A Theft in the Theatre
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Gillian English is the Artistic Producer and founder of The Theatre Elusive. Originally from Nova Scotia, she trained in theatre at Dalhousie University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). A Toronto based performer; she has headlined the London Big Comedy Go-To, and The Spring Fever Festival. In the past, Ms English has been featured by CBC, CTV, The National Post, Time Out New York, NOW! Magazine and many other media outlets for her work in theatre and comedy. She is also the curator of the hilarious online-dating message blog: www.ewwkcupid.tumblr.com Recent theatre credits include: Love in the Time of Time Machines (The Theatre Elusive), A Woman of No Importance (Alumnae Theatre Company), Antony and Cleopatra (The Theatre Elusive), I Don’t Like You (The Theatre Elusive), Matt and Ben (The Theatre Elusive), The Wormwood Prince (Next Stage Theatre)
CHARPO: I guess I’m dumb, but I have only recently learned that some seasoned Fringers consider the Montreal edition as sort of a try-out to iron out the kinks of their show before they go on the national tour. But with you, those kinks have had ample time in performance to be ironed out. Tell the readers of the show’s history.
ENGLISH: My show started a year ago when I decided I wanted to do a one woman show. The idea was to tell the tales of all my ex-boyfriends and call it "The Failed Relationships of Gillian English". Then a drag queen stole my dress about half way through the Montreal Fringe Festival, and I got pretty cranky about it. I also realized that "Drag Queen Stole My Dress" is an awesome title. And I'm all about the title. So I went home and blurted all my stories on to the page. It was stupid long and had no story or message, it was just a bunch of stuff that's happened to me. And I left it at that for awhile, I needed to just think about it. And then in December, I started to tinker with it a bit, not much, just little bits here and there. And then in January, I got an email asking me if I wanted to be a last minute replacement at the New York Frigid Festival. So I naturally said yes, promptly panicked, and started editing. I had less than 5 weeks to get everything ready. I had been operating under the impression that I had until June to be ready. I don't think I've ever been so stressed in my life. I didn't manage to calm down about it until my second performance in New York. But the audience response was great, and my Colombian corset helped me into my old wedding dress. So now I'm just excited to do it again. There are a few things I'll be changing in this run, but not much; I have a solid idea of what I'm doing now, at least I think I do. I hope I do.
Making a Life Story...less sad
It's an autobiographical story about how I got lost in a toxic relationship and eventually called off my wedding. It's a comedy!
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Gillian English is the Artistic Producer and founder of The Theatre Elusive. Originally from Nova Scotia, she trained in theatre at Dalhousie University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). A Toronto based performer; Ms English has headlined the London Big Comedy Go-To, and The Spring Fever Festival. In the past, she has been featured by the CBC, CTV, The National Post, and NOW! Magazine and many other media outlets for her work in the theatre and comedy. Ms English is also the curator of the online-dating message blog: www.ewwkcupid.tumblr.com Recent theatre credits include: Love in the Time of Time Machines (The Theatre Elusive), A Woman of No Importance (Alumnae Theatre Company), Antony and Cleopatra (The Theatre Elusive), I Don’t Like You (The Theatre Elusive), Matt and Ben (The Theatre Elusive), The Wormwood Prince (Next Stage Theatre)
CHARPO: Let me see if I have this straight - you enter the Fringe lotteries, prepare an idea for the ones you get into and - poof! - get an acceptance for Frigid in the Big Apple, set to happen months before our Fringe season. How the heck did all this come to be?
ENGLISH: I applied for the Frigid while I was at the Atlantic Fringe this past September. The 'first come, first serve' was what I was aiming for, it's how we got "Love in the Time of Time Machines" in the festival the year before. But there were technical internet issues, and my application was not one of the first 15 in, so I had to wait until the lottery on Halloween. Well, that came and went and I didn't get in. So that was that. Then at 1:15am on January 15, my phone made the little 'email ding' sound and woke me up. I checked it and it was an email from Frigid saying someone had dropped out, and I was next on the list if I wanted it. I had to read the email about six times before it sunk in what was going on. At that point the adrenaline kicked in, and my mind started racing. I hadn't planned on premiering my show until the Montreal Fringe in June, there was a lot of work to be done and less than five weeks to do it in. But it never occurred to me that I would say no. I had a director at LAMDA who used to say "If someone calls you up, and they say 'Gillian we need you to play Lady MacBeth. The show opens tomorrow.' You say YES. You always say yes. Then you figure everything else out later."
