Lynn

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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Live and in person at the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Playing until the fall.

www.shawfest.com

The Secret Garden

Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Adapted for the stage by Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli

Directed by Jay Turvey

Music direction by Ryan deSouza

Set by Beyata Hackborn

Costumes by Judith Bowden

Lighting by Kevin Lamotte

Cast: David Adams

David Alan Anderson

Sharry Flett

Patty Jamieson

Gryphyn Karimloo

Tam Martin

Drew Plummer

Gabriella Sundar Singh

Jackqueline Thair

Two unhappy, spoiled children learn the value of generosity to others, respect and the value and healing power of a garden.

The Story.  Mary is an orphan who has come from India to England to live with her uncle Archibald Craven, in his large house on the desolate moors. Mary is a self-absorbed spoiled brat who orders the servants around as if they were underlings not worthy of respect. They treat her much better than she does them.

Her uncle is in deep mourning after the death of his wife and does not want to have anything to do with his niece or the house he shared with his wife. It brings back too many memories. He is often away. Mary is eventually befriended by Martha, a servant in the house and Dickon her brother who knows everything about nature, plants and flowers.

Mary hears about a secret garden on the grounds and is curious to find it. She also hears strange sounds in the house as if it’s a child crying. She is curious to find the cause of the sounds as well.

Mary bonding with Martha and Dickon begins her road to being a decent human being, who is able to love her uncle and others, learn about the world, and the value of any garden, either secret or not.

Production. Director Jay Turvey gives us a sense of the size of Archibald Craven’s (David Alan Anderson) large house when Mary (an excellent Gabriella Sundar Singh) comes to the house and is lead through various imagined doors finally to her room. But I found Beyata Hackborn’s suggested rather than literal set and certainly of the final garden, to be a disappointment. When Mary, her sickly cousin Colin (Gryphyn Karimloo) and  Dickon (a kindly Drew Plummer) decide to rehabilitate the secret garden, various hoops descended with some flowers around it. One would have expected something more lavish for all the build-up. This garden looked paltry. There is a sense of momentum with the cast seeming to be moving for most of this production.

The inclusion of traditional songs to set the tone and atmosphere is clever. I did think that the background song of Mary Quite Contrary could have stood more volume so we can hear the lyrics that set up the description of Mary at the time.

The Secret Garden is a lovely tale of how love and friendship are so powerful in a young person’s life to change them from being sullen and self-absorbed to being open-hearted and generous of spirit. When Mary and Colin have a purpose—to get Colin some fresh air and then get his help with the garden, then there is no stopping them. Gabriella Sunda Singh as Mary is confident, initially haughty and condescending, but then generous, curious, and eventually changed into a lively, creative young person. As Colin, Mary’s sickly cousin, Gryphyn Karimloo initially is irritable and demanding as the bed-ridden kid. But when he is discovered by Mary, he’s roused out of his lethargy and becomes a lively, healthy child.

The story has charm for kids young and old.

Shaw Festival presents:

Plays until Oct. 13, 2024

Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes (1 intermission)

www.shawfest.com

The House That Will Not Stand

By Marcus Gardley

Directed by Philip Akin

Set and Costumes by Sean Mulcahy

Lighting by Kevin Lamotte

Original music and sound by Jacob Lin

Cast: Deborah Castrilli

Rais Clarke-Mendes

Nehassaiu deGannes

Cheryl Mullings

Ryanne Myers

Monica Parks

Sophia Walker

Note: Hmm this is interesting. The programme for the Shaw Festival production of The House That Will Not Stand says “A drama about the free women of colour in New Orleans, 1813.” Then on the cast page it says: “Faubourg Tremé, New Orleans, Louisiana. One Sunday (24 hours) in the summer of 1813.”

But in a copy of the text of the play it says “A drama about the free women of color in New Orleans, 1836.” And on the Characters page it says: Setting, Faubourg Tremé, New Orleans, Louisiana, twenty-four hours one summer in 1836.” There is also a reference in the play that the date it begins is 1836.

So, the playwright Marcus Gardley says the play takes place in 1836, but the Shaw Festival believes it’s 1813. Confusing.

Beartrice Albans (Monica Parks) is mourning the recent death of Lazare, her common-law husband. She has had three daughters by him even though he was formally married to another woman. Beartrice is a free woman of colour. Lazare was white. Beartrice was a placée, a woman, usually a quadroon who is part of the concubine system of plaçage (the system of concubibinge between free women of colour and white men who were in common-law marriages with them). The initial arrangement usually involved money. As part of the mourning process, Beartrice has declared that  her daughters will stay in the house she Beartrice assumes she will inherit, for seven years of mourning. The daughters balk at this because they want the same advantages of placée as their mother. This is their way out from under her over-bearing authority. These are young women with raging hormones. Beartrice has other plans.

