas Day. Esmé is furious. What will she do without a show?

Bob knows what he would like to do—stay home with his wife ‘and the many children that they can’t afford.’ One of the children is Tiny Tim, who is not well and uses crutches. Bob meekly asks Esmé for the two days off and she reluctantly agrees. Her nephew asks her to come to his house for some Christmas cheer. She sneers at him and sends him away.

Esmé is approached by two old time theatre artists asking for donations to the Actors’ Fund for actors in need. Again, she is furious: “Are there no touring productions?” “Have they approached the Mirvishes?” Esmé has no sympathy.  She goes home and is then visited by various ghosts—past, present and to come- who try and get her in gear to be a better human being.

Interspersed with the Dickens story, are some of the many and various marionettes in Ronnie Burkett’s astonishing arsenal. There is Dolly Wiggler, stripper extraordinaire, who never met a piece of clothing she didn’t want to take off in front of an audience; Major-General Lesley Fuckwad (retired), a no-nonsense military man who loves to break into song while wearing an beguiling frock; Rosemary Focaccia is the angriest, most frustrated lounge-singer you will ever see; Meyer Lemon is a ventriloquist and Little Woody Linden is his puppet. Schnitzel, a sweet, wide-eyed fairy child with a flower growing out of the top of his bald head. Schnitzel plays Tiny Tim with great empathy. Schnitzel is the fragile creature we hold dear and want to protect; there is the equally beloved Mrs. Edna Rural, a widow from rural Alberta. She has written a cookbook: “Keep Your Fork, There’s Pie.” She is the heart, soul and gracious humanity, with Schnitzel, of the show.

Comment. Burkett appears, enthusiastic, brimming with impish good humour. He notes that there is no script so anything can happen, and often does.  But you get the sense that while there might not be a formal script, there is a structure to the evening and lots and lots of irreverence. If there is a quibble, it’s that the show does need trimming, editing, a check on the free-wheeling.

He will ask for volunteers to assist him. A woman will be asked to work the Daisy Orchestra and perhaps give a kiss to an old marionette who sweeps the theatre floor. A man will be asked to come up and take his shirt off and participate in the story-telling.  Burkett’s mind is so quick, his perceptions of the world so clear and prescient, that as ideas strike him, he will ad lib a comment that might leave you reeling. Be prepared—he’s masterful.

The constant in a Ronnie Burkett production is his staggering artistry. The action unfolds in a decorated wagon that holds the marionettes and props. Burkett stands about five feet above the wagon’s stage manipulating the wires and bits and pieces attached to his marionettes below. Burkett is brilliant. Clear and simple. Dolly Wiggler—a stripper—and Burkett manipulates that marionette and Dolly does strip. Burkett not only manipulates Meyer Lemon, the ventriloquist, but also Meyer’s ‘dummy’, Little Woody Linden, whose mouth opens and closes. Astonishing. As a true artist, Burkett is constantly pushing himself (never mind an ‘envelope’, there is no envelope that can contain his imagination). He says that it’s impossible to make a marionette walk backwards. Burkett does it. His creations kneel, cross their legs, do high kicks and seem to become human before our eyes.

You spend most of your time picking up your dropped jaw at something dazzling he has done and just accept it as the magic of the master. I have long given up wondering, “How does he do that?” I just accept it for the artistry that is Ronnie Burkett. Welcome back, Mr. Burkett. It’s been too long.

Canadian Stage Presents:

Plays until: Dec. 18, 2022.

Running Time: 90 minutes, but often longer. (No intermission).

www.canadianstage.com

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Hi Folks,

I’m doing this course at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre by Zoom, on Jewish Playwrights in January. Please check it out:

Community Programs: Arts & Culture 2022-23TheatreTalks and Presentations

 Back

Influential Jewish Playwrights: What Comes First, Being a Playwright or a Jew?Register for the session

 Purchase as drop-in via the calendar below

Start date: Monday, January 16 2023.

Schedule:

 On Monday from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM.

 From 1/16/2023 until 1/30/2023

Location: MNjcc Zoom Meeting

Description:

Is there a distinction between being a Jewish playwright and a playwright who is Jewish? What comes first, being a playwright or being a Jew? Or are they entwined? Is it obvious in the work? Is there such a thing as a Jewish theatrical sensibility? Learn about some of the most influential European, American and Canadian playwrights and their theatrical works that have made a difference. This virtual series willl be recorded.       

Guest speaker: theatre critic Lynn Slotkin 

LEARN MORE & REGISTER—

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Live and in person at Crow’s Theatre’s Streetcar Crowsnest. Toronto, Ont. until Dec. 18.

www.crowstheatre.com

Written by Lolita Chakrabarti

Directed by Cherissa Richards

Set and props by Julie Fox

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Arun Srinivasan

Sound by Thomas Ryder Payne.

