Lynn

Live and in person at the Thousand Islands Playhouse, Springer Theatre, Gananoque, Ont. Playing until Sept. 8.

www.1000islandsplayhouse.com

Written by Stephen Massicotte

Directed by Brett Christopher

Set by Joe Pagnan

Costumes by Jayne Christopher

Lighting by Jeff Pybus

Composer and sound by Richard Feron

Cast: Maev Beaty

Wade Bogert-O’Brien

Intensely emotional. A bitter-sweet, gentle ache of a play about love and war.

The Story. It’s 1920, the day before Mary’s wedding. She dreams of a time a few years before, of a thunderstorm and the first time she met and probably fell in love with Charlie, a young man about her age. Because of the thunderstorm, Mary found shelter in a barn. There she saw Charlie and his horse. Charlie was cowering in fear of the thunder. He still found the ability to calm his also terrified horse. Mary calms Charlie as well after they introduce themselves. She has recently arrived from England with her parents. Charlie is a local farm boy in the prairies. When the storm passes Charlie returns to his usual self. He offers Mary a ride home on his horse. Her mother is not happy about Mary meeting what she describes ‘as a dirty farm boy.’ A friendship forms between the two young people and that slowly grows into love.

World War I is raging in Europe. When Canada joins the war effort Charlie feels it’s his duty to sign up. Mary is upset by this. They have a fight and Charlie goes off to war without Mary saying goodbye to him, but Charlie writes her the most personal letters. Their love grows deeper and it leads up to the day before Mary’s wedding.

Performance and comment. Stephen Massicotte’s wonderful two-hander play debuted in 2002 and has played consistently across the country since then. I’ve seen at least five productions of it within the last 10 years and one never gets tired of it. It’s about sweet, innocent first love that grows deep. It’s about war, separation and challenges to that love. And it’s about communication through letter-writing, that wonderful, old-fashioned way of communicating that required thought, effort, the need of a pencil and paper and the determination to get it sent to the one for whom it was meant. Imagine it.

It’s very tempting to compare previous productions of the play, but I don’t see the point. Most people won’t have seen the same ‘collection’ of productions so who does the comparison serve? Nobody. So I’m not doing it. I don’t roll that way.

Joe Pagnan has designed a terrific set for this wonderful production. It has the outline of the roof of a barn at the top of which are plants and foliage draped over a high beam. There are planks of wood stacked askew on the stage that suggest different locations, especially when the structure can be rotated to reveal a sunken area that can be a trench in the war scenes.  There are fence structures to the side that suggest a farm fence etc. 

Jayne Christopher’s costumes are rustic farm wear for Charlie (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) (shirt, suspenders, khaki pants and boots, to which an army jacket is added for the war scenes) and a long white dress for Mary (Maev Beaty) that can be her nightgown or any other kind of long dress.

The lighting by Jeff Pybus is exquisite. There are flickering lighting effects when Charlie describes being shelled by the enemy; or when bombs are dropped (kudos also to Richard Feren for the sound effects of the gunfire, the lapping of waves as Charlie crosses the ocean in a ship the subtle other sounds one hears during this terrific production.

The whole production is directed with such sensitivity and creativity by Brett Christopher. It’s poignant, funny, almost impish in some of its invention—the perfect timing of an umbrella springing open is one. (Okokok, I know that spring-loaded-umbrellas were not invented in 1920. A little poetic/theatrical license is in order, especially when the joke is so beautifully executed by Wade Bogert-O’Brien as Charlie and Maev Beaty as Mary.

There are several scenes with horses and they are suggested by Charlie just holding a looped bridle almost arm’s length. So simple and so expressive. The acting of both Maev Beaty as Mary and Wade Bogert-O’Brien as Charlie is heartfelt, tender, emotional and expressive. In one scene Mary says to Charlie that she nearly died of grief and Maev Beaty’s playing of that scene is so invested with the emotion of the memory that one can feel Mary’s heartache. So vivid is the playing that one can also conjure the heartache in one’s life as a result. Wade Bogert-O’Brien as Charlie is innocent, shy and yet beautifully wise and mature. Together they lead each other into falling in love and holding that feeling close. At one point Mary is stuck in her dreams, as she has a recurring dream before her wedding, and Charlie gently tells her how to move forward with her love. This was the most emotional, moving production of Mary’s Wedding that I have ever seen.

It’s theatre that does indeed hold a mirror up to society and shows us the best of us and the healing power of love. As always, take Kleenex.  

1000 Islands Playhouse presents:

Plays until Sept. 8, 2024.

Running time: 90 minutes, (no intermission)

www.1000islandsplayhouse.com

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Live and in person at the Studio Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Playing until Sept. 29, 2024.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by Edward Albee

Directed by Dean Gabourie

Set and costumes by Shawn Kerwin

Lighting by Kaileigh Krysztofiak

Sound by Adam Campbell

Cast: Matthew Kabwe

Anthony Palermo

Lucy Peacock

Rick Roberts

A provocative play going to the extremes to examine societal boundaries, what is appropriate behaviour in love and relationships.

