Joansing: A Return to Saint Joan

Mel Marginet as Joan, photo credit Leif Norman

A couple years ago Theatre by the River produced Saint Joan at Saint Boniface's Theatre de la Chapelle. Mel Marginet (TBTR's co-Artistic Director), the company and I had all been captured by Shaw's adaptation of Joan of Arc's story. It's a complex storm of interweaving politics, religion and nationalism all spinning around - and eventually destroying - a sweet, young girl who just wants to obey the voices in her head.

TBTR's Production of Saint Joan, photo credit Leif Norman

Reading the trial scene (when Joan is condemned to the flames) brought shivers and tears to all of us. What passions would make someone set another human being on fire? What passion would drive someone to embrace that death?

There's a reading of the play this Monday - it's a fundraiser for the Performing Arts Lodge (assisted living for retired theatre artists). Come to support a good cause, come to see a stellar cast (the list is below). But mostly, come to see one of the most moving scenes in the theatre canon.


READING OF SAINT JOAN
by GBS

Monday, January 30 at 7:30PM
Crescent Fort Rouge United Church (corner of Wardlaw & Nassau)
Tickets $15 at the door

Featuring: Talia Pura, Cory Wojcik, Glen Thompson, Dean Harder, Ian Ross, Ross McMillan, Matt Tenbruggencate, Omar Khan, Curt Keilback, Karl Thordarson, Ti Hallas, Curtis Moore, Mitchell Kummen, Bill Kerr, David Playfair, John Bluethner, John Echano, Kevin Anderson, Graham Ashmore, Ray Strachan, Kevin Longfield, Kelly Hughes and Brian Richardson

Directed by Stefanie Wiens
Stage managed by Sylvia Fisher

Silly Ghosts of Master Playwrights Past

ShawFest is ending with a roast of GBS, but you don't have to wait to have a laugh at some of the scribes from past festivals. As part of Winnipeg Jewish Theatre's TribeFest, Toronto improv troupe National Theatre of the World will be bring their show Impromptu Splendour to town January 25 to 29th.

Each night the troupe improvises the performance in the style of a Master Playwright. They'll be doing card-carrying members of the tribe for this run - past festival honourees Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, David Mamet as well as that Woody Allen character. The praise they've gathered from audiences and critics is ridiculous. Check them out if you can.

And here's the program I made for TribeFest. Slowly, my skills, they grow.

Open publication - Free publishing - More jewish

What is Theatre For?

I was reading the Free Press today and Alison Mayes' review of Lost: A Memoir (now playing at Prairie Theatre Exchange) caught my eye. Particularly some statements on what theatre is for:

"Imagine you met a woman and learned that she'd had a 35-year-old brother who was lost at sea.

Would you find it more moving to look at snapshots of the man enjoying his yacht, or to listen to a unique memory that conveyed the siblings' special bond and something of the vanished brother's character?

Live theatre, when it works best, pulls you into its dramatized reality in a way that's not mind-based. Theatre is not journalism, personal essay, slide show or speaking engagement. Chances are, it's storytelling that would stir your emotions."

I respect Alison Mayes' opinion - she and I have chatted a bit about theatre, among other things - and I haven't seen Lost to form my own opinion (going this afternoon). But I'm a little concerned about the theatrical divorce she's suggesting between the heart and the mind. Or if not divorce, perhaps trial separation?

It's true that plays should resonate emotionally. Good stories tug on your heart, almost by definition. But I've come to see theatre as a forum of ideas and shared realizations, with audience, playwright and actors working together in a quest for some nugget of truth about human existence. In the same way that therapy is less about emotional release and more about an increased understanding of yourself, I think theatre is more about understanding your place in the evolving human story. If that's done honestly, courageously and (here's the tricky part) skillfully, the ideas will pack emotional punch. Just like good journalism, personal essays and slide shows (... maybe not slide shows) can be move the heart.

Perhaps a different metaphor for theatre than therapy would help? Here's a Shaw quote that Leonard Conolly dropped during his "Why Shaw Matters" lecture at the beginning of the Master Playwright Festival (which you can listen to online). As an AWOL son of the church, I absolutely love it.

"The theatre is as holy a place as the church and the function of the actor no less sacred than that of the priest."

What do you think? What's the ideal balance (or symbiosis) of heart and mind in theatre? Did you ever see a play that combined both successfully? How's your ShawFest going?


UPDATE: I've been emailing back and forth with Alison over the weekend on this one. She made the very good point that some plays are more distinctly about certain things - revolutions of ideas or the poignancy of emotion. And she thought Lost: A Memoir definitely filed under the second category, hence her notes. Thanks for chatting Alison - I love the approachability of Winnipeg's media :)

The Writing's on the Wall

I went to Village Wooing last night to kick off me ol' ShawFest theatre splurge. There's a lot I could say to recommend the play (had no idea Shaw was such a romantic, among other things) but I'd like to talk about the set. Which. Is. Gorgeous. Local visual artist Eric Lesage has been slicing up dictionaries, then weaving the strips together to make beautifully woven panels of words.

This lovely picture of Eric and his work (by Freep photographer Ruth Bonneville) doesn't do the work justice - it's something you have to see for yourself up close.

You can read Free Press reporter Alison Mayes' piece on the installation (called re: definition). You can find out more about the RAW Gallery (where Village Wooing is taking place).

And you can get yourself down to the show.

In a Shavian Lifetime

Something Chuck McEwan (Executive Producer for the Master Playwright Festival) pointed out to me the other day was just how much change Shaw saw in the world during his lifetime (it helps if your lifetime is nearly a century: 1856 to 1950). I took a stroll on the information superhighway (bless you, Wikipedia) and pulled out some milestones that caught my eye, missing many in the process I'm sure.

Crazy, no?

ShawFest - Ready, Set, Go

When I signed up for college this year, I knew I'd have to cut down on performing; my class schedule is too intense. And of all years, the year the Master Playwright is Shaw! I love Shaw (at least what I've read) and his epic, witty tacklings of politics, religion, business and the human spirit (usually in the same play). So I was bummed I'd be sitting on the sidelines.

But no! I got the call (or was it a tweet?) from RMTC to blog this year. I get to contribute to your festival experience, you hearty Winnipeg theatre-goer, you!

And I get to be an official cheerleader for the groups participating. Which is good, because these are crazy days they're living. They're pulling together costumes and lights; doing final runs; reaching out to potential audiences. With time running low and budgets thin, the thread is usually stretched to the breaking point.

Now, I love me the RMTC. Their generous sharing of resources, expertise and enthusiasm make this festival happen (and I'm sure their production of Mrs. Warren's Profession will knock it out of the park). But I'm more excited for the indy companies. Not just because shoestring theatre done almost exclusively for the love of art is inspiring. But - to paraphrase a character from Slings & Arrows - I think the most exciting things happen just before the thread snaps.

Welcome to the festival.

ShawFest - Get Your Irish Playwright On

RMTC has asked me to blog about this year's Master Playwrights Festival; something I was planning to do anyways, but now there's a pleasant fire under me bum to keep my focus from wandering. I'll be posting on the official Festival website (along with a few other Winnipeg theatre folk) as well as on AutoMattic Transmission.

So prepare yourself, good reader - things are going to get theatrical around here for awhile.