Cast: Kyle Blair

Ellen Denny

 Starr Domingue

 Nathan Howe

 Jeff Lillico

 Allan Louis

 Patrick McManus

 Amelia Sargisson

 A thoughtful, nuanced production with a compelling performance by Allan Louis as Ira Aldridge, the first Black actor to play Othello—two hundred years ago—and the difficulties he endured to get there.

The Story. It’s 1833 in London, England. Edmund Kean, the great tragedian was playing Othello at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (now known as the Royal Opera House) when he collapsed on stage, in mid-performance. A replacement had to be found quickly, and while Kean’s son Charles was thought to be a natural replacement (Charles was playing Iago to his father’s Othello), the theatre manager, Pierre Laporte had other ideas. He hired African-American actor Ira Aldridge to take over the part while Kean recovered (note: Kean died a few weeks later). Aldridge had earned a reputation as a fine actor in the provinces and in Europe and so Laporte felt Aldridge would be a perfect fit to play the Moor.

The acting styles between Ira Aldridge’s naturalistic style and the more artificial, broad acting of the British actors, clashed. Aldridge was subjected to the overt racism of Charles Kean and some of the older actors. The objection of a Black actor playing Othello was so prevalent that Aldridge was fired after two performances.  

The Production. The production opens in a dressing room in a theater in Lodz, Poland, 1867. A young reporter, Halina Wozniak (Amelia Sargisson) has inveigled herself into the theatre to interview Ira Aldridge (Allan Louis) who is there to play King Lear. He has been ill and is irritable about being disturbed by this insistent reporter. She wants to talk to him about his short run in London more than 30 years before. And he doesn’t want to remember that time.

The play then goes back to 1833 and the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. The cast of Othello is in turmoil because of the sudden illness of Edmund Kean who was playing Othello. The theatre manager, Pierre Laporte (Kyle Blair) has called them all to introduce them to Ira Aldridge who will be taking over the part of Othello while Kean is ill. The cast is further shocked because Ira Aldridge is a Black man. He is a celebrated African-American actor in his own right, having worked in the provinces and Europe, but this is Britain and attitudes are blinkered, narrow-minded, and rigid.

Playwright Lolita Chakrabarti has created characters illuminating a cross-section of cultural-class-racially biased attitudes in that room. Charles Kean (Jeff Lillico) Edmund Kean’s son is played by Jeff Lillico with the arrogance and condescension of a man who believes that playing Othello is his right. There is no other opinion but his blinkered one. Bernard Warde (Patrick McManus) is a senior member of the company with a puffed-up sense of himself and his long history as an actor. Patrick McManus plays Bernard Warde with that off-handed arrogance of a man who believes that the British are superior to everybody in everything.

On the other side of this limited thinking are the more open-minded Henry Forrester (Nathan Howe) and Ellen Tree (Ellen Denny). Henry is a young actor who has actually seen Ira Aldridge act before and is eager to work with him. He is open to new ideas in the theatre and different ways of acting. As Henry, Nathan Howe illuminates Henry’s enthusiasm at new ideas and situations. Ellen Tree is the young actress who will play Desdemona to Ira Aldridge’s Othello. She is also engaged to Charles Kean. Ellen Denny plays Ellen Tree with a careful attitude in this strange situation for her. She is engaged to the son of the celebrated actor/manager of the company, but she also wants to be open and accommodating to Ira Aldridge. Ellen Denny as Ellen Tree is confident, gracious and no pushover. Betty Lovell (Amelia Sargisson) is a young actress in the company who does not want to make waves on either side.

Into this swirl of varying attitudes and ideas comes Ira Aldridge played with vigor, an accommodating attitude and firm confidence by Allan Louis. Ira Aldridge knows the world into which he will be involved, but he knows his worth and value. He greets every person in the room with consideration and a sense that he’s glad to meet them all, even the ones of whom he should be wary. When he is rehearsing with Ellen Tree, he has the confidence to make suggestions to the playing—his way of acting is more naturalistic than the ‘tea-cup’, mannered acting of the British. Ellen sees that and tries his suggestions. She too has the confidence and generosity to suggest ways of pronouncing words (which are different than Ira’s) but she also provides a reason for it. Aldridge sees the good in the suggestion and follows suit. Lolita Chakrabarti has created the give and take of respectful actors to each other’s way of playing. Fascinating.

Pierre Laporte is the manager of the theatre and is played with elegance and style by Kyle Blair. As ‘established’ as Laporte might be in that mix, he and Ira are more than long-time friends. They have a lot in common. Both would be considered ‘outsiders’ by the class-conscious British. Ira Aldridge is an African-American and Pierre Lalporte is French.  Later in the play, developments would arise that would test that friendship and the character of each man.

