Lynn

Live, in person under the canopy in the back lawn of the Bruce Hotel, Stratford, Ont. as part of the Here for Now Theatre, New Works Festival.

So, how’s it been?

Created by writer-director Liza Balkan and composer/musical director, Paul Shilton

Additional songs by Katherine Wheatley and Bruce Horak

Cast: Barb Fulton,

Evanglia Kambites

Marcus Nance

Trevor Patt

Liza Balkan, writer-director-Stratford resident began a project in the summer of 2020, interviewing people who live and work in Stratford to see how they were doing in the pandemic. She interviewed business owners, employees, artists, nurses, retirees, kids, farmers, actors, and parents. Then she and composer-musical director Paul Shilton put those words from the conversations into songs. Liza Balkan also directed this bringing out the nuance and subtleties of each song.

So, how’s it been? is the result, a song cycle of how people coped during the pandemic; the highs, lows, in-betweens; the stuff that was funny, sad, odd, curious, interesting and eye-opening. While we hear the words from the actual interviews and then the songs they formed, it was the performers who made the immediate connection with their recollections.

Barb Fulton looked on this as a little break—at the beginning of the pandemic. She described having a tightness in her chest, wondering if she even wanted to perform anymore. As the pandemic lasted longer and longer that idea changed. Could she even do it anymore. She is such an engaging singer/performer, one hopes she wants to continue performing. Certainly the show afforded her an opportunity to find out for sure.

Trevor Patt had plans to buy a house and a dog and……But then the pandemic happened. Jobs were lost, money was tight. Puppies need to eat. He sang and played his guitar with a quiet self-deprecation and quiet humour.  

Marcus Nance and Evangelia Kambites are two terrific singer/actors. They imbue their songs with heart, nuance and humour. They also bring a different perspective most of us do not experience: they are two Black actors in a white town and in their recollections they talk about subtle and not so subtle racism. Marcus Nance owns a house in Stratford and loves to garden, and when the flies are particularly bad he wears a ‘hoodie’ to protect himself while he works in his garden. He talked of people who have seen him on stage and praised him and see him in his garden and assume he is working a second job and not tending his garden of his house.

Evangelia Kambites talks of walking her dog at night when a man in a pickup truck drove by and rolled down his window and called out, “That’s a cute dog.” ‘Ordinarily’ this would seem like someone being a jerk and we would slough it off. But Kambites is a Black woman walking her dog at night in a white town and the call out the window is not innocuous; it’s dangerous and puts her on alert. These are two stories that put the majority of us in their world just for a sobering short period of time. Something of which to be mindful.

The group sings of the geese, the damned geese. They used a stronger word, more appropriate, but I won’t use it here. And what these geese leave all over the place to slip and slide in and mess up the area. They all sing of frustrations, fears, claustrophobia, not being able to visit a loved one in a long-care facility.

They expressed the joys they found in the time they had. Marcus Nance loved the time at home in Stratford with his husband. He talked of the joy of that personal time, eating a delicious breakfast of croissants, scrambled eggs, bacon and the very best coffee, and described it with such intoxicating reverie, I almost forgot myself, wanting to put up my hand and ask for his address, to invite myself next time.

Barb Fulton sang a wonderfully poignant song of a woman whose husband has dementia and she was desperate to keep him at home and not have to put him in a ‘home’ because then she wouldn’t see him often.

So, how’s it been? is a beautifully crafted show of dealing with the pandemic in all its good and bad ways. And it’s created by artists who will not be stopped in creating. Lovely work.

Here For Now Theatre, New Works Festival presents:

Plays until: September 5, 2021.

Running Time: 1 hour, no intermission.

www.herefornowtheatre.com

The Wonder of it All

Written by Mark Weatherley

Directed by Seana McKenna

Cast: Monique Lund

Mark Weatherley

Charmaine and Kingsley met at a party. She was classy, sophisticated and confident. He wore a silly hat and played the ukulele. He was nerdy, old-fashioned and ‘slightly out of tune.’ She wasn’t interested until one time she was in distress and sat on a stoop in the rain and he sat right with her, stroking her hair, silently telling her with that gesture, it would be ok.

They got married of course. That kind of consideration is not to be ignored. Twenty-five years later there is trouble in the marriage. They snipe, argue, get exasperated and frustrated. I’m reminded of a card I got once with a quote from Lillian Hellman: “People change and forget to tell each other.” And of course how do you even begin to talk about it. Temptation is introduced. How will this resolve itself?

Mark Weatherley has written a funny, sweet play about communication, the rocky road to love and marriage, commitment and the importance of sitting beside someone you love, in the rain, getting soaked but stroking her hair to tell her it will be ok.

