The Story: Interview - Ken Gass

Eyes on the Future

A new chapter opens in a turbulent life

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

It was the story that dominated Toronto theatre all Summer. The Board of Factory Theatre had decided the company’s future would be better served without the vision of its founding Artistic Director and one-time rescuer, Ken Gass. What escalated in the wake of that decision was the kind of bitter feud most theatre professionals will only face in their nightmares. Artists from across the country swore to boycott the Factory. Prominent Canadian playwrights George F. Walker and Judith Thompson withdrew their plays from the 2012-13 season. And while opinions flew from both sides, the outpouring of support for Gass, one of Canadian theatre’s loudest and most respected advocates, was tremendous, and ongoing. 

While the Board would ultimately not be moved, the incident has wreaked massive damage on the Factory’s reputation, something Gass addressed in a September press release, which confirmed he would not be returning to the troubled company. 

“I think for survival, I needed to just cut the cord and move onward,” he says. “I think it’s astonishing that it’s that same Board of Directors that are still in place. What’s happening now seems to be that Board is trying to find a way to salvage its self-esteem or something, and not really thinking in terms of what’s the answer for the Factory. How does the Factory renew itself? How does the Factory regain the confidence of the community?”

Review: Oleanna

Mamet’s People, Mamet’s Problem

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

David Mamet’s writing can often feel like a kind of theatrical assault, with a broad sweep of ideas and points of view conveyed in dialogue that is not just perpetually active, but often heavy on colloquialism and peculiarity. Oleanna, his two-handed power play, is no exception, pitting a young student’s seemingly self-righteous political correctness against her teacher, whose sense of old world familiarity seems to mask much darker impulses. 

It’s a tough piece for Jaybird Productions to choose for their debut. For one, when you take on Mamet, you take on Mamet’s clipped dialogue. There’s nary a finished line in the play’s opening, making it difficult for actors James R. Woods and Jacqui Skeete to build momentum, as a tense, yet seemingly benign meeting between teacher and student takes a much more sinister tone. Could the actors and director Jaqui Burke put a few more layers into the exchange to carry it through? Perhaps. But is there something lacking in the play itself?

Review: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine

(photo credit: Deanna L. Palazzo)

Ernest's Hammer

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

If you’re going to follow the well-worn theatre trope of a disintegrating – though possibly inescapable – relationship, told through an intimate two hander, you’d better find a fairly unique way to flesh it out. The Anger In Ernest & Ernestine rises to the task fairly well, setting its terminally flawed bliss within a self-aware ‘theatre home’ and using banal familiarity to create a sense of whimsy that instantly attracts us to the rather odd central couple.

Ernest is a sweet, well-organized and slightly uptight nebbish. Ernestine is more of a free spirit, for whom a messy life is one well-lived. Writer/director, Robert Morgan (co-writing with Martha Ross and Leah Cherniak) never pretends the course of this marriage will run smooth, illustrating petty annoyances between the pair from the get go. Where, for instance, is the ideal place in the room for a tissue box? And whatever did happen to Ernest’s hammer? 

Review: Speaking in Tongues

Helene Joy and Jonathan Goad in Speaking in Tongues. Photo by Shaun Benson.

Sydney's Language

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

Those arguing the case for Australian film often cite Ray Lawrence’s Lantana as one of the country’s finest efforts, and it’s easy to see why. A sweeping, multi-pronged narrative of four couples linked tenuously by various breaches of trust, it brought Andrew Bovell’s play Speaking in Tongues to the screen in a vivid hybrid of mystery and relationship drama set within suburban Sydney. 

Two couples share the stage, each in a nondescript hotel room, unknowingly about to enjoy a little illicit partner swapping. Peter and Sonja refuse to go through with it, while Leon and Jane suffer no such attack of conscience. The scene feels awkward, as the two pairings spout the same simple, clichéd lines we’ve heard in a million infidelity dramas before. But it sets up a familiarity to be tossed aside the moment each of the four arrives home. It frees Bovell to subvert tiresome expectations and give each character’s dilemma the time and exploration it deserves. The play doesn’t consume itself with the offence, but instead uses it to illustrate a bigger picture.

Review: Rocky Horror Show

Pushing 40, Still Sweet

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

If you’ve made it to this website and I have to spend a paragraph explaining the plot of Rocky Horror, what the hell is wrong with you?

In 2012, The Rocky Horror Show finds itself pushing 40. It’s more institution than revolution these days, meaning any successful production needs to find whatever trace of sexual revolution remains – all without alienating an established fanbase. A slavish imitation of the definitive film is death. So is going the ‘party over performance’ route that plagues many amateur productions of the show. You’re not shadow-casting under a spray of water pistols and toast now, darling. Expectations are high and fans are rabid. As a wise man in heels once said (theatre superstition not withstanding), “Good luck… and don’t fuck it up!”

Review: The Normal Heart

The ensemble (photo credit: John Karastamatis)

Fearless

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

As a writer and activist, Larry Kramer is nothing if not confronting. By cutting so fearlessly close to personal experience, he creates stories that are as real and enriching as they are unsettling. The Normal Heart has enjoyed something of a renewal in recent years, not just in the form of this superb production from Studio 180, but as a multi-Tony award winning revival staged last year on Broadway. The Studio 180 production returns as one of the most anticipated plays of the current Buddies season.

