Review: Alligator Pie

Raquel Duffy (photo credit: Jason Hudson)

Tickle my Tummy, Toronto
Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie is pure unadulterated joy

Stuart Munro

About five seconds into the opening night of Soulpepper’s new production, Alligator Pie, the audience knew it was in for a treat. One by one, as each member of the five-person Creation Ensemble poked its head through the stage floor, the audience was introduced to five unique personalities. In a manner reminiscent of the “Day by day” sequence in the film version of Godspell, each performer wandered through the piles of miscellany on stage, selecting items best suited to them, before launching into the children’s poems of Dennis Lee, Toronto’s first Poet Laureate. Just as that ancient text used in Godspell has become ubiquitous, these poems are now a part of our national fabric – growing up in BC, I remember grabbing a copy of Alligator Pie during a lunch hour and reciting poems to my classmates who were all eager to hear them again. But even if you’re not familiar with Lee’s work, you’ll find that you recognize yourself and the people you love in his words. There is an undeniable truth to these poems.

Whiskey-A-Rainbow, November 7, 2012

Week 8

by Stuart Munro

Dear friends. This is it. The week we’ve all been waiting for. The week where we find out who will be headlining Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Mirvish’s new production of The Wizard of Oz. With only three girls left, there’s a 66% chance that someone I adore will win the coveted spot, but will Canada agree with me? Let’s find out!

(As a side note, I just have to say how much I’m going to miss this Monday night ritual. It’s been the perfect wind down from a long first day of the week. In a way, I’m glad my Monday night classes for the next two weeks have been cancelled . . . I won’t have a reason to  want to come home and drink!)

But on to more serious matters . . .

This week, AJ, Danielle, and Stephanie sing to the death for their chance to play Dorothy. Daryn Jones reintroduced us to Lord Lloyd Webber (calling him Andy . . . the lord looked mad) before the girls went into a medley of songs from Oz (accompanied by a troupe of Ozian-clad back-up dancers). ALW then announced it was the American public that would be choosing Dorothy this week, which received a (well deserved) round of boos from the audience. Man...At least he seemed to think all three girls were up to the challenge of playing the role.

In a Word... Tony Nappo, actor

One Career, One Daughter, The Futures of Both

Tony Nappo is a Toronto-based actor who has appeared on television (now, in the animated series Fugget About It), in film (several Canadian features and three of the Saw films) and theatre (Tarragon's The Real World?).

CHARPO: Two things: we know you're a fairly busy actor and our spies on Facebook have noticed you talk about kids a lot. How many children do you have?

NAPPO: Just one daughter, Ella Ray, who is turning 8 next month.

CHARPO: Now acting is not the most secure job in the world, did it take you a long time to decide to go ahead with a family?

NAPPO: Her Mom is a writer/director/ actor from Newfoundland and we both wanted to have a child. There never is an ideal time for people in our fields but we were both getting a little older and decided that it was now (then) or never. No regrets.

The Vid, November 7, 2012

"Creating a Profile" (recording session)

from Tagged and It's Complicated

(listen to the words...)

After Dark, November 6, 2012

The (Sacred?) Image
What are an actor's responsibilities?
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
@gcharlebois

I apologize, but I am obsessed by American politics and that has been reflected on this site. Last week it was about the dangers of a Romney presidency on our culture, this week it's about image.

Not Romney's image (as I'm not sure anyone could define that), but on all our images. Let me tell you how I got to here from there...

As I have a fairly steady diet of CNN and other American networks, I am submitted to a fairly steady diet of political ads too. Moreover, an overwhelming majority of these ads are negative (on both sides). In each ad, we are treated to a number of people who are - through the very act of appearing in the ad - firmly defining their images. In a world of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Jon Stewart, those images never go away. So while Romney is doing photo ops of bagging groceries for Sandy victims, we are inundated by replays of the clip of him saying he hates FEMA and would get rid of it. Obama is forever remembered as saying he would close Guantanamo, tarnishing his first term as he doesn't do it.

First-Person: Donald Rees and Marc Roth on The Laramie Project - Ten years later

After, After and Before
A heartbreaking event explored via theatre comes to Buddies in Bad Times

After The Show
by Donald Rees
I’ve written about why Brave New Productions set out to tackle the Montreal premiere of “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later”. I detailed our process and explained how ambitious the project was for our production company in previous articles. With a large cast and very serious subject matter, expectations (and my blood pressure) were at an all-time high when opening night finally came around.

So how did it go?

Unbelievably well. Actually, despite the ambitious nature of the project and high expectations generated from the generous amount of attention by local media (including The Charlebois Post), Laramie exceeded our expectations in every way possible. Not only did we have a fantastic turn-out for all of our shows, feedback was beyond positive with notable members of the LGBT and Theatre community reaching out to us afterwords to offer up compliments and encouragement. It warmed our hearts. Emma McQueen (Artistic Director) and I sat down halfway through the run to talk about how inspired we felt by our audience's reactions and we had an in-depth conversation about how we felt a new path had been illuminated for our company. Activist theatre? No. A permanent switch to drama over comedy? Not at all. Our new-found inspiration is hard to articulate but will hopefully make itself apparent in the coming year.

The Show, November 5, 2012

Of his translation of Max Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter, Alistair Beaton wrote in The Guardian in 2007, "We immediately have to ask: what is the great evil we are failing to face up to today? Is it still nuclear weapons? Is it the destruction of our environment through personal greed and corporate plunder? Is it the misery we inflict upon the Third World? Is it the erosion of our liberties in the name of the War on Terror? Is it the violence perpetrated on the people of Iraq? Is it Israel's cruel and illegal occupation of Palestine? Or could it be the threat to liberal values posed by radical Islam? ... if audiences want to engage with the issue of Islamism, this [Royal Court] production certainly allows them to do that. But in the end, the power of The Arsonists lies in the undefined nature of the evil it portrays." 