The Story. Martin is a celebrated, award-winning architect. He has been picked to design the ideal city and he’s only turned fifty. He has a been in a long, happy marriage to his wife Stevie. They have a son named Billy who is gay, and loved by his parents.

But Martin is distracted, forgetful and pre-occupied for some reason. He is to be interviewed on his latest milestones by his friend Ross and Ross keeps pushing Martin to confirm that he’s ok—what with all the distractions in this interview. Then Martin confides to Ross: he, Martin, is in love with Sylvia. Who is a goat. I don’t mean Greatest Of All Time. I mean a goat, as in the barnyard animal. As in goat-cheese, chevre. That kind of goat. 

Martin says that he was in the country, scouting property to buy for him and Stevie. At the crest of a hill, he saw the goat that he named Sylvia and instantly fell in love with her soft brown eyes.  He was smitten. He kept going back to see her. Martin tells Ross that he (Martin) can’t tell Stevie about it. Ross says he has to. Ross takes it upon himself to send Stevie a letter telling her.

The Production and comment. Director, Dean Gabourie has set an impish tone with the selection of the pre-show music. Various artists sing Cole Porter’s song of ‘doing it’  “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)”:

Birds do it, bees do it

Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love

Followed by several clever stanzas of lyrics of the many and various forms of life that ‘do it’, fall in love (although ‘doing it’ suggests more than just ‘falling in love.’) It’s a perfect song for establishing with wit, humour and innuendo that will follow, but with a surprising shock.

Shawn Kerwin has designed a beautiful, modern set. There are four white comfortable chairs facing each other; a room wide white shelving unit on which are black framed photos, objets d’art and other items, all in a contrasting dark colour to the white unit. Behind one of the chairs is a table on which is a white model of a building along with a vase of vibrant coloured flowers. The room says: “tasteful, beautifully appointed and successful. This is the showcase home of Martin (Rick Roberts and his wife Stevie (Lucy Peacock).

Shawn Kerwin also designed the costumes. Ross (Matthew Kabwe) is grungy/casual; Billy (Anthony Palermo) is in jeans and t-shirt, typical for a teenager; Martin is casual in a shirt, blazer and pants, but the quality of the clothes for him is obvious. Stevie is in flowing beiges and crème coloured top, sweater coat of sorts and wide legged pants and crème coloured shoes. Stunning. The statement here is that Stevie is perfectly dressed to impress and also for comfort.  

Stevie is fluffing pillows and arranging flowers in preparation for Martin’s interview with his friend Ross to mark his (Martin’s) latest honours. Stevie and Martin banter good-naturedly and with teasing affection. Martin seems distracted. He can’t remember anything, such as who Stevie is talking about (Ross), even though they have discussed the interview for several minutes.  

When Stevie receives Ross’s letter explaining that Martin is having an affair, naturally Stevie does not take it well.  As Stevie, Lucy Peacock is furious when she reads the letter and confronts Martin with the information. Stevie is incandescent with anger at this betrayal. She starts breaking things and tipping furniture with every sentence Martin utters because he’s trying to explain his feelings as true love for Sylvia.

With a combination of simmering fury and contained control, Lucy Peacock as Stevie is nuanced, watchful, superior, and dangerous. She calls Martin’s relationship with Sylvia, bestiality. Martin, as played by the wonderful Rick Roberts, on the other hand doesn’t see it that way. He says it’s love from his point of view. He is at a loss to explain his feelings but they are true. At first Martin joined a group of like-minded people who were in love with animals and had a physical relationship with them. Stevie is horrified and continues to break stuff.

(A quibble, when these things smash, they should do so with more dramatic smashing etc. As it is it just seems the objects are breaking into neat pieces—I think it should be more explosive than just breaking the stuff into neat pieces. The smashed glass was terrific).

Matthew Kabwe as Ross is easy-going and concerned about Martin. He’s wary because he knows his friend. Ross is a sturdy friend and wants what’s good for Martin and Stevie. As Billy, Anthony Palermo is an emotional teenager, almost petulant, which works a treat.

What is playwright Edward Albee really saying here? I think he’s using the extreme when talking about relationships with what some would call “the other”.  Stevie rages that people should be with “their own kind”.  She is meaning humans should have relationships with humans. But we know from history that within that human category, people were forbidden to have relationships with people of the same sex. Until recently in some states it was illegal for a Black person and a white person to marry. It had been frowned upon for people from different religions, ethnicities, and nationalities to marry/love/be associated with such people. So Edward Albee is taking it to extremes in The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? by having a human have a sexual relationship with a goat under the guise of love.  And just to be cheeky, Albee includes Stevie and Martin’s son who is gay, which would have been a category frowned upon to have a same sex relationship. I also think Albee is being smarmy when he gives Martin’s very feminine wife a man’s name, Stevie. Albee is looking at the status quo and unbalancing it.

Albee tips the balance by offering two firm points of view.  Stevie and Ross think Martin having an affair with a goat is depraved. They think it unthinkable that Martin could actually love an animal in a romantic way. Martin of course disagrees and loves Sylvia to distraction and can’t articulate why he does—he loved her gentle eyes. He says she returns his affection….I think that’s a lot of pressure from Martin on Sylvia.

