Semele Preview

Quiet On The Set...and...Remember!

Backstage at the COC brings the past and the biggest question facing opera

by Alex Van Chee

(photos by Karl Forster from the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie production of Semele, 2009) 

So there I was standing in the backstage of the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts amongst a frenzy of camera crew, reporters, and other media writers like a fish out of water on a Friday afternoon, wondering what to do. It was Canadian Opera Company’s media meet and greet event for the upcoming big budget production of Handel’s Semele and everybody was excited. There were speeches about the history and the mechanics of the very impressive “set” (a real 500 hundred-year old Ming temple made of camphor wood, dismantled and put back together here in Toronto), about the multiculturalism and its significance both to the opera and the city of Toronto, about the impossible task of running 3 different operas simultaneously, each with its own sets. Having never been at an event quite like this before, I was suddenly at a loss: I didn’t know what I was doing there. I didn’t have a clear agenda (I knew I had to write something after the trip), I am an introvert (my friends would protest violently on this) so speaking to strangers in an event like this was quite frightening, and I was ill prepared for any one-on-one interviews (I didn’t know this was part of, or even the point of a media event). I must have sweat buckets because the media kit prepared for me that I clutched tightly in my hands was wrinkled and damp.

Theatre For Thought, April 28, 2012

THE CHATTY CROWD

or

Should we be speaking out or shutting up during a show?

joel fishbane

My recent visit to Centaur Theatre’s production of Intimate Apparel quickly became the quintessential night at the modern theatre. Before the first scene had ended, people across the auditorium were illuminated by the glow of their smartphones. Then my neighbour began to treat me to what would become a running commentary regarding the play. I probably wouldn’t have minded if my neighbor had been director Micheline Chevrier, but in this case it was just a middle-aged woman out for a night with her friends.

“Oh look at her!” she breathed to her friend upon actress Patricia Summerset’s entrance. “Isn’t she pretty?”  Later, when actor Quincy Amorer appeared, the woman turned to her friend and said knowingly, “Ooo! He’s a player.”

Theatre For Thought, April 28, 2012

THE CHATTY CROWD

or

Should we be speaking out or shutting up during a show?

joel fishbane

My recent visit to Centaur Theatre’s production of Intimate Apparel quickly became the quintessential night at the modern theatre. Before the first scene had ended, people across the auditorium were illuminated by the glow of their smartphones. Then my neighbour began to treat me to what would become a running commentary regarding the play. I probably wouldn’t have minded if my neighbor had been director Micheline Chevrier, but in this case it was just a middle-aged woman out for a night with her friends.

“Oh look at her!” she breathed to her friend upon actress Patricia Summerset’s entrance. “Isn’t she pretty?”  Later, when actor Quincy Amorer appeared, the woman turned to her friend and said knowingly, “Ooo! He’s a player.”

Review: A Florentine Tragedy and Gianni Schicchi

Gun-Brit Barkmin, Michael König, Alan Held  (background) in A Florentine Tragedy (Photo: Michael Cooper)

One Almost, One Win

The COC double-bill is a great idea that (almost) works perfectly

by Axel Van Chee

I will admit that the double billed A Florentine Tragedy and Gianni Schicchi currently playing
at The Canadian Company is, personally, my most anticipated opera event this season. And
I will also admit that it is times like this I am glad we do not use a star rating system. You see, I LOVE Zemlinsky, and this is one of his pieces that I have listened to for years but never actually seen on stage. And to be billed with Gianni Schicchi is quite an ingenious move on the part of the company since both operas are set in Florence, written at approximately the same time (A Florentine Tragedy being composed a year earlier, so coincidentally, the double bill actually plays out in chronological order), and the two operas represent very distinct musical lineages. What plays out over the next two hours is something I was not expecting: a musically ravishing but dramatically uneven Tragedy, and the complete opposite for Gianni Schicchi.

CharPo's Real Theatre! April 27, 2012

CPT's Picture of the Week, April 26, 2012

YPT's world premiere of Edward Roy's Beyond the Cuckoo's Nest is not only aimed at older kids - grades 8-12 - but there is a strong language advisory. Once again the company is on the cutting edge and, we feel, the subject is "for all": teen mental health and the issues and stigmas arising from it. 