The play is about race, racism, class, passion, reputation and shadism, in which a light skinned daughter has more hope of finding a rich white man to take care of her than a dark-skinned daughter.

The House That Will Not Stand was written by Marcus Gardley in 2014. It is a direct echo of The House of Bernarda Alba by Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca who wrote it in 1936, about a stern, commanding mother with five daughters, who is in morning for her philandering husband. She wants to keep the daughters in the house to mourn for several years. They want to go out and be with their boyfriends, or whom they think are their boyfriends. It ends badly.

Marcus Gardley’s writing is dazzling in many parts, full of colourful turns of phrases of the southern women of the time. Emotions are high and often take on a sense of being one note especially with Beartrice. In other parts of the play, Gardley’s efforts to be poetic are obvious and that tended to bog down the play.

While director Philip Akin keeps the pace and emotions driving forward, I could not help get the sense that the hectoring was relentless and without nuance. Monica Parks as Beartrice is driven with determination.  Sophia Walker as Makeda the servant desperate for her freedom, is the comic relief but imbues it with perception, a wonderful sense of the humour and the cadence of Makeda’s language. Terrific performance.

The Shaw Festival Presents:

Plays until Oct. 12, 2024.

Running time 2 hours and 25 minutes. (1 intermission)

www.shawfest.com

The Orphan of Chao

Based on the Classical Chinese drama, The Great Revenge of the Zhao Orphan by Ji Junxiang

Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster

Set and lighting by Jareth Li

Costumes by Christine Ting-Huan Urquhart

Original music and sound by Heidi Wai Yee Chan

Cast: Eponine Lee

Richard Lee

John Ng

Donna Soares

Jonathan Tan

Lindsay Wu

A stunning and stylish rendering of this ancient Chinese drama of court intrigue, inherited revenge and bracing theatricality. Beautifully directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster.

The Story. In very general terms it’s the story of the fall and rise of the Chao family in the state of Jin, in 6^th century BCE. (from the program): “Chao Tun, a minister in the state of Jin is unjustly accused and destroyed by his rival Tu-An Ku who is determined to eliminate the entire Chao Clan. An orphan from the house of Chao survives, however, and grows up to wreak revenge.”

The Production. While the production is only one hour, the story is complex with multiple twists and turns of fate. That said, director Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster ensures the story is clearly told in a pace that gets more and more gripping.

Language here is so interesting. Because I live on this side of the world I use theatrical language that is Eurocentric to describe a completely different kind of theatre with gestures and conventions that come from Chinese opera. To say the story unfolds in a hugely theatrical way, just seems inadequate. The melding of Heidi Wai Yee Chan’s original music  played on what sound like original instruments and sound scape, mixed with the stylized movement and positioning of the body (almost dance) of Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster’s blocking, and the beautiful flow of the costumes of Christine Ting-Huan Urquhart, is to witness how no piece of the production is more important than another. It is all of a piece. Watching this production that pays such attention and respect to the intention and tradition of the theatre and opera from China is a revelation. You get a sense of what it must have been like in the 6^th century—the vibrant coloured silks, what seems like a formal design for the various members of the ruling class and those not etc. The story is brought forward in a way to today with a modern black puff jacket, what look like parachute pants and boots, worn by a character of the Chao clan today.

Tu-An Ku is ruthless in his efforts to wipe out the Chao clan. Tu-An Ku is played by Jonathan Tan. He is stoical, watchful and his calmness makes him terrifying in his cold-blooded pursuit of killing anyone in his way. Eponine Lee plays Cheng Bo the member of the Chao clan that will get revenge for the murder of the family.

What a terrific experience it was to see The Orphan of Chao produced with such attention to the detail and history of the piece; to learn of its background; to get just a hint of this rich culture.   

The Shaw Festival presents:

Running until Oct. 5, 2024.

Running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)

www.shawfest.com

One Man, Two Guvnors

Written by Richard Bean

Based on the Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni

With songs by Grant Olding

Directed by Chris Abraham

Set and Costumes by Julie Fox

Lighting by Kimberly Purtell

Sound by Thomas Ryder Payne

Cast: Matt Alfano

Fiona Byrne

Peter Fernandes

Patrick Galligan

Martin Happer

Andrew Lawrie

Lawrence Libor

Allan Louis

Allison McCaughey

Andre Morin

Jade Repeta

Tom Rooney

Kiera Sangster

Graeme Somerville

Frantically hilarious.