For the uninitiated, this not an easy night out at the theatre. The frustrations and challenges faced by Ned Weeks (a very thinly disguised manifestation of Kramer), in his attempts to unite and rouse the Gay community to action against AIDS, are lifted from actual events. His efforts fell on the largely deaf ears of both an American establishment that didn’t want to know, and a Gay community that was less terrified of AIDS than it was of being outed, or losing the liberties it had gained up to that point – two stuck wheels not greased by the fact that Weeks/Kramer is, by his own admission, an uncompromising, hot-tempered asshole. 

And Kramer was not afraid to show his ugly side.

The Story: Interview with Matthew Jocelyn, Artistic Director, Canadian Stage

(photo credit: George Pimentel)

The King (of collaboration)

The controversial boss talks about listening to company-members and artists and finding the "juste milieu" in an age of "right-sizing"

by Christian Baines

Since taking the reins as Artistic Director of Canadian Stage in 2009, Toronto-born Matthew Jocelyn has embraced an approach that’s as contemporary and adaptable as it is prudent. He talks to CharPo about a new season, dance theatre, and why there’s no formula for theatre ‘right-sizing.’ 

CHARPO: Canadian Stage has undergone quite a few changes since you took over. How would you describe the company’s place in the Toronto theatre scene now?

JOCELYN: That’s almost more for others to say than for me. Obviously we’re aware of what’s happening in the rest of the city. But there’s only one really large scale house in Toronto for not-for-profit theatre, and that is the Bluma Appel Theatre so we are still, as the company has always been, the major not-for-profit theatre company. I think that where I would distinguish our position today is that we are a resolutely contemporary company, so that we can say that maybe even in the country, we are the largest not-for-profit contemporary theatre company.  I’d include contemporary performing arts company. What we’re also doing now is film theatre, musicals, music and dance. It’s also sort of visual spectacle. So it’s got a mandate about any form that contemporary performing artists or contemporary performing directors are occupied with as the ‘meat’ of their expression for today.

Review: Antony and Cleopatra

FetiShakes

by Christian Baines

Those who missed what remains of Toronto’s Fetish Fair this year would do well to get down to Buddies for The Theatre Elusive’s energetic take on Antony and Cleopatra. But even if the wardrobe reads more like Priape’s Fall catalogue than Shakespeare, this production has its heart and its focus in the right place.  

At a relatively lean two hours with no interval, this Antony & Cleopatra embodies that brand of provocative, youthful hunger more often applied to productions of Macbeth or Titus Andronicus. But it never veers off into excess violence or gore. Instead, director Rosanna Saracino favours minimalism, restricting her set to two seats of power and letting her actors do the rest. She encourages them to explore the play’s sensuality, and so they do. If that means scenes of beatings and whippings induce a sly smirk, rather than a wince of sympathy, so be it. It’s become a common trick in landing Shakespeare’s darker tragedies, to keep the show’s tongue firmly in cheek, and Saracino uses it well. The show’s tone remains consistent, yet never cheap or excessive in its campness, and while that might not please purists, it’s undeniably entertaining.

Review: No Great Mischief

David Fox (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

The Recollected Family

by Christian Baines

Adapted from Alistair MacLeod’s award winning novel of the same name, No Great Mischief follows Alexander MacDonald (R. H. Thomson) in his attempts to reconnect with his family’s past, his brother Calum (David Fox) and the many tragedies and trials that have befallen both. Distinctively Canadian and occasionally compelling, it’s an unapologetically anecdotal story, ultimately not much more than a series of clips and memories from Alexander’s life.

The first trial, however, is for the audience – a marathon slog of exposition that, while possibly immersive on the written page, makes for a pretty tedious opening to a two hours plus play. The audience’s second great challenge is making sense of Calum. This is no shame to Fox, whose detailed embodiment of the character is unquestionable. With a burdened past and a battered liver, Calum’s life has been one of hard knocks, but his quasi-reflective ramblings only serve to make the play more impenetrable, right when it’s crying out for a reprieve from Alexander’s dense narration. 

Review: Julie Sits Waiting

(Photo credit: Jeremy Mimnagh)

The Familiar Unconventional
by Christian Baines

Self-professed ‘dirty opera,’ Julie Sits Waiting brings the contemporary story of adultery by way of online dating to the chamber opera stage. Familiar? Yes, but also unconventional in its execution. Julie (Fides Krucker), married to a police officer and Mick (Richard Armstrong), an Anglican priest, make for an unusual tryst, one that carries the weight of both characters’ advanced years. These are not the sexy adulterers of sleazy pulp novels, and that sense of realism sits the work uncomfortably outside the bounds of the familiar. That is, arguably, right where this story needs to be.