News: YPT announces typically ambitious 2012-13 lineup

Allen MacInnis, artistic director of Toronto's prestigious Young People's Theatre, has announced a 47th season based around the theme "I Wish". To that end the company will be presenting original works as well as co-producing with some of the most celebrated companies in the genre (notably DynamO, Carousel, Theatre Direct and Manitoba Theatre for Young People).

Read the press release:

After Dark, April 24, 2012

Am I Myron Galloway?
Be careful of what you wish for...
By Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I was working at Centaur Theatre in the PR department when my boss, Pam Turpin, let out a "Tsk!" that could wake the dead. She was reading a review of a Fennario play by Myron Galloway. The review was a rave, as I remember, but Pam was mightily pissed that Galloway has described a character in the play as a "martinet". "Why couldn't he just say 'tyrant' or something. Why 'martinet'!" I thought she was pissed off by the erudition of the word. No, she was pissed off at the archaicness of the word.

Theatre For Thought, April 21, 2012

RISE OF THE PUPPETS 

joel fishbane

“We all have strings holding us together,” says Pierrick. “But it’s whether or not the strings pull you or push you that makes you a marionette or a puppet.” It seems important to him that I understand this distinction as I sit down to interview him and his castmates about The Heretics of Bohemia, a new play being produced in Montreal by Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre. Heretics is one of those rare shows that features humans and puppets working side by side and it’s easy for a novice to get tripped up by terminology. “Marionettes generally have a bit of an elitist attitude,” Pierrick adds. “But I’m not trying to be racist. It’s just what I’ve found in my experience.”

News: (Toronto) Obsidian announces 2012-13 season

After the hugely successful and critically acclaimed production of Caroline, or Change, Obsidian has announced its upcoming two-play season: Shakespeare's Nigga, a world premiere of a work by Joseph Jomo Pierre; The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez. The works will be produced in coproduction; the former with Passe Muraille, the latter with Harold Green Jewish Theatre.

See the website

Review: The Game of Love and Chance

Gil Garratt (photo credit: lucetg.com)

Taking Chances

Marivaux continues to seduce

by Jessica Yen

Hot on the heels of a month-long run at the Centaur Theatre, The Game of Love and Chance has finally arrived at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto. This close to 300 year old farce written by Marivaux and adapted and translated by Nicolas Billon will have you smiling in your seat. 

CharPo's Real Theatre! April 20, 2012

Review: Oil and Water

Neema Bickersteth as Adeline and Starr Domingue as Vonzia in the 2011 run at the LSPU Hall (St. John's, NL) 

ACT I Problems

Oil and Water takes its time

by Beat Rice

I am instantly curious when I hear that a play is inspired by real events and true stories. What about this story intrigued playwright Robert Chafe so much that he felt the need to translate the events for the stage?  Oil and Water is inspired by the story of Lanier Phillips, the only surviving black male from a shipwreck of U.S. marines off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942. He is rescued and cared for by the people in St. Lawrence, Canadians who have never seen a person with coloured skin. We experience the majority of the events through Phillips’ older self’s reflections, although it was not consistent.

CPT's Picture of the Week, April 19, 2012

L'emmerdeur is a great title (freely translated it means "Pain in the Ass") and

writer Francis Veber knows his emmerdeurs: from the prize-winning idiot

in Dîner de cons to Albin, the Queen of the Pains in the Ass in 

La Cage aux folles, he knows... Théâtre français de Toronto is taking on

L'emmerdeur this week. (Paul Essiambre, Pierre Simpson and René Lemieux 

- Photo by Marc Lemyre)

Review: Armide

Photo: Bruce Zinger / Marie McDunnough & Jack Rennie, Artists of Atelier Ballet.

The One by Lully

Armide - the singer and the opera - are gorgeous

by Axel Van Chee

The story of Armida by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso about an Arabian sorceress and her unrequited love with the Christian soldier Rinaldo during the First Crusade is a popular subject in opera literature; Handel had one (of course, it is actually harder to name what he doesn't have), Gluck had one, Rossini had one, even Dvorak and Haydn, who is not exactly known for his operatic works had one. The first known rendition of the poem in operatic form however, is Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Armide, first performed in 1686, and it opens at the Elgin Theatre in a visually stunning production by Opera Atelier.

Reincarnated from its 2005 run, Marshall Pynkoski unfolds the story like an enchanted fairy-tale manuscript, with the sets and costumes exquisitely designed by Gerard Gauci and Dora Rust D’Eye. There are intricate details everywhere, enfolding both Asian and Western motifs to further accentuate the conflicts between the East and the West. The lighting design by Bonnie Beecher further adds a layer of spectacles to the opera.