Finally, also in that room is Connie (Starr Domingue), the tea lady. She is a woman of colour from Trinidad (noted as Jamaica in the text, but changed to Trinidad to reflect Starr Domingue’s background). Connie is almost always present in rehearsals and often meetings to cater to the wishes of the cast in pouring cups of tea. as well as getting and delivering items from elsewhere. In Connie, playwright Lolita Chakrabarti establishes a clearer look at the world into which Connie and Ira exist.

To the British, Connie is there to serve, generally in silence. In some cases one almost expects a snap of the fingers to ask for a cup of tea. One rarely hears ‘thank you’ from the group. When a cup of tea is offered there might be a slight smile or a nod of the head in reaction, but almost never an expression of ‘thank you.’  Starr Domingue plays Connie with an attentive accommodation. She is also watchful, always listening and aware of what this group is saying. She reacts with an elegant subtleness and nuance to what is being said about the world and Ira Aldridge. She would be keenly aware that there are riots of protests in the streets as slavery is being abolished in ‘the colonies’. Her attention to what is happening in the room would be heightened when Ira Aldridge enters the room. It’s here that we see this courtly man offer his hat to Connie who comes to take it to put it in safekeeping and he says in a clear voice, “Thank You.” This is the first time any manners are offered to Connie.

Lolita Chakrabarti has beautifully established the breathtaking subtleties in those relationships, those racial attitudes and the social mores of the times. Later Connie feels confident in talking to Ira Aldridge and she castigates him for Othello’s behaviour to Desdemona. She does not separate the actor from his part. She feels they are the same.  She could be talking about how Aldridge contends with the rudeness of some of his colleagues.

Director Cherissa Richards also beautifully creates this charged world without blurring any of the lines. In Cherissa Richards’ sensitive direction we get the sense of the enthusiasm of the acting between Ellen Tree and Ira Aldridge. We are told that Ira might have been too rough with Ellen in that there are references to bruises on her arms. This is tricky. In a scene after the Othello opening night there are references to those bruises, but when Ellen Tree appears for a scene, her arms are bare to the elbows and there is nary a bruise in evidence. So, is it true? Were there bruises? Was there make-up that was not dark enough? Was that just a rumor to discredit Ira Aldridge? A mystery.

Julie Fox has created a set that shows the elegance of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden as well as the universal dinginess of all backstages. Arun Srinivasan’s muted lighting also reflects that world.  Ming Wong’s costumes establish the elegance of the times in the fine materials etc. Thomas Ryder Payne’s sound captures the riots, storms and screams when a grip is too tight.      

Comment. Lolita Chakrabarti has taken a little known part of American-British theatre history and fashioned a bracing play that sheds light on the shameful trials that Ira Aldridge endured to create his career and reputation. He was celebrated in Europe and the provinces of England 200 years ago. He is the first Black actor to play Othello. And it ‘only’ took another 100 years for the next Black actor, Paul Robeson, to play Othello again. Time changes too slowly.

Terrific production.

NOTE: A continuing note on the thorny issue of printed programmes. Some theatres provide them and some do not. Crow’s Theatre offers a sheet of vibrant red paper (“Red Velvet” we get it) that is 8 ½” x 6” approx. on which is the cast and crew are written in a font so small you need glasses to read it. The paper is inserted into a very glossy season brochure. Keep the brochure or post it on the website.

I want a printed programme.

I use the printed programme to see who is playing who and to make notes. The programme is a record of what I saw and who was in it. The QR Code is of no use to capture the information to my cell phone if I’m not allowed to turn on the cell phone to consult during the show.

I want a printed programme.

Yes, I appreciate theatres are being ecologically responsible; ‘going green’ I believe is the phrase. Commendable. Save money on the glossy season brochure.

I want a printed programme.

I was told I can ‘click here’ and download the program on my computer. Fine I ‘clicked’ there and downloaded it and when I went to print it off, the size indicated on the screen was 33%. When I printed it off, the results were so large on the page I missed vital information on the cast and bios. Many efforts to adjust and fix this were hopeless.  

I don’t have the time or energy to also have to get a certificate in computer science to figure out fiddling and fussing with sizes, instructions, etc. to print off what I need.

I need and want a printed programme.

Just look at it as a small necessity of putting on theatre. Give one to every other person. Ask them to share. Ask them to recycle. Let the computer literate go wild with the QR Codes and download.

Those of us who are literate in other ways want a printed programme.

Work it out.

Thank you.

Crow’s Theatre presents:

Plays until: Dec. 18, 2022.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes (with 1 intermission).

www.crowstheatre.com

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