The show is perhaps more a sensory experience than a narrative one, more interested in riding through Julie and Mick’s journey of lust and fear than making sense of it. It’s rare to see such a rich collaboration between designers in this kind of piece, and in Julie Sits Waiting, their work gives the audience a much greater sense of the characters’ experience than they might glean from the libretto alone. Yes, we’ve seen visual tropes like broken shards/blades on many a stage before, but combined with Jeremy Mimnagh’s surreal video and Louis Dufort’s evocative, disturbing score, it’s an effective setting.

Review: Your Side, My Side, and the Truth (SummerWorks)

More than admiration required

by Christian Baines

Rebecca Auerbach’s Your Side, My Side, and the Truth is an easy work to admire. It tackles the difficult subject of how we respond when someone dies; you have to admire Auerbach’s bold frankness, both as playwright and lead, playing herself. You also have to admire her bravery, and her willingness to dramatize these events, drawn as they are, from her own life. 

The central plot, following Auerbach’s relationship, is quite compelling. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough on which to hang a full play, not even in this lean, one-act format. As a result, the show’s focus shifts between the two leads (Jeff Gladstone portrays the other half of the pair) and a trio of supporting characters, whose links to the primary story are, at best, tenuous. While it can be assumed these are real figures from Auerbach’s life, they bring little to the play from a dramatic standpoint. 

Review: Terminus (SummerWorks)

Dubliners

by Christian Baines

A distraught telephone crisis worker “A”, a lonely young woman disillusioned by love “B”, and a serial killer with hidden gifts “C” - one remarkable night in Dublin will bring these three souls together in a vivid, lyrical journey by playwright Mark O’Rowe.

With no stage direction to speak of, Terminus is a shared, rhyming monologue between its characters. Dancing elegantly between horror, humour, fantasy and tragedy, O’Rowe’s play is a refreshing reminder of theatre’s central purpose – to tell a great story. And what a story it is, artfully interweaving the all too human trials of “A” with the otherworldly, infernal evening of “B”. And while Adam Wilson may occasionally take things a little over the top as “C”, he’s a nice counterbalance to the more measured, but no less solid performances of Maev Beaty and Ava Jane Markus.

Review: Medicine Boy (SummerWorks)

A Script that Struggles

by Christian Baines

A play that promises to bring out the good, the bad and – as its narration makes extremely clear – the ugly of First Nations' history, Medicine Boy has been one of the hottest tickets at this year’s SummerWorks festival. Certainly, there are few plays on the program with more deserving ambitions. Written by Waawaate Fobister, the work follows Mukukee (Garret C. Smith) as he attempts to reconnect with his beloved, late mother (PJ Prudat), his heritage, and his identity in relation to these ancestral ties.

Review: Breathe For Me (Summerworks)

A Playwright to Watch

by Christian Baines

Breathe For Me is not a play interested in giving its audiences a straight answer. After all, Edith (Deborah Kipp) has been trying to get just that out of Edna (Peggy Mahon) for over 50 years. Now confined to a wheelchair, and the victim of increasingly violent seizures, Edna may be running out of time to atone for her chequered past. Or is it all a manipulative ruse to stop Edith from leaving her?

Review: Big Plans (Summerworks)

(photo credit: Daniel Barkely)

The Horror of "Based on a True Story"

by Christian Baines

Gordon (Andy Trithardt), a sexually repressed man sliding towards middle age, has placed an ad on the internet seeking a willing male victim to be slaughtered and consumed. Answering the call is Henry (Karl Graboshas), a listless young man with a failed marriage behind him and little desire to go on.

The trouble with stories about cannibalism is that nobody takes them seriously anymore. I blame Sondheim for this, I really do! So any chills to be had from entering HUB 14’s intimate, in-the-round set are somewhat muted by inevitable giggles. Fortunately, Jeremy Taylor’s script allows this black comedy to flourish, until he finds more insidious methods of exploring the psychology of his twisted leads.

Review: When it Rains (SummerWorks)

The Power of Visuals

by Christian Baines

Alan and Anna are siblings whose respective marriages are both on the brink of disaster. The key difference? Anna knows it, though much of the problem may lie within her own head.

When It Rains is a story about life’s most universal realities – love, sex, birth, death – all vividly explored by the innovative use of projections in lieu of any specific set or lighting. The piece rarely employs set pieces any more complicated than two chairs, allowing its four highly talented cast-members and designer Nick Bottomley’s graphic novel-inspired imagery to propel the narrative.

Review: The Royal Comedians

Sarah Koehn & Diego Matamoros (photo by: Cylla von Tiedemann)

Singing the Under-sung

Soulpepper delivers a little-known gem

by Christian Baines

Mikhail Bulgakov’s black satire The Royal Comedians arrives at Soulpepper Theatre Company, reminding audiences of a time when playwrights were answerable to both state and church for the content of their plays. Bulgakov experienced such censorship first hand. Earning the ire of Soviet authorities by supposedly making a joke of the regime, it was only the intervention of an unlikely fan, Stalin himself, that kept the writer from prison.

So it’s perhaps unsurprising that he should find solidarity with Molière, his subject and protagonist in The Royal Comedians. Like Bulgakov, the Molière of this story enjoys the favour of his nation’s leader, much to the dismay of the resident doctrinal gatekeepers (in Molière’s case, the church).