News: Buddies goes back to Normal with new season

Buddies in Bad Times artistic director Brendan Healey has announced the company's new season and among the highlights is a return of the critically acclaimed The Normal Heart, produced by Studio 180 Theatre.

l-r Jeff Miller and Jonathan Wilson
(Photo credit: John Karastamatis)

With the season the company continues to fulfill it's mandate of offering Queer visions of the world and that is clear from the first outing, in September, when the house presents Obaaberima, a work about a Ghanian imprisoned for a violent crime and who feels he must tell his story to his cellmates. Also notable in the lineup is the return of Daniel MacIvor with his work Arigato, Tokyo; a new work from the company's founder, Sky Gilbert (A Few Brittle Leaves) and Queer performance company Ecce Homo's Of A Monstrous Child: a gaga musical.

Read the press release:

After Dark, April 17, 2012

A Critic's Commandments
No, we're not God
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I was listening to an episode of This American Life, the radio show hosted by Ira Glass which presents a series of stories, each week, around a central theme. (Listen to it. It's on iTunes.) Last week's episode was on The Ten Commandments and it started by listing the commandments of various groups and organizations like umpires (Thou shalt keep your eye on the ball). Immediately I wondered what my commandments - a critic's - would be. Feel free to add your own or modify these in the comments section below.

First-Person: Robert Chafe on Oil and Water and Lanier Phillips

Chafe and Phillips (photo credit: Don Ellis)

Lanier Remembered

Oil and Water explores the consequences of lives lived

by Robert Chafe

In February of 2011 my company, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, premiered my new play Oil and Water in St. John’s. The premiere marked the culmination of three years of research, scripting, workshopping and revisions, but truly the story of Oil and Water and its genesis stretch back for me as far as 1996. That summer myself and my collaborator, Jillian Keiley, had the occasion to spend a significant amount of social time with Newfoundland painter Grant Boland. On one trip to his studio he showed us a work in progress, a large striking canvas depicting tired, near naked men, covered in dirt being bathed by a set of angelic women, they themselves stained by their labours, their toil visible on their cheeks and aprons. One of the hallmarks of Grant’s work is its consistent narrative clarity. There was a story behind this painting, and I had to know it.

On a stormy night in February 1942 a convoy of American Naval vessels ran aground on the south coast of Newfoundland. Two of the boats sank in the ensuing hours, with a huge loss of life. The USS Truxton had wrecked a mere one hundred feet from land and a few miles from the small isolated town of St. Lawrence. The men of the town, mostly workers at a nearby Fluorspar mine, mobilized to help the survivors, collecting them as they reached shore, exhausted, frozen, and coated in the thick black bilge oil leaking from the foundering ship. One of those surviving men was Lanier Phillips. He was eighteen years old, on his second voyage since joining the navy, a private, a lowly mess attendant, and one of only four people of colour on the entire ship. He was to be the only black man to survive.

Theatre For Thought, April 14, 2012

IN DEFENSE OF CHARLIE BROWN

joel fishbane

Years ago a friend who shall remain nameless (hint: she’s part of the current cast of CMT’s The Singing Bee) gave me the script to You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown as a birthday present. At the time, we were all flouncing through musical theatre school and I had developed a habit of mining the show for material: I sang three of the songs and did one of Charlie Brown’s monologues in acting class. At the time, everyone - except my nameless friend - rolled their eyes. “You’re wasting your time,” they said. “Everything about that show is best left forgotten.”

Flash forward a quarter of a lifetime and we find ourselves in the midst of the Charlie Brown resurgence – it’s both a feature of ATP’s 2012-13 season and opens at Stratford on May 15th. It enjoyed a Broadway revival in 1999 and since then has had dozens of international productions. For all this, the show still has its share of detractors – the Globe and Mail dubbed it the “least anticipated show of 2012” and critics have long been divided on whether the show is a “miracle” (the Village Voice, circa 1967) or “the stuff of actor’s nightmares” (the NY Times, circa 1999). 