Director Dean Gabourie has let the play unfold slowly but then relentlessly, without sentiment, or holding back. He has directed a bristling production of a provocative play with care and attention.   

The Stratford Festival presents:

Plays until Sept. 29, 2024.

The running time is 2 hours (without an intermission)

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Live and in person at Waring House, 395 Sandy Hook Road, Picton, Ont. Prince Edward County. Produced by Théâtre Roulant. Playing until Aug. 16, 2024

www.theatreroulant.ca

Written by Maureen Jennings

Directed by John Burns

Sound and Lighting by Alfie Latanski and Brian Legere

Original music by Percy Adler

Cast: David Baker

Pat Larkin

Bill McMahon

Musician: Howard Lopez: Piano/keyboard 

It’s quite an adventure going into the hinterlands to see theatre of all sorts and discovering new companies. A recent discovery was Théâtre Roulant, Canada’s only horse drawn theatre caravan. Two horses pull the caravan around Prince Edward County and set down at a town or resort in the area to perform plays for the community. The plays are performed in and around the caravan which is a repurposed Mennonite built square bale hay wagon from the 1960’s. It has been outfitted with a portable stage, lighting, sound gear, theatre black curtains and safety equipment on the inside offering approximately 160 square ft of space and a similar dimension of outer stage. Eight-foot barn door openings on either side of the caravan reveal the space.

The co-artistic directors/producers of Théâtre Roulant are John Burns who directs and Conrad Beaubien who often writes the original plays for production. Dying Like This is different in this regard because it was written by Maureen Jennings—she of murder-mystery novel fame. One series of her books has been adapted into the tv series, ‘Murdock Mysteries.’ When John Burns and Conrad Beaubien met Maureen Jennings she mentioned she had a play in a drawer where it had been for years. John Burns’ interest was piqued and a year later the play, Dying Like This is being performed on the grounds of the Waring House for the local community. The audience sits at round tables around the space where they can order a drink, a meal, or snacks while watching the play. Bug spray is generously available.

The Story. Widower Harry Mckenna, is lonely and adrift. His wife died a year before and he misses her terribly. Things change when the ghost of his old friend, Sam Ribick, appears. Sam died without resolving his conflicted relationship with his son Pete and he needs Harry’s help. Then Pete himself arrives and Harry is compelled to do just that because Pete is so troubled about his son.

The Production. Actors Pat Larkin and Bill McMahon slowly, reverentially open the large side doors of the caravan to reveal the insides and some of the playing area and to begin the production. Bill McMahon plays Harry Mckenna. Harry misses his wife who passed away a year before. He’s got a loving but prickly relationship with his married daughter. Into this situation comes the ghost of Sam Ribick, played with laid back reserve by Pat Larkin. His appearance startles Harry. They banter, reminisce and confess secrets. Deep in this conversation, almost as an afterthought, is Sam’s urgent request to Harry to help Sam’s son Pete because Sam thinks Pete needs it. Just as quickly Pete (David Baker) appears. He managed to drop in to Toronto, from Vancouver, without much explanation.

Of course, Harry sees and hears the ever-present ghost of Sam and Pete does not. Sam comments on things; Harry answers him and Pete is confused about why Harry would say what he did to him (Pete). In this case it’s mildly amusing because we have seen it so often before in conversations in film or theatre, when a ghost or something imagined is involved like a six foot tall imaginary rabbit named Harvey.

Pete is in rough shape. He has a bad cough that is troubling. He is bitter at the world, women, immigrants, people of colour, and especially his father. Sam never had a good word to say about Pete. Sam still rages about Pete now in his ghostliness. The actors are well intentioned and earnest.

The play needs work. I can appreciate that it’s written by Maureen Jennings, but I get the sense it was written years ago, before Maureen Jennings was “Maureen Jennings.” A careful re-write or two is in order. There’s too much banter between Sam and Harry that goes on too long before we find out that Sam is frantic that Harry help Pete. For most of Sam’s concern about his son, almost everything he says to Harry is negative. When Pete appears it’s as if his appearance brings every annoyance to the fore for Sam. Where then is the care and concern for his son? That must be dealt with and the confusion removed. Why is Pete there at all? He lives in Vancouver and yet he made the journey to Harry in Toronto I believe. Why? Was the reason buried in chit chat and I missed it?  It should be given its ‘moment and made clearer.

I can appreciate that director John Burns is committed and well intentioned, but the show needs rigorous attention. The show is two hours with an intermission. It should be 90 minutes without an intermission. The pace must be speeded up and the pregnant pauses removed. There seems an awful lot of movement in this three hander, especially with Sam (the ghost). He is always on the move, walking slowly here and then there. Why? It’s distracting. And while it’s wonderful that Percy Adler has created original music and Howard Lopez plays the piano/keyboard live for the whole show, again, I had to ask why? Why is almost the whole show underscored with music? We don’t need it. It’s not as if it’s a silent movie and stirring organ music fills in the emotion. This is live theatre and the text and the acting should do the job. I found the music annoying if not distracting. In a perfect world I would cut it all out.

I applaud the commitment of John Burns and Conrad Beaubien to bring theatre to the community. I just wished that Dying Like This was a better endeavor.