Weatherley also plays Kingsley in it with Monique Lund who plays Charmaine. Lund also happens to be Mark Weatherley’s wife. The two have a chemistry that is obvious. Their banter seems to have been honed to a sheen over years of bantering. They flip lines off each other as two people who are familiar with each other can and know the other’s timing.

As Charmaine, Lund is sophisticated, a bit exasperated by Kingsley, and frustrated by the stall in their marriage. As Kingsley, Weatherley brings a sweet goofiness to the part, as Kingsley was all those years ago. That goofiness is Kingsley’s protection. He knows there is trouble in the marriage. He so wants it to work but is at a loss about getting that feeling back. Love always finds a way.

Director Seana McKenna works with the chemistry of her two actors and uses her acting smarts to realize the nuance and shading of this relationship. She has created a delicate production in which we cheer for and urge these two characters to work hard to talk to each other and go back to what it was that attracted them in the first place.

Weatherley has such an irreverent way with a line. He talks about regret at a missed opportunity,  and quotes that famous line from Casablanca  (which I will not quote here—see the show and you’ll know), and we know it will be ok. They will always have the ukulele.

Here for Now Theatre New Works Festival:

Plays until: September 5, 2021.

Running Time: 1 hour, no intermission.

www.herefornowtheatre.com

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Live and in person in a private backyard in Innisfil, Ont. Part of the Bees in the Bush Festival, from Talk is Free Theatre and Outside the March. To August 28, 2021.

www.tift.ca

Written and performed by Katherine Cullen and Britta Johnson

Directed by Aaron Willis

Production designed by Anahita Dehbonehie

Stupidhead is a musical about dyslexia. More to the point, it’s a musical about how writer/performer Katherine Cullen copes with having dyslexia. Her dyslexia is not the ‘ordinary’ kind in which letters are mixed up when writing. Hers concerns spatial issues and math. She has no sense of direction.

She tells the story when she was a kid, of visiting her friend Danny, who lived next door, and not being able to find her way home. Katherine’s mother asked Danny’s mother to take Katherine home when the kids finished playing, but Danny’s mother thought Katherine’s mother was joking, so she didn’t take her home. And Katherine took hours to find her way home because she turned the wrong way up the street.

The story is poignant and is told with such warmth and humour your heart melts. By her own admission Katherine Cullen has no musical training and no musical ability. But she loves the form. So she went to her friend Britta Johnson ,who is musically trained and has musical ability gushing out of her fingers and her voice, and asked her to help create a musical about her dyslexia for an event.  Britta said yes. When is the event she asked?  The event was in two days. The songs were written. They are wonderful. That was the beginning of Stupidhead.

I’ve seen the show about three times over the last few years. Once in a theatre in Toronto a few years ago and loved it; once a few months ago as an audio presentation and it was revelatory—the rapport between Katherine Cullen and Britta Johnson in that audio version was vibrant, lively and loving; and then again a few days ago in Innisfil, in a backyard.

The show has grown. There is now a rather vibrant pink and silver backdrop by Anahita Dehbonehie that adds to the show. There is a crinkled bit on the backdrop which represents a brain. Katherine is fearless in her singing and puts her whole heart into each song. She moves around the set with agility and ease. Britta sits at the keyboard, usually smiling as she listens intently to Katherine, as if for the first time.

Aaron Willis directs with care. He brings the best out of both women as they engage with each other and the music. Stupidhead is about never giving in to doubts, difficulties, or disappointment. It’s about coping with a disability and making it work. And you can sing about it too and the result is joyful.  

An OUTSIDE THE MARCH production.

Plays until: August 28, 2021.

Running Time: one hour, no intermission

www.tift.ca

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Live on the Harvest Stage, Blyth Festival, Blyth, Ont. Until Aug. 22.

www.blythfestival.com

Written and performed by Sheryl Scott

Directed by Desirée Baker

Millie Johnson is a multi-tasker. As a farmer’s wife in rural New Brunswick in the early 1950s and the mother of five girls, she has to be. And she’s a wonderful story-teller. She tells stories about her observations of her neighbours and the farm animals; how a cow moos when it is suffering milking pains, and the various gradations of that mooing until we all know a cow is in distress and should be milked immediately!! Millie tells stories (and making herself laugh in the recollection) when she’s folding one of the full baskets of laundry she does regularly. Millie tells stories when she bakes her six (!) daily loaves of bread that are beautifully fragrant, fluffy-on-the-inside-crusty-on-the-outside. Millie tells stories while flitting back and for the in her kitchen, taking breaks only to put her feet up or dance. Millie loves to dance.