The Story. Francis Henshall is always hungry. He spends most of his time looking for a meal. To get the money for the food, he seems to have lucked into two jobs. Both ‘guvnors’ (or bosses) are shady folks and Francis doesn’t want to annoy either of them. The guvnors don’t know about the other. They think Francis only works for them. Added to this is the twin sister of a shady character posing as her diseased brother to connect with her true love. It’s complicated.

The Production. One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean is based on the commedia dell’arte play The Servant of Two Masters—a raucous type of Italian comedy beginning in the 16^th century in Europe. The action is fast, physical, farcical and hilarious.

With One Man, Two Guvnors a Skiffle Band warms us up, sets the tone and gets us in the mood. The band plays homemade instruments for the most part; a washboard, a pole with strings stuck in a bucket and played like a double bass alongside a guitar etc. The band looks like a motley crew until one looks closely and sees Patrick Galligan, Martin Happer, Graeme Somerville, Lawrence Libor, Jade Repeta and Matt Alfano.

The play is set in Brighton in 1963. There are lots of places selling food. Francis (Peter Fernandes) can take his pick if only he had the money. Even when he gets hired by two guvnors, Francis is asking for food. Peter Fernandes as Francis plays the audience. He asks people if they have anything to eat. One woman offers him her sandwich. “What kind is it?” he asks. “Hummus” she replies. “Hummus!!!” he says in horror. “No wonder you wanna give it away.” Even Francis has his limits.

Director Chris Abraham is a master of comedy in his productions and he ramps it up to warp speed here, ably helped by Peter Fernandes as Francis. In a restaurant scene, both guvnors are there in their own private room, unbeknownst to each other, and so Francis has to flit from each room to the other bringing food, taking it away, bringing more food, plates etc. Peter Fernandes as Francis is brimming with comedic invention, timing and most important, seriousness. Fernandes plays the laughs seriously, as does the whole cast, which makes it all so hilarious.

Francis is sort of helped by Alfie (a comic genius in Matt Alfano) who is an aged, shaky, unsteady waiter, on his first day of work. Unsuspecting audience members are engaged; water is showered on characters; doors are slammed as characters appear from over there through other doors.

Laughter is the constant sound one hears in this buoyant, bracing, gut-sore production.

The Shaw Festival presents:

Plays until Oct. 13, 2024.

Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes. (1 intermission)

www.shawfest.com

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Live and in person at the Hamilton Fringe Festival, Hamilton, Ont. Playing until July 27, 2024.

www.hft.co

Written and starring David M. Proctor

Directed by Marlon Burnley and David M. Proctor

Costumes by Karen Marie

Scenic and lighting design by Tatiana Magloire

Sound by Moise Laporte

A stirring, heartfelt story of redemption and forgiveness with some hands-on information about being a trucker.

Matt Cooke has had a difficult life. He’s thoughtful, tempered and has devoted his life for working for the betterment of others. In the various jobs he’s had, he reads the manuals of the companies and notes when management skips details that disadvantage the workers. His diligence has gotten rid of sloppy managers while he keeps his job.

He spent three semesters at university studying philosophy and religion. He wanted to be an actor but never seemed to go past the call-back. He got a job as a trucker where he spent most of his life. We learn that ‘the hammer lane’ is the left lane used for passing. That lane is forbidden to truckers. This never stops Matt who used it often, until perhaps he had a near fatal situation where he thought he might have caused the death of a minister. Matt told his mother that God was looking out for that minister. His mother said that God was looking out for Matt.

Matt has always lived outside of the rules, good intentions notwithstanding. Perhaps that’s why when we meet him, he’s seeing his third therapist. He tells his story and deflects parts of it that are too painful to deal with at the time.

We also meet Matt’s father Clarence, both played with detail and nuance by David M. Proctor, who also wrote this play. Clarence has always been hard on Matt, chiding him for taking such dangerous chances in life (going out in a thunderstorm to look at lightening, for example) and generally being a disappointment—never keeping in touch etc.  One wonders if Matt was absent because his father was so critical.

David M. Proctor’s writing  for Matt is vivid, smart and so erudite—this is a man who thinks before he speaks and is mindful of how important it is to represent his colleagues in arbitration. His writing for Clarence creates the beautiful expressions of an elderly Blackman, it’s almost a patois, with interesting turns of phrases. While David M. Proctor is Black and the characters are Black,  the story is universal—a son desperate for his father’s approval and always coming up short.

Grabbing the Hammer Lane—A trucker narrative presents a balanced unfolding of the story. David M. Proctor presents it with dignity, grace and compassion.

The Hamilton Fringe Presents:

Plays until July 25, 26, 27.

Running time: 60 minutes.

www.hft.co

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