Théâtre Roulant presents:

Runs until Aug. 16, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours (1 intermission)

www.theatreroulant.ca

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Live and in person at Here for Now Theatre, Stratford Perth Museum, Stratford, Ont. Playing until Aug. 16, 2024.

www.herefornowtheatre.com

Written by Deirdre Kinahan

Directed by Brenda Bazinet

Set by Fiona Mongillo

Sound by Dhanish Qumar Chinniah

Cast: Rosemary Dunsmore

Robert Gerow

Devastating, compelling, beautifully written and wonderfully acted and directed.

The Story. From the programme notes: “There’s a new man in Máire’s life. But some people aren’t happy. On the morning of her 67^th birthday, Máire sits up in bed enjoying a cigarette. There is a man downstairs. She is blooming.”

The man downstairs is Martin. He’s young enough to be Máire’s son. She met him at Church. He’s a devout young man. Máire and Martin hit it off. He begins doing odd jobs for her at her home: fixing things, cutting the grass. They developed a close rapport and they went to bed together on her birthday. Máire’s son Mel arrives to tell her that he’s done some checking and Martin is not who he says he is.

The Production. Fiona Mongillo’s set is carefully assembled by a young man played by Robert Gerow. We aren’t sure who he is at the moment, but he is almost reverential in his putting the set pieces together around the space. There is a murphy bed that is brought down from the wall, a table, a ‘cupboard’ of sorts, and other aspects of Máire’s bedroom are established.

Máire (Rosemary Dunsmore) sits up in bed, reaching for a cigarette (that was started by the young man assembling the set). She is smiling broadly at the revery of her night of passion with Martin. He has awakened feelings in her that she never thought possible. One could almost feel the tingle of sexual satisfaction on the skin of Máire’ because of the buoyant way that Rosemary Dunsmore plays her. Máire’ revels in the memory of the sex with Martin, the night before. One  feels like a voyeur observing her luxuriating in the memory. Rosemary Dunsmore’s performance here is intoxicating.

But from such euphoria comes the memories of times gone by that were not so happy. Máire was married to Colm for years, happily at the beginning. He was a caring husband, at the beginning. They had children together. He died about a year before and Máire was lost, searching for meaning. We assume she found solace in the Church and in Jesus, whom she always talked to. And before that there were the truly dark days.

When Máire was about nine years old her father got a job in England. (The play takes place in Ireland). Her father could not take her with him so he gave her to the Catholic Church to take care of her and that meant putting her to work in one of the laundries. If one knows what that is, one sucks air at the horror that little kid must have endured.

The Catholic Church ran what were called “The Magdalene Laundries,” places where pregnant unmarried women were dumped by their families, boyfriends etc. because of the embarrassment of being in the family way. The women were put to work doing the laundry using abrasive (lye soap) and no rubber gloves. When the women came to term their babies were taken away from them and put up for adoption. They never saw them again. And because of the stigma they didn’t seem to leave the laundry, except in a few cases, Máire being one of them.  

Máire describes it as “that place without mercy.” The nuns were abusive and cruel. It seemed to be a place without forgiveness. Rosemary Dunsmore’s performance went from the glow of sexual release to the horrible memories of the laundries. Her face was contorted because of the debilitating memories of what she endured as a kid and for years. Rosemary Dunsmore took you delicately to the edge of your seat and held you there, squeezing your heart for so many reasons, with this nuanced, gripping, shattering performance.

We never see Martin. We see Mel, played by Robert Gerow. Mel is Máire’s son. He is in a happy gay marriage, something Máire cannot quite understand in this modern Ireland. He wants the best for his mother, but he is frustrated because of Máire’s reluctance to believe him about Martin. Of course, Máire does not want to know the truth. Martin has given her some rare pleasure and does not want to believe he is somebody other than who he says he is.

Robert Gerow as Mel is caring, determined and urgent in his need to convince Máire that Martin is not who he says he is. Robert Gerow proves very capable of rising to the occasion of playing with Rosemary Dunsmore. He’s an actor to watch.

Brenda Bazinet has directed The Saviour withattention to the details of the story, with creativity, sensitivity and without a shred of sentimentality. She is not afraid of bringing out all the brutality of the story with simplicity and understatement. The result is resounding.

Comment. Deirdre Kinahan is one of Ireland’s major contemporary playwrights. She writes about issues that affect modern Ireland as well as the issues that have clouded its past. She is a masterful, poetic writer, with a way with a phrase that just dazzles. All of that is clear in The Saviour.

Here for Now Theatre presents:

Playing until Aug. 16, 2024.

Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (no intermission)

www.herefornowtheatre.com

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Live and in person at the Blyth Festival, Blyth, Ont. Playing until Aug. 31, at the Memorial Hall.

www.blythfestival.com

Written by Birgitte Solem

Directed by Randy Hughson

Set by Pat Flood

Costumes by Amanda Wong

Lighting by Nic Vincent

Sound by Adam Campbell

Cast: Geoffrey Armour

Landon Doak

Jamie Mac

Fiona Mongillo

Hallie Seline

Playwright Birgitte Solem knows about murder mysteries. For one thing for 10 years she wrote site-specific dinner theatre mysteries for Mysteriously Yours in Toronto. That’s quite a feat. Resort to Murder is not only a delicious play on words, it’s also a rip-roaring murder mystery with more twists and turns than a New York pretzel.