Millie is married to Adler Johnson whom she described this way: “For a man of few words, you know how to speak them perfectly.” Adler has a grade five education but his wisdom, smarts and perception go to create a decent, loving man and a perfect partner for Millie. Besides when they met for the first time at a dance he wore Aqua Velva cologne and Millie was instantly his. Millie says that there are three smells that are perfect in the world: the smell of her freshly baked bread, the smell of a new-born baby and Aqua Velva.

While Millie says that Adler is a man of few words, he also seems to convey a world of communication with a wink and a smile. One day he said to Millie that perhaps they could try and have a boy after five girls. Millie wasn’t sure. She was over 40-years-old. But Adler gave her a wink and a smile and nine months later, their son Scott was born. But he didn’t look ‘right’ as someone said. Scott was born with “the Downs,” Down Syndrome. The doctor said it would be a short life of hardship for the boy and suggested they put the boy in an institution. Millie’s caustic mother suggested the same thing. But Millie and her family had other ideas.

The Downs by Sheryl Scott is a charmer of a piece. It’s full of kindness that is obvious from watching Millie get through her day, laughing, dancing, folding and story-telling. It is loaded with home truths we all recognize no matter where we live or our marital situation. Sheryl Scott has created in Millie and her family the bedrock of decency, in which family is the most important thing, and every member of that family, no matter if they look ‘right’ or not, gets unconditional love. Scott has created quirky language that will have us all trying to remember a turn of phrase—that line about Adler—“For a man of few words you know to speak them perfectly” is a case in point. Millie is a quiet philosopher when she says that we don’t find our worth in other people’s opinions—a philosophy we would be wise to remember.

Sheryl Scott has endless energy as Millie. She is on the move for almost the whole play, taking only a few breaks to put her feet up and catch her breath before she is off on another tear around the kitchen. Desirée Baker has directed the production with a clear eye for detail. Five dresses, in varying sizes. hang on the laundry line indicating the ages of the five girls in that family. A racoon hat sits on a ledge—it was referenced in one of Millie’s stories; there is a crocheted blanket draped over a chair and there is a kitchen table with a few props. Everything that needs to be said about that neat kitchen is in that simple design. Everything that needs to be said about Millie as a gracious, loving woman is in Sheryl Scotts lovely performance.

Ms Baker directs with subtlety. At the end of the show Millie bends low to take Scott’s hands (this is suggested) to dance. He is obviously a small child then. And as Millie continues to dance she stands up straight as if dancing with a tall man. Is this a spoiler or just pointing out a sensitive director telling us gently that the doom and gloom of the doctor, about Scott’s life expectancy was totally wrong.  

A few words on the Harvest Stage. In the middle of a pandemic, when Gil Garratt, the artistic director of the Blyth Festival had to put the season on hold last year and close the indoor theatre in Memorial Hall, Garratt and the good people of the festival did something wild—they created another stage. They found a soccer field that had been abandoned for 30 years and decided to build a permanent outdoor stage there. June 6 there was nothing. Last weekend there was a wonderful wood structure with a wood stage and space for an eager audience that could be socially distanced and safe. The space is called The Harvest Stage and Gil Garratt stood on it, and in an emotional speech welcomed us back.

The audience sits in comfortable chairs on a concrete curve around the stage. Fresh sod was laid between the audience and the stage and we were kindly told not to walk on the sod because it was fragile. There is a covering in the structure over the audience. Five large storage containers are ‘back-stage’ which are for offices, an air-conditioned dressing-room, and other uses. Nathanya Barnett  the able, efficient, kind house-manager assures patrons at a certain place in seating that the sun will not be in their eyes as the sun is setting. They didn’t ask her because she was mindful that the sun might be in their eyes. Efficiency and consideration like this are golden. When the show finished it was dark. As we turned to leave the space, I see that the whole path up and around the theatre is illuminated with small, bright lights, allowing the audience to leave safely. Gil Garratt, his troupe, the Harvest Stage, the Blyth Festival and the work they do there, are magical.

The Blyth Festival Presents:

Plays until: August, 22, 2120.

Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

www.blythfestival.com

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Live and in person at the Tom Patterson Theatre Canopy, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by Rébecca Déraspe

English Translation by Leanna Brodie

Music by Chloé Lacasse and Benoit Landry

Book, lyrics and score developed by Théâtre le Clou

Directed by Esther Jun

Musical director, Njo Kong Kie

Choreographer, Alyssa Martin

Co-designers, Michelle Bohn, Samantha McCue

Lighting by Arun Srinivasan

Sound by Maddie Bautista

Cast: Shakura Dickson

Landon Doak

Allan Louis

Shannon Taylor

Musicians:

Njo Kong Kie

Ben Bolt-Martin

Graham Hargrove

I Am William is a joyful, fierce, empowering play given a rapturous production by director Esther Jun and her wonderful cast.

