Shakespeare In Love at Walterdale Theatre - A fun ride behind the scenes of Romeo and Juliet!

Last night was Opening Night of Shakespeare in Love at Walterdale Theatre. I haven't been to an Opening Night at Walterdale for a while because I found it hard to manage when I had to teach the next morning, but summer holidays and an abundance of sunshine allowed me to make the weekday theatre trip to Verona! I also got to attend this one as proud Mama, as my youngest son, Gibson, was Music Director for the incidental music in the show (it's not a musical, but there are several times when the ensemble sing giving depth to the the soundscape of the show). 

Photo Credit: Scott Henderson, Henderson Images

It was a terrifically fun night of theatre! I am a big fan of the movie, and have seen the stage play previously, but it was really cool to see the show translated to the intimacy of Walterdale's stage. There are a lot of moving parts to the show and I remarked after to Director Anne Marie Szucs that it must have been like directing a musical as the scenes flit from location to location and the ensemble switches characters as they walk off and on the stage again. The flow of the show was well maintained and was aided brilliantly by the elegant and flexible set design (Brooke Emberley). I particularly loved the clever revolve that switched from balcony to bed to upper floor of the backstage rehearsal area. There was also some very funny choreography (Barbara Mah) that made the ball scene more than just a simple meet-cute for Will (Matt Boisvert) and Viola (Ren Elliot). The world is completed by the beautiful costumes (Cathy Dragon) - some of my favourite outfits were Marlowe's and Queen Elizabeth's; but the panorama and variety of costumes helped to indicate who had the power and who did not in Shakespeare's world!

Photo Credit: Scott Henderson, Henderson Images 

The cast is enthusiastic and committed as a whole in telling this story. Standouts for me were Boisvert as Will Shakespeare and Elliot as Viola de Lesseps. The two have a delightful chemistry. Boisvert has most of the heavy lifting in the show, but he attacks it with a true sense of purpose and recklessness that makes you wonder about the 'real' Shakespeare! I also really enjoyed Ethan Handford as Ned Alleyn and Josh Young as Richard Burbage. The energy picked up considerably when the two (playing the best actors of their generation) came into contact with each other. Each had their own brand of swagger that mixed in a 'what will happen next?' kind of way. First timers on Walterdale's stage, John Gaunce as Fennyman and Ian Hicks as Henslowe, were also great to watch and they played off each other well. I hope we see more of them on the Walterdale stage in the future! There are lots of great moments from the rest of the ensemble cast, including the dog (Rain, the night I went).

This is a fun one to watch, particularly for the Shakespeare fan, as there are many references and Easter eggs in the script alluding to famous quotes and almost quotes and situations. And while there are bits of Shakespeare's language in the play, it's all accessible as it's more about the behind the scenes story!

Shakespeare in Love runs to July 19th, with shows at 7:30 pm and a 2 pm Sunday matinee. They have already had one Sold Out performance so I recommend buying your ticket sooner rather than later. The run also features a 2for1 night (Thurs, July 10) and a Pay-What-You-Can Night (Wed, July 16). Tickets are $25-27 and can be purchased here. 

In the Haze of Illness, I forgot to reflect on this year's Skirts AFire Festival!

No, it's true.  I was hit with a horrible cold/flu (I never know which - I only know the suffering) in March and totally forgot to write about the Skirts AFire Festival! 

The illness was descending when I took in The Mothers in the days before the festival actually started. A one woman show by Nicole Moeller, starring Annette Loiselle and directed by Glenda Stirling, The Mothers explored how the mother of a child gone wrong deals with her guilt, confusion, sadness and anger over the actions of her child. The script raised a lot of interesting things about how little we know about how a dangerous child might be created. We think there must be a straight line from the baby to the teenager with clear indicators and inciting incidents and predictive behaviour, but the truth is a lot more complicated.  Loiselle has many fine moments in the piece which is as times an archaeological examination of the past and at other times an emotional exploration of her perceived failure as a parent.  I was challenged a bit by the arrangement of the script as the build was more up an down, and there were a lot of details about the mother-child relationship that seemed inconsistent.  I wondered if that was deliberate, though, in that a parent might look back and see both good and bad jumbled together and have trouble separating truth from guilt.

Then the illness struck and I was out for over half a week.  However, I dragged myself out of bed and medicated myself so that I could make it to Peep Show, where 4 new plays were given 10-15 minutes of exposure to a first audience.  Peep show is where The Easy Road started 2 years ago which led to the full reading and workshop last year at Skirts AFire 2014.  I was looking forward to hearing the 4 pieces on display this year. We heard scripts from Michele Vance Hehir, Leslea Kroll, Hayley Moorhouse and Anne Marie Szucs.  I enjoyed hearing these four new plays and the new female playwright voices.  So pleased that Skirts AFire has provided the opportunity for more new work development.

I'm looking forward to seeing what is on the docket for next season and hoping that I am not sick so that I can see even more!

It's Finally August... You know what that means... FRINGE!!!!

Summer is interesting when you are producing a Fringe show.  July becomes all about prep and then when August hits it feels like an hour glass has been tipped over and started and away you go!  This is exaggerated even more when you are producing and directing TWO Fringe shows (one of which you are also Playwright for).  It's a Fringe show, so I am also set designer, props mistress, costume designer (well, of a sort - they are both pull-shows, as is pull from your closets, but this is what I want...), marketer and media rep. I'm so lucky to have a fabulous Sound Designer in Erin Foster-O'Riordan (who is also acting in one of the shows) because she always takes sound design as a challenge and gives me more than I can even imagine. I'm also blessed with fabulous Casts and wonderful Stage Management teams who work hard and bring their own special talents to the projects.  AND I am not only getting to see another one of my scripts realized onstage, but also a lovely, layered piece by first-time playwright, Anne Marie Szucs - how blessed am I to be trusted with directing and producing someone's first play?!

But August is now upon us and we are, or will be, ready when the audiences come. Both shows are blocked and off-book (for the most part), all the set pieces are acquired and painted if need be, almost all the props are done (there are a few consumables that will be purchased day-of-show), and we head into this last week before tech ready to run and clean!

Here are my two shows.  I hope you can make it out to one of both of them.