Brett (Jamie Mac) owns the family mansion with his wife Viv (Fiona Mongillo) and wants to make it into a tourist destination, a kind of place for solving a murder/mystery/escape room thingy.

Brett plans to try out his scheme first on Viv and some of the staff: Silas the chef (Geoffrey Armour), Josh, the man who drives the boat for the enterprise and Gayle (Hallie Seline) the restaurant manager. The folks have to solve a mystery murder and escape the escape room which is locked tight by a keypad number only Brett knows the code and he has somehow fallen out the window of the safe room to the rocks below. Or was he pushed? They are on an island. It’s a wild stormy night. Lots of blackouts. Strange sounds and apparitions.

Twenty-five years before there was indeed a real mystery when a couple who worked for Brett’s father and the couple’s son, went out in a boat at night and disappeared. The son was in fact a boyhood friend of Brett’s and Brett wants the assembled people to try and solve the disappearance/mystery from years before.

There are lots of twists and turns in the story.  Birgitte Solem has a wonderfully tricky imagination and a way with a funny phrase. You will be laughing at the same time as you tighten your butt-cheeks in the mounting tension of the situations.

Director Randy Hughson has the same mischievous imagination as Birgitte Solem. One finds that one is looking carefully for clues. Is one of the people there a murderer? Did someone push Brett out the window and onto the rocks below? Brett moved a book from the desk to a bookshelf for no reason. Is that a clue? Other strange things happen. Our anticipation is ramped up. Nic Vincent’s lighting gets more and more spooky. Adam Campbell’s sound design adds to the tension in the room. Pat Flood’s detailed set design of the ‘escape room’ is smart, clue filled and provocative. Amanda Wong’s costumes are casual and appropriate.

The cast is first rate. Jamie Mac plays Brett as a man determined to see his idea through to fruition. He is a joker but serious. He humours his wife Viv played with style by Fiona Mongillo. Viv is serious, skeptical and impatient with Brett’s ideas. Fiona Mongillo plays her very straight, and is therefore compelling. As Silas, the finicky chef, Geoffrey Armour thinks only of his edible creations. He is quite impassioned about them. Landon Doak is Josh, the man who drives the boat. He is playful and yearning. He is sweet on Gayle, the restaurant manager (Hallie Seline). They knew each other in high school and he liked her then. Gayle as played by Hallie Seline, is impatient with Josh. She’s not interested in him. She seems more irritated because of her job than anything else. One feels for Josh and wonders as Gayle’s short temper. The play has various characters, all of whom could be up to no good. We watch all of them.

Resort to Murder it a crackling good “murder-mystery”, and trying to solve whether there in fact was a murder at all is one of its many surprises. And charms.

The Blyth Festival presents:

Runs until Aug. 31, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes, approx. (1 intermission)

www.blythfestival.com

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Live and in person at 4^th Line Theatre, Millbrook, Ont. Playing until August 24, 2024.

www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca

Written by Beverley Cooper

Directed by Kim Blackwell

Musical direction and original compositions, Justin Hiscox

Costumes by Korin Cormier

Set by Michelle Chesser

Choreography by Anita La Selva

Sound by Steáfán Hannigan

Cast:

Michelle Chesser

Logan Coombes

Thomas Fournier

Matt Gilbert

Justin Hiscox

Mark Hiscox

Anita La Selva

Ian McGarrett

Kelsey Powell

Katie Ryerson

Nathan Simpson

Mikayla Stoodley

Phil Stott

Hilary Wear

Lindsay Wilson

Robert Winslow

And others.

Playwright Beverley Cooper has always been interested in The Spanish Civil War. As she says in her programme note, when she writes a play she also wants to explore what it says about today, specifically, can one person really make a difference?

Some background.

The Spanish Civil war took place in Spain between 1936-39. The Popular Front was democratically elected. But a military coup tried to overthrow them. General Francisco Franco rose to prominence because he was one of the instigators. He was aided by Mussolini and Hitler. Over 1,500 Canadians travelled to Spain to fight on the side of the Popular Front against Fascism because they could see that if it could happen in Spain, it could happen anywhere.

Myrtle Eugenia Watts came from an upper class, conservative family in Toronto. She was sometimes known as Jean, and then Jim—don’t really know why. She always wanted to help the underdog, the underprivileged, the downtrodden. Jim Watts had heard Emma Goldman give an impassioned talk about women’s rights; how abortions should be legal (this was in the 1930s), and other ideas way ahead of their time. Jim Watts’ father looked down on such notions. Father and daughter were always at odds.

Mr. Watts thought that Hitler had some good ideas and didn’t think he was so bad. Jim Watts was more politically aware, so again they wrangled. She joined a theatre company that did political theatre that didn’t really succeed. Jim Watts began writing for a new political publication.  Finally, when Jim Watts read about the Spanish Civil war, she wanted to go and support them. But women were not allowed to fight so she offered her services as a reporter to the Daily Clarion. Her father was angry and her mother was just embarrassed but still a bit supportive.