The Story. Playwright Rébecca Déraspe presents a fascinating proposition. What if William Shakespeare didn’t write the plays attributed to him. What if he had a sister named Margaret who wrote them but let William take credit in order to get her words into the world?

Rébecca Déraspe creates a stifling world for women in Shakespeare’s day. They are not allowed to be educated or taught to read and write on pain of death. (a bit harsh, that). They are to tend to the house, mend, wash, tidy and not make trouble for their menfolk. As one of the characters says: “Women and girls are meant to watch the world go by, not to wonder and look at it and think.” The world revolved around William since he was the boy in the family. Never mind that William was not terribly bright and that he longed to be an actor. He was always cheerful and good humoured. Margaret was meant to help her mother, Mary, do chores.

But Margaret could read and write because her brother taught her. And she loved to write, which she did at night after a day of working in the house. One day she left her sheets of writing in her brother’s room so he could see what she created. He loved what she wrote and, in his enthusiasm, took the writing to his school master who thought William wrote the words. William didn’t tell him differently. One thing led to another and before you knew it, William was engaged to present ‘his’ writing on the London stage and act in it. Brother and sister kept up the ruse. Margaret kept writing.

The Production. Co-designers Michelle Bohn and Samantha McCue have created a wood structure on the simple stage that represents Margaret’s room and other locations, A simple table is used for many family meals and events. Four bales of hay are multi-purposed: they are used as seats, storage (each bale has a lid), stepping ‘stones.’  The costumes are of Shakespeare’s time—ruffs and breeches for the men, long, full dresses for the women. I loved that the three-person band were also in costume—breeches, big shirts and ruffs around the neck. A lovely touch since they too are on stage.

The men in the play, William (Landon Doak) and his father John and the Earl of Leicester (Allan Louis)  all have that confidence that men with no constraints have. The women—Margaret (Shakura Dickson), her mother Mary and Queen Elizabeth 1 (Shannon Taylor) are demure, quiet, watchful, careful and knowing. It’s a fascinating divide in behavior, but it’s clear the women are the driving force. Director Esther Jun creates a nifty bit theatrical business to prove the point. Mary Shakespeare, the hardworking matriarch of the family, makes a point in a discussion with a microphone and then drops it. with attitude, into a basket—a Shakespearean ‘mic-drop’ if ever there was one. In one simple moment Shannon Taylor as Mary conveys Mary’s smarts, her contained exasperation of what she has to put up with, and her efficiency in getting her point across. Beauty. Later when Shannon Taylor plays Elizabeth 1 she is imperious and knowing.  

Allan Louis as John Shakespeare is a leader in the community and has that puffed-up arrogance of a man who thinks he’s in control in his world and his family. Because of the way Allan Louis plays him, John’s confidence is impressive—full-chested, declarative voice, commanding. But John was about to fall on hard times and one had to feel for a man who is brought low. Through it all his family rallied.

As William. Landon Doak is pure joy. He is exuberant when William makes a discovery of a word, even though his father improves upon it. His energy and enthusiasm are like watching a playful, panting puppy. And while Rébecca Déraspe has made Margaret the writer, she has made William into a modern man—he is eager to help his mother clear the table and even do the washing up—a notion that horrifies her and probably charms every woman in the audience. Shakura Dickson is compelling as Margaret. The need for Margaret to write is clear in every second of this performance. When Margaret says that “She wrote not for fame, but to exist” it’s a line that is said so understatedly that it hits the heart and leaves you winded. There is such longing to be seen in that line and in this performance.  

The music and lyrics by Chloé Lacasse and Benoit Landry adds a contemporary note to the lively proceedings. The music is engaging and the lyrics are properly intricate for a play about words. And the cast handles it all with style.

Comment. Rébecca Déraspe has written a wonderful play in I Am William and it is beautifully translated by Leanna Brodie. The language dazzles. At times it seems we are witnessing linguistic gymnastics on the level of Simone Biles—words and syllables rhyme in triplicate. Women and girls are championed and credited with creativity and tenacity at a time when both were dangerous. Déraspe also illuminates how vibrant art is to communicate even to a person like William who can’t create. He is able to recognize when writing is good when he reads his sister’s work. By the same token, the wise and wily Queen Elizabeth knows who the real writer is.

Again, Esther Jun has created a joyful, exuberant production without loosing any of the more poignant moments. The production gleams with creativity, humour and a loud, beating heart.

Produced by the Stratford Festival.

Playing until: Sept. 12, 2021.

Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, no intermission.

www.stratfordfestival.ca  

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Live and in person in the back lawn of the Bruce Hotel, Stratford, Ont.

https://www.herefornowtheatre.com

Part of the reading series of the Here for Now Theatre, New Works Festival.

Adapted and directed by Brigit Wilson

Based on the novel “Pegeen and the Pilgrim” by Lyn Cook

Cast: Nigel Bennett

Emily Birrell

Zoë Brown

Ijeoma Emesowum

Steve Ross

This is a comment and not a review because this event was ‘only’ a reading of the play.

It’s based on Lyn Cook’s book for young people about Pegeen, a sweet 12-year-old who lives in Stratford, Ontario with her mother and wants to become an actress. Her father has died and her mother ekes out a living running a boarding house. Pegeen helps out as much as possible. Her older brother is away at University so any spare money goes to him to pay his tuition and books etc.

Pegeen wants to go to a Mother-Daughter dinner with her mother but her mother says she has nothing to wear, so Pegeen does everything she can to earn money to buy her mother a wonderful dress as a surprise. She takes over a friend’s paper route while he recovers from an accident. And then Pegeen hears that a Shakespeare Festival is being planned for Stratford and Pegeen dreams of being involved.

Here for Now Theatre has programmed this reading to gently get younger audiences interested in going to the theatre. The reading was sponsored by a gracious donor, the wondrous Loreena Mckennitt, so that price would not be a barrier. It was heartening to see a few young people there. Here for Now Theatre was also selling the novel. I look forward to reading it.

In her adaptation Brigit Wilson illuminates the tremendous character of Pegeen. I thought that was terrific. Here is a kid who knows how hard her mother works, how scarce money is and how much she wants for them to go to this dinner. So Pegeen works for the money. There is a moment in the play when Pegeen must make a decision about continuing the paper route or doing something that she’d dreamed about for a long time. She choses the path of responsibility and keeping her word to her friend. A life lesson for both adults and kids.

The play takes place in the 1950s at the beginning of the Stratford Festival so Pegeen lives at a heady time in the town and the Stratford Festival’s history. I like the gentle humour and palpable excitement that festival brought to the town as per the play, nay-sayers notwithstanding.

As Pegeen, Emily Birrell brings a freshness and enthusiasm to the reading. She seems a natural talent; relaxed, eager, confident. Zoë Brown plays Pegeen’s friend, Sheila Anderson, with her own charm which blends well with Pegeen’s. The friendship is true with a slight glitch of misunderstanding, but we all dream of such a young friendship.

Steve Ross plays various blustery characters and fills us in on the narration. Ijeoma Emesowum  chamges characters effortlessly. She plays Pegeen’s harried but caring mother; Pegeen’s teacher with just putting on a pair of glasses and some slightly different body language and with another flick of the glasses for another pair, we have another character—all transitioned seamlessly. A lovely performance. Nigel Bennett play Mr. B, an expert in Shakespeare and a carpenter who has come to create the magical stage. He befriends Pegeen and sees in her a young girl greedy for stories of the stage, thoughts on Shakespeare, and a kindred spirit.

Pegeen and the Pilgrim is a tender look back at the early years of Stratford but most important and coming of age in a sense of Pegeen a young girl with grit, a sense of responsibility and great character. I hope the play is worked on more so that a production of the play is possible.

Produced by the Here For Now Theatre, New Works Festival.

Runs August 21, 22.

https://www.herefornowtheatre.com

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Streaming on-line from Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, BC until September 30, 2021.

https://bardonthebeach.org/whats-on/done-undone

Written by Kate Besworth

Directed by Arthi Chandra

Set by Pam Johnson

Theatrical lighting by Harika Zu

Costumes by Jessica Oostergo

Sound/composition by Mishelle Cuttler

Cast: Charlie Gallant

Harveen Sandhu

A bracing, challenging exploration of the question(s): how well do Shakespeare’s plays stand the test of time—and should some of them not be staged anymore? Watching Charlie Gallant and Harveen Sandhu play various characters sparing with one another is electrifying.

Playwright Kate Besworth looks at the questions from various points of view, pro/con/undecided in order for the audience to come to their own conclusions. The ‘play’ is divided into segments and each focus on: a pair of debating scholars (“The Academics”), a theatre-going couple divided over Shakespeare’s appeal, Shakespeare himself (“The Writer”), two-otherworldly creatures who ‘translate’ how Shakespeare has dealt with women (badly) or ‘blackness’ for example (Űbersetzung) and one segment entitled “Isabella” (from Measure for Measure) that is simply stunning because of the context.