Morris Panych puts on his director's hat for this fascinating play and, it appears, fascinating translation. Panych helms a first-rate cast which includes Fiona Reid, Sheila McCarthy and Michael Ball. (Canadian Stage)

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.

The Story: Interview - Jacqui Burke of Jaybird Productions on Oleanna

Mamet's Politics Squared

by Christopher Douglas

(Photography by burdettphotography.com. All photos feature Jacqui Skeete as Carol and James R. Woods as John.)

David Mamet's Oleanna is a bold choice for a first production by a new venture. However that's exactly the script that Jaybird Productions decided to tackle. Experienced Producer and Director, Jacqui Burke, explains why she is forging such a brave path for her company.

CHARPO: Why Oleanna for this venture into producing?  

BURKE: Well, I love this show. Oleanna is a riveting piece of work that I've been wanting to direct for some time. But also Jaybird Productions was starting to produce shows that were rarely, if ever, done at the Community Theatre level. Happily, Oleanna falls into this category. Finally, it’s a small show (which means it's inexpensive to produce) – a two-hander that blossoms with minimum production values and is best experienced by an audience, in my opinion, in a tiny house. It’s a natural inaugural production for a fledgling theatre company.

CHARPO: Do you think audiences will be challenged by the political nature of the script? And do you have any plans to mitigate that?
BURKE: It's interesting that you might think I would want to mitigate the power of any script. I think my job as a Director is to help the company tell the story as honestly as we possibly can. Actively buffering the impact of a play or reducing its power to ensure that it’s more palatable to an audience is censorship. That’s not my job.  Yes, this show is challenging and, no, I will not do anything to mitigate its impact. If folks want easy, there’s lots of that kind of stuff on TV.  

Review: ByoLogic Retreat

Infecting the Audience

by Jason Booker

An ongoing experiment in immersive theatre, ZED.TO created ByoLogyc, the story of a company with too much ambition and a controversial approach to healthcare.  After creating a new drug, ByoRenew was introduced to VIPs at the Toronto Fringe Festival (where this ingenious interactive piece won the Innovation prize).  Shortly thereafter, hackers infiltrated the company, tampered with the drug, overran their systems and mined the data to create a virus that has been unleashed on Toronto, as seen through their website, Twitter feeds, Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche and other arts events over the summer and early autumn.  Now, with the infected rates rising, ByoLogyc has created the climactic Retreat at the Brickworks.  Retreat is intended to save audiences from impending doom, offering hope, a cure and possibly the identity of the hackers known only as EXE.

Theatre For Thought, November 3, 2012

AN ODE TO THE STAGE MANAGER
joel fishbane

A long time ago, while in university, I had the opportunity to produce the first play I had ever written. On the first day of rehearsals, I was approached by a girl who offered herself to me, and not in the way I might have liked. “Who’s your stage manager?” she asked. I laughed. “I don’t need a stage manager,” I replied. “They don’t do anything anyway.”

Ah. To be young and dumb.

I hired her anyway, thinking she’s be someone to bring me coffee. I don’t think she ever brought me a single cup of coffee. But she saved my life and I have never worked without a stage manager since. 

     

Just as writers do not trust directors, directors do not trust actors. Actors are absent minded. The moment they no longer need a prop, they forget about it. They finish their costume change and leave things scattered on the ground. After the curtain call, they leave to find their friends so people can tell them how great they were. And when they show up the next day, they expect their costumes to be clean and hung, their props to be pre-set and the stage to be swept and mopped. Directors know this (usually because they were once, or still are, actors themselves). That’s why they hire the stage manager. 

Review: Endgame

Joseph Ziegler (photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann)

The End is Near.
by Shannon Christy
@schristy79

According to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away.” There’s not much left to take away from Soulpepper’s production of Beckett’s work Endgame and that’s why Director Daniel Brooks’s work is so powerful; he embraced Beckett’s austerity and had a terrific cast to work with. 

Mr. Brooks does such an excellent job at creating the sensation of dust, decay, pettiness, and general frustration that you end up dusting yourself off after the performance. The set is a grey dusty cube with two basement windows on opposite sides, two trashcans placed beside each other on one side of the room, and an old wheelchair occupied by Hamm (Joseph Ziegler), an immobile tyrant. Hamm’s domain consists of three creatures that are fed up with each other and exhausted from life. Costume designer, Victoria Wallace, continues the dreariness by covering them in ragged monotone colored clothes. Yet these dreary clothed creatures set in their grey cube somehow provide us with humor.

CharPo's Real Theatre! November 2, 2012

The Still, November 1, 2012

Marc Lemyre captures the rustic silliness that is the Théâtre Français's production of Molière's Fourberies de Scapin / Scapin's Deceits. 

(Read our review)

Review: The War of the Worlds

Foley sound effects artist John Gzowski in the 2011 production of The War of the Worlds (photo credit: John Lauener)

Theatre...on Radio
by Dave Ross
@dmjross


On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air performed their infamous broadcast of Howard Koch’s radio play The War of the Worlds. Last night, precisely 74 years later, the Art of Time Ensemble presented their dramatic staging of this same radio play. This production was originally presented as part of World Stage in 2011, and was revived for this season by Art of Time. They’ve created an artistic masterpiece – using only a 5 piece radio orchestra and an extremely talented foley artist, we get taken back to 1938 and that radio studio in New York.