Because women were not allowed near the front, Jim Watts wrote human interest stories about ordinary people, usually women, and what they endured. Jim Watts interviewed Norman Bethune, whom she found arrogant and pompous, but had great ideas when it came to helping the wounded. Bethune wanted to help both sides if they were injured.

Playwright Beverley Cooper says that she is writing a fictional account of real events, so she took literary license when writing.  There is a terrific scene in which Jim Watts meets Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gelhorn and Ernest Hemingway in a bar in Spain. Did it really happen? Who knows, but it’s a great scene. (Note: Martha Gelhorn was herself a celebrated war correspondent, and eventually the third wife of Ernest Hemingway).

Jim Watts decided to become more involved in the Spanish war effort and became an ambulance driver in Spain. Jim Watts was one of three women who were considered officially in the MacKenzie-Papineau regiment of the International Brigade fighting fascism in Spain. She eventually came home and continued her various crusades to make a difference.

The connection of the youth in the 1930s and today is palpable.  In the 1930s the youth felt isolated and disaffected by the world around them. There was upheaval, a world divided. Sounds familiar. Today we are in turmoil. There are wars and conflicts and again the youth of today are isolated and disaffected. I think that COVID had a lot to do with it, but on the whole, the conditions are the same. The youth protest as the only way they can be heard.

As for the production, it’s terrific. There is a huge cast of professional actors, some up and coming actors and community actors. The result is a seamless whole endeavor in which everyone is totally committed.

Director Kim Blackwell uses the whole space of the Winslow family farm: the barnyard, the near meadows and a vintage truck that drives into and out of scenes to stand in for a 1930s ambulance.

Katie Ryerson plays Jim Watts and she is impassioned, tenacious and compelling. Matt Gilbert is a bull-headed Norman Bethune and is full of charisma. Hilary Wear plays many parts but her Emma Goldman is sparky and forceful.  Anita La Selva plays a vary regal Mrs. Watts, a passionate Spanish leader known as La Passionaria, and a wonderful Flamenco dancer, for which she also did the choreography. This is a hugely accomplished cast.

Special mention should be made of Justin Hiscox’s original music. It’s stirring, beautifully haunting, melodic, tender and so perfectly accompanies the scenes.  

I loved how Beverley Cooper created characters who want to change the world but are overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. But they don’t stop.  They are not defeated. They are frustrated and angry, but they are tenacious.

We live in a world that is full of the accomplishments of single people who would not be deterred and did in fact change the world.  I think Jim Watts is one of them.

4^th Line Theatre presents:

Plays until Aug. 24, 2024.

Playing time: 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.). (1 intermission)

www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca

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Live and in person at the Mandeville Theatre, Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ont. Part of the Foster Festival. Playing until Aug. 4, 2024.

www.fosterfestival.com

Written by Norm Foster

Directed by Jamie Williams

Set by Beckie Morris

Lighting by Alex Sykes

Costumes by Alex Amini

Cast: Melanie Janzen

Peter Krantz

David Rowan

Caroline Toal

Norm Foster writes plays about people and situations to which we can all relate, and they are very funny. His plays are full of characters with foibles, insecurities, strange notions, kindness, and humour. Bravo to Emily Oriold, the founder and Artistic Director of the Foster Festival for programming plays that show us characters and situations we can all recognize.

Whit (Peter Krantz) has summoned his two adult children, Steven (David Rowan) and Erica (Caroline Toal) to fly from Montreal, where they live, to visit him in Calgary where he lives. He’s paid for the airfare. He hasn’t told them his reason. Whit has been living with his girlfriend Nikki (Melanie Janzen) for 13 months and they plan to move to Kelowna BC. After he retires as a mailperson, which is imminent. The children have no idea about any of this.  

When Erica and Steven arrive, Erica imagines that Whit is sick and won’t be told otherwise. When they are told the information in bits and pieces the children, especially Erica, do not take the information well. She thinks that Nikki is the housekeeper her father has employed to take care of the house. Nikki in fact is a fiduciary. It’s a running gag of the play that Erica can’t remember what Nikki does and consistently mispronounces the word or confuses it with other words.

It’s obvious that Whit has considered Steven the more stable and successful child. He is a pharmaceutical rep. He has had a string of accomplished girlfriends. Erica is not as successful in her father’s eyes and her boyfriends have all been losers. So when both children tell Whit of their new partners Whit has thoughts on each.

 Whit’s End is Norm Foster’s latest play and a world premiere. I’ve enjoyed Foster’s plays over the years for their wisdom about human nature, character flaws and truths about family situations. But I can’t help but feel that Whit’s End is a slight play of repeated jokes that get weaker with each repeat. Nikki uses vintage television shows as references to Whit, in spite of Whit telling her repeatedly he never watched television growing up because his father didn’t want a tv in the house. And yet she continues to use various television references, the point of which eludes Whit. Erica is convinced that Whit is sick in spite of Whit telling her more and more forcefully he is fine. It does wear thin quickly. At two hours the play feels padded. It should be revised and tightened to a brisk 90 minutes with no intermission.