EVENT: Gruesome Playground Injuries (May 2-13)

CharPo's Real Theatre! April 13, 2012

CPT's Picture of the Week, April 12, 2012

(click to enlarge)

Audrey Dwyer, Michael Healey, Sterling Jarvis &  Kimwun Perehinec & Mark McGrinder 

in the fiery and funny Clybourne Park (photo by John Karastamatis)

Read our review

News: SummerWorks announces 2012 lineup

Nutter

The 22nd SummerWorks Festival (August 9-19) will feature 40 plays as chosen by a jury for this not-quite-fringe event.

Among the many notables are a new work by Daniel MacIvor, Johanna Nutter's poignant, award-winning My Pregnant Brother (performed by the writer) and works by Anton Piatigorsky, Sean Dixon, Waawaate Fobister, Richard Sanger, Rosa Laborde, Nicholas Billon, Erin Brandenburg, Ron Jenkins, Anthony Black and the provocative troupe, The Scandelles.

See the press release.

Review: Tales of Hoffman

(l - r) Andriana Chuchman as Olympia, Steven Cole as Cochenille and Michael Barrett as Spalanzani (Photo: Michael Cooper)

Beyond Expectations

COC delivers a minor miracle

by Axel Van Chee

Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann is a whale of a tale in both its fancifulness and length, and when haplessly done, can be a tediously exhausting evening. With a large cast, most opera houses would also consider themselves lucky to have only two or three stars to carry the burden of this hafty show. With that said, what the Canadian Opera Company has on their hands is nothing short of a minor miracle with its beautiful stage sets and costumes, lush and nuanced playing from the orchestra, and brilliant, brilliant singing from a superb ensemble cast, half of whom are making their COC debuts.

After Dark, April 10, 2012

Leo On Dirty Kitchen Floor, the original

Getting The Picture

It's not that hard and it's not that expensive to make a decent first impression

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Once again this week we were setting up the various CharPo websites and once again we were choosing our pictures of the week. And, once again, we were coming up short because beyond the big houses, we were going through images which would rate a "fail" even if they were posted on a personal Facebook page. There is nothing worse than not having pictures print and internet media can publish with preview articles or reviews. But what comes close - in worsitude - is having pictures that look like they were shot in your basement by your mother. (There is a running gag, here in Montreal, about a company that was presenting a play with nudity in it and sent out pictures where all the naked people had the infamous snapshot-red-eye; it was like looking at amateur porn.)

So here is what I propose: showing you a little of what's out there. This is not aimed just at community theatre, amateurs and Fringers - this is aimed at every company that can't afford Cylla von Tiedemann, lucetg or Coopers - Michael or Emily. Above is a gawdawful picture of my dog, including our filthy kitchen floor and the canine photography version of red-eye: no-eye. What follows is what I whipped together in 30 minutes (for the bunch!) using apps which are available on the iPad. There are versions of these apps for other tablets, all computers and most smartphones. They all cost less than $10. The treated photos are meant to show you the possibilities. All of the apps are easy to use. The proof? I did it.

Interview: Actor Brendan McMurtry-Howlett on Sia

(photo credit: Sandra Lefrancois)

The Theatre Politic

A committed actor talks about those dangerous times of "I can do anything"

by Jasmine Chen

This week I sat down with Brendan McMurtry-Howlett who plays Nicholas Summers in SIA, to talk about his experience rehearsing and performing this intensely demanding play, now playing at the Factory Studio Theatre until April 15.

CHARPO: SIA is an extremely politically charged piece; as someone who is quite political himself, how do you relate to your character? 

BRENDAN: It feels close to home in a lot of ways, and in a lot of ways pretty different. He is a young guy, younger than me; he's rough around the edges which is something I could relate to when I was 19-21, that feeling of “I can do anything”. It is that age where you learn all that you are capable of, and very shortly after you learn all that you are not capable of. That's very much where Nick is. I come from a background of social justice. I can relate to a lot of that social consciousness that is looking outwards towards global impact. This play presents us with an interesting dilemma, how do you engage that desire to make the world a better place? Which is what I think led Nick to volunteer in the Liberian refugee camp, in the first place; which is a noble thing to do, but how do you go about that? That becomes the major question. 

I think a lot of the things he says in the play are valid, some of which get him into more trouble. I don't think it is what he's saying, I think it's how he's saying it. It can be that ignorance or naiveté about the difference of the realities of living in North America vs living in a Liberian refugee camp that leads to serious breakdowns in communication. Personally, I think that is at the core of Nick and Abraham's relationship in the play. Most of the problems spark from both of them not understanding where the other person comes from, not having any context beyond the stereotypes of what it is like to be a white person or a black person living in Africa. I don't think Nick's crime was going there wanting to help. It is so complicated, because here in North America I know tons of people who have gone to volunteer in Africa.