The play starts with the opening night of a production of Hamlet. One of the actors (Charlie Gallant) arrives early to the theatre to prepare—he will play Hamlet. He is deep in thought. He relaxes with a yoga practice. He is joined by another actor (Harveen Sandhu) who has five lines in the play. She has just received an op-ed article by e-mail from a friend, that was in a newspaper written by a critic about the point of Shakespeare. She is eager to share the article with her actor friend. He goes ballistic. He’s about to play Hamlet! He has to prepare himself mentally. He finds his friend’s eagerness to share this damning article insensitive etc. She looks at him and his over-reaction with a puzzling look. And we are off…..

The segments entitled “The Academics,” are interspersed throughout the film of the play. The two academics begins respectfully, properly dressed—he in a bow-tie, shirt, jacket and pants, she in a tailored suit. Both are intellectually nimble with their arguments. She believes in the value of Shakespeare to hold a mirror up to society and show us through his plays what we are like and have become etc. He feels that the world has changed in 400 years and that it’s time for modern playwrights and their work to be as respected—he doesn’t offer any suggestions of who that might be. I found that interesting. He says that Shakespeare is a white-cis-male-writing about the colonies, imperialism and that attitude is past its best buy date.

Each offers their arguments vigorously and with conviction. At times the arguments are so forceful, so combative one might think one is watching a Shakespeare play! The arguments are well balanced. But occasionally she gets off a shot that stops him in his tracks, “I’m speaking. Don’t interrupt.” We’ve heard that before. He rallies and lobs a comment that makes him stand his ground. As these segments progress, both Academics look more and more as if they have been in battle—both have removed their jackets; their hair is not neat etc.

Through it all “The Writer” explains that he has survived all manner of challenges: revolution, plague, puritanism, translations (!), Victorianism. He says, “I was only ever writing for you.” Stunning line. Besworth has created “The Writer” as if he is privy to all the discussion from the various segments. The arguing Academics give him pause, they are so combative. This provides an interesting perspective.  

Playwright Kate Besworth handles the idea of race with a steady eye and lots of research. The woman academic quotes Professor Ayanna Thompson who said that Othello is a white man’s idea of Blackness. (One can also argue the same thing about Shylock as a Jew or any of the other minorities in Shakespeare).

“Isabella” is the most unsettling and clarifying segment. Two actors who have just been in a production of Measure for Measure meet the audience in a talk back. There is the actress who played Isabella (Harveen Sandhu) and the actor who played Claudio (Charlie Gallant). The actress talks about liking the faith and ferocity of Isabella. And she talks about race because the actress (and Harveen Sandhu) is a woman of colour. She talks about the term “colour blind casting” and how that phrase is offensive. It means one is blind to what distinguishes that actress—her skin colour—and if you ignore that, then it follows you ignore what defines her.  She asks that if you ignore my skin does that make me white?  She also talks of “colour conscious casting” Casting an actor of colour, Black etc. to make a point or illuminate the play. The actress then notes that by casting this way then how that character fits into the rest of the play should be explored. Sobering, challenging, wonderfully uncomfortable questions and ideas.

In the context of the talk back the actor good-naturedly takes one more question: “Why does it always have to be about race?”  The actor’s face drops. Kate Besworth gets us to ponder that question too—because if an actor of colour is cast in a play, it is about race and we have to engage with, consider and embrace the idea.

Arthi Chandra has directed this blistering production with a firm hand to ensure that both sides of the arguments are fairly given. If the balance tips even a bit to one side it’s righted immediately. It seems like the audience is watching a fairly matched tennis match, wondering who will lob a winning shot. The arguments are intellectually dazzling. The acting of Charlie Gallant and Harveen Sandhu is impeccable, fierce, jokey, engaging and so full of life and confidence that the whole experience of watching Done/Undone is exhilarating.

There is an extensive bibliography of books and articles Kate Besworth used for her research all on Shakespeare. Do Shakespeare’s plays stand the test of time—and should some of them not be staged anymore, because the world has changed and perhaps they aren’t appropriate?

But Shakespeare’s plays have been produced steadily for over 400 years and as the world changes, his plays seem to reflect that as well. And books continue to be written challenging his relevance. Hmmmm. I think the answer is hiding there in plain sight.

Kate Besworth has written a wonderful, challenging play that holds a mirror up to reflect our world and who we are, and in the middle of it is Shakespeare. Loved it.

Bard on the Beach presents:

Streams until: September 30, 2021

Running time: 75 minutes.

www.bardonthebeach.org

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Live and in person in a private backyard in Barrie, Ont. until Aug. 14, 2021. Part of Talk Is Free Theatre’s Bees in the Bush Festival.

www.tift.ca

Written and performed by Maja Ardal

Directed by Mary Francis Moore

Maja Ardal’s timing is impeccable. The multi-talented-award-winning-actor-director-educator-curator proved how perfect and powerful that timing is with her recent performance of You Fancy Yourself as part of the Bees in the Bush Festival in Barrie, Ont.