The Foster Festival presents:

Plays until Aug. 4, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours (1 intermission)

www.fosterfestival.com

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Live and in person produced by Canadian Stage at the Amphitheatre of High Park, Toronto, Ont. until Sept. 1, 2024.

www.canadianstage.com

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Jessica Carmichael.

Set and costumes by Joshua Quinlan

Lighting by Logan Raju Cracknell

Sound and composed by Chris Ross-Ewart

Cast: Prince Amponsah

Raquel Duffy

Christo Graham

Stephen Jackman-Torkoff

Sam Khalilieh

Qasim Khan

Breton Lalama

Beck Lloyd

Diego Matamoros

Dan Mousseau

Amelia Sargisson

James Dallas Smith

A concept that is not supported by the play unless it’s cut to pieces, with speeches re-arranged and other references inserted, resulting in a mess. Some good acting though.

The Story. While Hamlet is William Shakespeare’s most famous play, one cannot assume everyone knows the story.  I was surprised when the woman of certain years sitting in front of me said she never saw the play. She never read it but sort of knew the story. So let me give you a precis.

There is turmoil in Denmark. The king, Hamlet Sr. has died suddenly. Within two months, Hamlet Sr.’s wife, Gertrude, has married her husband’s brother, Claudius. Were they having an affair when King Hamlet Sr. was alive? I’ve always assumed that. Was there a tradition that if a man dies, then the brother of the deceased steps in and marries her to protect her?  Some cultures have that tradition. I’ll stick with the former—Gertrude and Claudius were having an affair.  In any case Hamlet Sr. and Gertrude’s son Hamlet has come home from university to attend his father’s funeral. He’s naturally grieving but he’s also angry since his mother re-married so quickly.

Hamlet learns from his friend Horatio and others of the court, that the ghost of Hamlet Sr. has been seen wandering the ramparts of the castle and they are terrified. Hamlet is determined to talk to the ghost. When Hamlet does talk to the ghost, he learns that his father was murdered by Claudius. So Hamlet, the younger, plans to avenge his father’s death.

There are other sub-plots—Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, a young woman of the court, but it’s a fraught relationship. Other friends of Hamlet are in cahoots with Claudius to get rid of Hamlet. So lots of intrigue. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

The Production. The production is directed by Jessica Carmichael.She read an article suggesting that the play is about grief and she has based her whole production on this emotion. Both Hamlet and Ophelia are grieving over the deaths of their fathers. Ophelia is also experiencing confused feelings about Hamlet’s treatment of her. She misses her brother, Laertes, her champion, who has gone to France.

So director Jessica Carmichael has decided that the play is about grief—not revenge as has been the interpretation in the past; not anger, disappointment, seeing both sides of an argument equally and not being able to make a decision on either side of the argument. Nope, grief is what Hamlet is about to Ms Carmichael.

Usually a play done in High Park has to be cut down to fit into a 90 minute-no-intermission paying time. An uncut Hamlet is 4 hours and 15 minutes.  This production of Hamletactually runs for 115 minutes, with no intermission. This version of the play is not cut as much as it is hacked to death or chopped up. I get the sense that if a speech does not fit into Jessica Carmichael’s concept/idea, then she cuts it and replaces it with other references that do fit her concept.

She inserted poems or lines from 15 poems often about grief or death. Works by Walt Whitman, Audre Lorde and Prageeta Sharma are referenced. She also used references 10 books including “Lincoln in the Bardo” and “grief/&loss/&love & sex.” Much Ado About Nothingand Richard II are referenced. Such a lot of effort, not to do Shakespeare’s play.

Many of Hamlet’s soliloquys were chopped up and spoken by other characters such as Ophelia and Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, to Hamlet. Why? It’s not a conversation. It’s a soliloquy for a reason. The result is a conceptual mess.

This has nothing to do with being a purist about Shakespeare. It has everything to do with a concept that is not supported by the play as written. If Carmichael wanted to do a play about grief, there are plenty of them out there, without butchering this one to serve a misguided purpose.

In Shakespeare’s play, the idea of terror is established immediately by the characters on the watch—anticipating the arrival of the ghost. They are terrified.

But in Jessica Carmichael’s production Ophelia (Beck Lloyd) begins the play. She has been wandering around the space and sits at the lip of the stage and talks about how love is important, and loving one’s body and cats. Cats? I think I covered my eyes here.

In the meantime, up stage is Bernardo (Prince Amponsah) on the watch looking rather relaxed (which seemed odd for a terrified character), until Ophelia leaves and those on watch  then continue to be terrified. (sigh). The whole idea of terror is compromised by this ridiculous beginning.

The acting is well intentioned. Qasim Khan is fraught and emotional as Hamlet, flitting from one tense scene to another, but little of this makes sense. So while Qasim Khan as Hamlet is noble; Raquel Duffy as Gertrude is regal; Diego Matamoros as Claudius is devious and Beck Lloyd confident but unsettled, the play suffers because the production makes no sense. Beyond frustrating.

Some warnings that should appear on the Canadian Stage Website:

While High Park is closed to cars on the weekend, that restriction seemed to apply to Thursday July 25 when the production opened. Does City Hall think the weekend starts on Thursday? You could not drive into the park by car from Bloor St. You could enter the park from Parkside Drive. But once there, there was no place to park.

