First Person: Brad Fraser on The Healey Affair

LET’S NOT NOT TALK ABOUT IT

BY BRAD FRASER

(Written for The Charlebois Post)

I can’t claim to know Michael Healey particularly well. I know of his great success as a playwright, of course, and we’ve corresponded a few times on facebook in a “shared pithy observations about something in common” sort of way. He seems professional and even-tempered, so when he gives an interview stating that Tarragon Artistic Director Richard Rose (with whom Healey has shared a professional relationship for over a decade and a number of play productions) has decided not to program his latest political satire because someone on the theatre’s board of directors felt some of the material could possibly be libelous to our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, I find no reason to doubt Mr Healey’s veracity. Nor was there anything in Healey’s public statements that seemed vindictive or petty. Add to this the fact that Richard Rose has refused to confirm, deny or elaborate on these comments in any way and it’s pretty hard not to conclude that something happened that was unpleasant enough for the playwright to need to take the kind of stand playwrights generally don’t take because it can screw up their livelihood. 

As I see it there are most likely two possible explanations here.

Open Letter From Brad Fraser to Richard Rose regarding the Michael Healey controversy

This is not a minor incident


(This article has been corrected) This week The Tarragon Theatre decided to cancel an upcoming production not to program a production of Michael Healey's play, Proud. (Read details in this Globe and Mail story.) In response, Brad Fraser published a letter to Tarragon artistic director Richard Rose on Facebook which Mr. Fraser has graciously allowed The Charlebois Post to publish.

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Dear Richard,

I can't tell you how disappointed I am to hear that you've cancelled Michael's play for fear of upsetting our PM in some way.

That such depictions of public figures are allowed by law in many forms suggests it is fear, not any actual threat, that has prompted your action. This is very disappointing, not only to me, but to a great many people who work in the theatre specifically to address social injustice and comment on the sometimes corrupt nature of our government and society. That you would interfere with this fair commentary is not only disappointing, but also makes it very clear that you support the many creepy things our government is doing right now.

First-Person: Kate Newby on directing True Love Lies

(Photo courtesy of Trudie Lee Photography)

The Truth in True Love Lies

Having performed in Fraser's works, an artist finds directing him is a case of finding balance

Kate Newby

When approached by ATP to direct “True Love Lies” I found myself surprisingly keen to explore Brad Fraser’s work from the director’s perspective. My past experiences with Fraser’s work have always been as an actor, having survived two tumultuous, yet highly successful productions of “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love,” a wild fringe production of “Chainsaw Love” and two fabulously unique productions of “The Ugly Man.” I know from past experience, Fraser’s work can be challenging on a variety of different levels. Depending on the play, his work is often interpreted as risky, titillating, witty, and sometimes superficial, yet like Noel Coward, Fraser’s work has tremendous depth and a large dose of truth. In each of Fraser’s plays you will find an undercurrent of pain, betrayal, desire and need. 

First-Person: Brad Fraser on Censorship

(Photo Credit: G. Elliot Simpson)

CENSORSHIP AND ME

A lecture

I’ve been a censored being from the beginning of my career...

By Brad Fraser

I’m going to deliver a 45 minute lecture on censorship. That’s a rather broad subject so I’ve narrowed it down to something more manageable.  This lecture is completely personal and subjective and about the long and interesting relationship I’ve had with censorship. It’s seen mostly through the prism of my experience as a playwright and as a gay man; two roles that know a lot about being censored. In fact, I’ve been a censored being from the beginning of my career, as you’ll learn.