Review: Clybourne Park

Mark McGrinder, Sterling Jarvis and Audrey Dwyer in Clybourne Park. Photo by John Karastamatis.

This Good

Clybourne Park is another dish of brill from Studio 180 Theatre

by Dave Ross

“I wish that every time I went to the theatre, it was this good.” These were the words my fellow CharPo contributor Stuart Munro shared with me as we left the Studio 180 production of Clybourne Park at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs on Friday night. And I absolutely have to agree. 

The play is solely character-driven—there is no waiting for events, no guessing at what will happen next. Act I, set in 1959, introduces us to Bev (Maria Ricossa) and Russ (Michael Healey), a white middle-class couple preparing to move away. This first act begins innocently enough, but as more characters are introduced, we start to get uncomfortable. This climaxes with the arrival of Karl, who is dismayed that a “coloured” couple has been allowed to purchase the house, and his hearing-impaired wife Betsy. Karl is smarmy, but quickly moves from smarmy to reprehensible as he lays out his case for not having a coloured family move into the neighbourhood—all while Bev’s African-American maid Francine and her husband sit in the same room, and are even consulted on how they would feel moving in “next to a bunch of white folk.”  

Theatre For Thought, April 7, 2012

(photo credit: Trudie Lee)

SOME GUY AND HIS DOLLS

Ronnie Burkett and the Theatre of Marionettes

joel fishbane

“Life is finite,” says master puppeteer Ronnie Burkett. “I’m just killing us off at once.” The remark perfectly captures both his wit and sincere concern for the future of civilization. “We’re on a collision course…anyone who says we’re not is an idiot.”

I’ve managed to catch up with Burkett over the phone as he’s finishing up his Canadian tour for Penny Plain, the latest production from Theatre of Marionettes. The subversive bad boy of puppet theatre since 1986, Burkett has gained international acclaim creating sophisticated theatre involving puppets, all of which he designs himself. The shows consistently marry absurdity with some startling explorations about the human condition.

Review: Was Spring

Caroline Gillis, Clare Coulter, Jessica Moss (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Poetry, laughter and less

MacIvor's new play doesn't impress

by Beat Rice

It is always interesting to see how a playwright stages one’s own work. Daniel MacIvor directs his own play, Was Spring, at the Tarragon. 

The set, designed and lit by Kimberly Purtell, is a simple small open space with three chairs onstage. The most interesting visual is the tall reflective black wall that is also slightly transparent. It is an apt representation of what the women are going through. The three women attempt to come to terms with a life-changing event of their past. It’s an emotionally complex play that deals with how one views life, and how we approach death. The text is extremely poetic and there are some funny moments. 

CharPo's Real Theatre, April 6, 2012

Review: Ajax and Little Iliad (World Stage)

Rumours of War

World Stage gets small to approach big

by Beat Rice

Ajax &  Little Iliad Produced by Evan Webber and Frank Cox-O’Connell and Harbourfront Centre (as part of Worldstage) Created and Performed by Evan Webber and Frank Cox-O’Connell

Ajax & Little Iliad is a two part original Canadian work that explores theatre of war and political theatre. Each of the one-act plays draws from stories of Ancient Greece, making reference to real historical events as well as mythology. Little Iliad comes first in the programme, followed by Ajax.

Little Iliad proves that you can stage a conversation that is delivered in an everyday kind of way that is engaging and interesting. The play is a Skype conversation between two old friends, presented uniquely. An intimate audience of 30 enters the space through the backstage area to find riser seating on the Enwave stage facing downstage. Masking blocks off the space and all we see is a table with a laptop and some clay figurines. The conversation is cleverly staged with Evan as the only ‘real’ actor who is physically in front of us, and Thom, a man on the other side of the Skype conversation who is visible through a tiny projection on the white clay models. All of the audience members have individual headphones in which we can clearly hear every word, breath and stutter of the two characters. It is like having an actor in your ear. It was for me, a completely new way of experiencing theatre. You are a close observer of what starts off as a friendly conversation, which becomes an exchange of story-telling that develops into role-play, and concludes in a mini eruption over the justifications of war. We hear the insights of an artist and of a soldier, and in the end we don’t, or at least I didn’t feel the need to pick a side.