In its infinite wisdom City Hall removed 250 parking spaces and replaced them with bike lanes.

Nuts.

If you park illegally as many of us did in the unused prohibited parking spaces you will be fined $100.

For 41 summers Canadian Stage has been producing theatre in High Park, catering to audiences of upwards of 1500 per night. The decision to remove 250 parking spaces diminishes access to the park and the production by those who do not want to bike to the site or walk the one kilometer to and from the subway.

Perhaps the Canadian Stage Board can lobby the city to make an adjustment for the summer when the “Dream in High Park” is playing.

Once in the park: Sit on the hill or just at the top in a reserved chair to see the whole production.

If you sit further back on the top of the hill, as I was placed, you won’t see any scene staged at the lip of the stage. And there are lots of scenes there.

Canadian Stage presents:

Plays until September 1, 2024.

Running time: 115 minutes (no intermission)

www.canadianstage.com

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Live and in Person at the Hamilton Fringe. Produced  by First Born Theatre Company.  Plays to Sunday, July 28, 2024.

www.hftco.ca

Written by Mercedes Isaza Clunie

Directed by Zoe Marin

Cast: Alejandra Angobaldo

isi bhakhomen

Mercedes Isaza Clunie

Katarina Fiallos

Gloria Freire

Julianna Olave

Rachel Quintanilla

“Warnings: Sexual Content, Coarse Language, Nudity, Mentions of racism, colonialism, death and mental health”.

Generally from the Hamilton Fringe Guide: “After losing their ability to speak Spanish, 7 Latina-teenagers are forced to attend a Spanish only summer camp. Inside cabins, bathing in lakes and breathing in cigarette smoke, these young women are determined to find themselves before the summer is up. This play is a…bi-lingual coming-of-age story that makes you wonder what it means to be Latina-Canadian today.”

The Hamilton Fringe didn’t have a programme for this show—I was told by the front of house person that was the responsibility of the theatre company (First Born Theatre Company—Toronto). Alas there was no poster with a QR code, or a postcard among all the others at the venue, so I can’t identify who was playing whom.  

“Gringa”-Definition

“Often disparaging

a foreign girl or woman in Spain or Latin America especially when of English, American or Canadian origin

broadly: a non-Hispanic girl or woman”.

While the synopsis of Mercedes Isaza Clunie’s play suggests “this play is a bi-lingual coming of age story that makes you wonder what it means to be Latina-Canadian today,” the reality of the play is that it’s about teens trying to fit into their own world first and then a Latina world second. In fact, I found the play about several things, and not just one theme. With the warning of a mention of ‘colonialism’ I thought perhaps the play was about being from a Latina background trying to fit into a Canadian world, but in reality, it’s not.

The teens arrive in the camp and they say in unison to the audience that they came together as strangers who did not like each other but ended up being friends. Ok. In quick succession one sees that these are ‘mean girls,’ judging each other for any situation. One young woman brought her teddy bear and someone else cast aspersions about it. Two teens had to decide who got the upper bunk bed. One of the two said that she was afraid of falling out of the top bunk and dying. The other teen suggested that that would be a good challenge—to take the top bunk and be careful not to fall out. That seemed a good idea and the teen in the top bunk put notches in the bedpost counting the days she ‘didn’t die.’ The other teen was afraid of heights and in fact tricked the first one to take the top bunk for that reason.

These young women brought their own insecurities from their own families to the camp. It seemed to have little to do with being a Latina-Canadian. You don’t hear stories of how the dominant culture made these teens feel about being Latina.  

I did love the irony of the title Gringas. These women felt ‘other’ within their own Latina culture. One woman from Spain felt her Spanish was authentic and anything from anywhere else was not. Another of Colombian descent felt ‘other’ compared with someone she met who was actually from Colombia. lamented being lighter skinned than a teen she met from Colombia who was darker skinned.   

The company of actors is terrific. Director Zoe Marin has created a clever, stylish production. There are moments of theatrical dance and movement in perfect synch. The actors at times speak in well-rehearsed unison, clearly and crisply. Or they talk sequentially with one teen saying one word in a sentence followed by another teen and another word so that the whole sentence is said smoothly. The acting is strong. There is a speech at the end in Spanish which is a prolonged emotional screed. I assume its purpose is for the Spanish-speaking people in the audience. I can’t tell you the name of the actor who said the speech (no program) but she is impassioned and raw. I found it such an interesting director’s choice? Playwright’s choice, for NONE of these teens to have a cell phone in the play, when the cell phone seems to be a natural extension of almost all teens’ arms it seems.

Should playwright Mercedes Isaza Clunie expand Gringas or revisit it for some reason I would hope some of these questions might be considered:

Why did these teens’ mothers want them to go to Spanish language camp? (I know the answer is obvious….I still want it articulated in the play.)

Why didn’t anyone speak Spanish to these teens at home and instill in them that part of their culture?

If these teens were spoken to in Spanish at home, why didn’t they want to learn the language that would connect them to their culture?

The teens did not want to go to Spanish language camp. Why not?

First Born Theatre Company presents:

Closed, July 28, 2024.

www.slotkinletter.com

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