She had just finished her wonderful performance, bowed several times to strong applause, left the playing space when it seemed she gave quiet instructions of “Ok, your turn” and the heavens opened up and it began to pour. This is not ‘Mother Nature’s doing. This is Maja Ardal knowing intensely how and when to deliver the best performance of her engaging show and then making nature wait before letting it take its course. And not a minute too soon either.

You Fancy Yourself is the story of Elsa and her journey through childhood as an immigrant kid. She tells of being sea-sick on the voyage from her native Iceland to Scotland (Edinburgh) so her father could join academia and the world of books. There were strict instructions from her Mother to speak English in public.

Elsa is a precocious, energetic, lively, sweet girl. She is curious, inquisitive, accommodating and good natured. She is hurt easily but tries not to let on. She is desperate to make friends and be accepted by the in-crowd at school. There is the snooty popular girl who looks down on Elsa for her simple clothes to her awkward ways. There is the snooty girl’s acolyte who endures the snooty girl’s bad behaviour, because she too, wants to be in the in-crowd.

But Elsa’s most endearing aspect is her kindness to those who are alone and solitary. There is Adele, the shy young girl who lives up the stairs with her sickly mother. There is David who people think is dumb (but isn’t), who is always wiping his runny nose on his sleeve. In both cases Elsa befriends them and tries to guide them until they both reveal talents no one knew they had. This kind of rankles Elsa but that seems a reasonable reaction from one who is young.

We met Elsa last summer (at the Plural of She Festival) when Maja Ardal performed The Cure For Everything which is part two of Elsa’s story, when she is 15 and still eager to be popular. You Fancy Yourself is the beginning of the story.

Maja Ardal is a wonderful writer, gifted in the quirky juxtaposition of words to capture the quick mind of a precocious girl with a vivid imagination. Ardal enters the backyard space wearing a loose top, a skirt and black comfortable shoes. She is eager to please and smiling. She flits effortlessly from character to character each with their own traits. Adele is hunched and keeps twirling her hair, speaking almost in a whisper. David keeps wiping his nose on his sleeve. There is the sharp-tongued Scots superintendent of the building Elsa lives in who is always reprimanding anybody who walks on her floor after she’s washed it.  There are the snooty members of the ‘in crowd’ to which Elsa longs to belong. All vivid, distinct and funny.  

Under Mary Francis Moore’s careful, fearless direction Ardal skillfully navigates the playing space, climbing onto and around a trunk and is used imaginatively to reveal the many adventures Elsa gets to.

You Fancy Yourself is a charmer of a show in which we will all see ourselves in one guise or another. That is one of this show’s many delights. Maja Ardal is the show’s biggest delight. And Mother Nature thinks so too.

Produced by Talk Is Free Theatre, Bees in the Bush Festvial.

Plays until: August 14, 2021.

Running time: 1 hour.

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person out-doors in the Greek Theatre at Guild Park and Gardens, part of Guild Festival Theatre, until August 15, 2021. www.guildfestivaltheatre.ca

Written by David French

Directed by Helen Juvonen

Production design by Simon Flint

Cast: Alex Furber

Sarah Gibbons

A bitter-sweet play done well.

The Story. This is David French’s lovely play about the beginnings of the Mercer family story. It’s a moonlit night in a small community in Newfoundland, 1926. Jacob Mercer has returned from being away in Toronto for a year. He has come back to woo Mary Snow, a young woman, now 17, he left without a good-bye or a letter in all that time. It won’t be easy. Mary is engaged to be married in a month to the son of a prosperous family. And she’s furious with Jacob for leaving her. Jacob is confident, a charmer, a poet and a man who holds a grudge. They are what the other needs. Will they be able to drop their anger and disappointments and have a meeting of their minds and hearts?

The Production. The production plays on the lovely grounds of the Guild Park and Gardens on the Greek Theatre stage. The set is spare. With that backdrop, you don’t need much else besides a rocking chair and a few props. As Jacob Mercer, Alex Furber is fit and dashing in his suit and tie. He has just enough confidence and boyish charm to win over the audience. Winning Mary Snow will take more than that. Jacob spins a poetic line to let himself off the hook, without actually apologizing for leaving Mary without a word or a letter in a year. As Mary, Sarah Gibbons imbues Mary with a steeliness but also vulnerability. She is mighty angry at Jacob for his terrible treatment of her and she lets him know it. Gibbons gives a clear, nuanced performance. Both Furber and Gibbons play beautifully to each other.

At times it seems that director Helen Juvonen is being extra careful by having a considerable distance between the characters/actors because of COVID so it is refreshing when Jacob and Mary play their scenes closer together in a few instances, creating the ‘intimacy’ they must have experienced before Jacob left.

At the production I saw (today, Aug. 10) there was a rain delay. The loyal audience stayed, umbrellas at the ready. A few adjustments were made to how scenes were to be played with a wet stage that added good natured humour to the enterprise. I liked that ingenuity. Sweet production.

Comment. This is the 10^th Anniversary of the Guild Festival Theatre, that brings theatre to Scarborough in this beautiful setting. It’s been a rocky few years, certainly with COVID cancelling last year’s season. This season has Helen Juvonen and Tyler J. Seguin as the new Co-Artistic Directors. Good luck to them. May I make a few suggestions: Signage, please provide some. The Guild Park and Gardens are large. Actually finding the Greek Theatre where the plays take place is a challenge and yet in the years I’ve been going to see theatre there, the poor signage prevails. Surely you can afford a sign that announces the Guild Festival Theatre and then have arrows pointing the way. You can’t assume we all have an inner GPS to find the place.

How about some lights to help us leave when the show is done? An evening show ends when it is dark. Yet again there is little or no light to guide us out of the place, No one with a flashlight leading us across the uneven ground to a walk-way. No lights along the ground to do the same thing. The audience would really appreciate that: signs to show us the way in and illumination at the end to lead us safely out to the parking lot.

Actors are brave souls. They work hard to project their voices, but sometimes in an open space, amplification is needed. I know there were floor mics that helped. But the wedding party tonight in one of the buildings had an MC with a strong microphone that interfered. Are body microphones for actors possible?

Thanks. And I would hope audiences know to bring bug spray. The mosquitoes in Scarborough are particularly frisky.

Produced by Guild Festival Theatre.

Runs until: Aug. 15, 2021.

Running Time: 90 minutes.

www.guildfestivaltheatre.ca

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A concert of songs, live and in person on the front yard of a private residence.

Created and performed by Sara Farb and Britta Johnson

The always resourceful Musical Stage Company has come up with a wonderful idea to keep musical theatre alive, employ talented theatre makers and engage, friends, family and neighbours in the event called Porchside Songs.

The idea is simple. A host or hosts books a concert usually involving two musicians/singers, perhaps more, who will create a 45-minute concert to be performed on a front porch, lawn, or front yard of a private home, in which the host/hosts invite the neighbours to come, bring their own chair and enjoy.

I’d heard about these wonderful concerts and wanted to hear one but didn’t know how to go about it. Then the lovely folks at The Musical Stage Company enquired of a host if I could come and hear the concert he arranged, and the gracious host said yes. I will keep his name a secret in case he’s inundated by the music lovers in the area to make this a regular Saturday night occurrence.

On Saturday, Aug. 7 I went to the front yard of a house on a leafy street off Bathurst near St. Clair to hear Sara Farb and Britta Johnson do a concert they call “Sad Lady Songs.” Individually these ladies are powerhouses. Sara Farb has acted across the country, on Broadway in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at the Stratford Festival and in Fun Home for Mirvish Productions, to name a few. Britta Johnson is a force in musical theatre in this city. She wrote the musical Life After for Canadian Stage which played internationally; with her sister Anika she wrote Dr. Silver, A Celebration of Life, with Liza Balkan she wrote The Children Stay. With Sara Farb she wrote Kelly v. Kelly and He is Coming. Together they are a force to be reckoned with.

The dynamic duo chose eight songs to showcase their considerable talents. The songs were a celebration of complicated women. Six of the songs were from shows that either Sara Farb and Britta Johnson wrote together or Britta wrote with others. They also sang “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell and “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn who the duo said was a terrific Swedish singer. (Who knew?)

Sara Farb has a glistening voice that plumbs the depths and heights of the emotions in the songs. Britta Johnson is an attentive accompanist as well as an expressive singer in her own right. Some people’s skin sweats. Britta’s skin seems to emit music. Music is in her fingers. Both women bring a wonderful sense of the perfect lyric to express an emotion. Their sense of language is terrific. Their banter is teasing and good natured with Sara Farb asking if the amplification on Britta’s keyboard could be brought down a bit. T’was ever thus—finding the proper balance of sound between the singers and the accompaniment.

The hosts plastered the neighbourhood with posters announcing the concert and to come and enjoy it. People flocked. Kids came with their parents. People stood in the street if they didn’t have a chair. Everybody had a great time. Glad I heard/saw this gifted duo.

Produced by the Musical Stage Company.

For details on Porchside Songs, contact: www.musicalstagecompany.com

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