Off The Cuff, September 10, 2014 (Video)

After Dark, June 24, 2014

Why We're Changing

CharPo will not be the same in the autumn

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
[This article has been modified]

As of September 1 September 10, CharPo will be covering dance and opera exclusively.

Now, as requested on Facebook and Twitter, the whys.

1) CharPo is at that moment of success where the only place to go is up. The problem is that it would require expansion. In an explosion of circumstances, expansion has become virtually impossible: we are sad to be losing our Editor in Chief in Toronto, Émilie Charlebois, and her associate editor, Dave Ross, who for three years have been working almost thankless jobs. Meanhwhile, Estelle Rosen, our National Editor in Chief and I have been putting in 40 hours of volunteer work per week (which jump to 50 and 60 hours during Fringe season). We cannot do more work. Recruiting, for an all-volunteer organization, is almost a full time job and we cannot put in the time simply because it does not exist.

2) So we examined the lay of the land. Despite the cutbacks at newspapers across the country (and their disappearance in some cities) theatre has managed to carve itself a media presence. There are blogs in virtually every city in the country with honest-to-goodness theatre writers of all sorts (from populist to academic) and they are, often, doing a job that CharPo aspires to. Moreover, after four years of desperate attempts CharPo has never been able to find writers in Edmonton and Halifax which makes a lie of claims to national coverage. 

After Dark, June 17, 2014

On Fat
How do performing arts deal with a growing reality
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

A discussion that was once ridiculous has now become important. It is the one about fat and opera. A young singer, Tara Erraught, had the temerity to play in a production of Der Rosenkavalier - in a pants-role - and be, all the while overweight! There were no less than four articles in just The Guardian about this catastrophic event. First there was the male critics mentioning her weight.  Then there was an outcry. Then there was the male commentator defending the men.  Then no less than two female writers slapped the men down. 

The fact is - as recently as 15 years ago - this was hardly an issue. Quite simply: the voice was everything. Then, in 2004, the magnificent dramatic soprano, Deborah Voigt, could not get into a dress designed for a production at Covent Garden. She was fired. There was a hue and cry but, nevertheless, Voigt underwent gastric bypass surgery. It did not ruin her voice (one of the common mythic dangers of singers losing weight). Indeed, she turned in one of the finest Brünnhilde's I have ever heard or seen in Robert Lepage's Ring Cycle.

In a Word... Gillian English on Drag Queen Stole My Dress (Fringe)

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.

After Dark, June 10, 2014

Oh! The Ugliness!
You don't want to look under the rocks of the performing arts
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

“I don’t understand anything about the ballet; all I know is that during the intervals the ballerinas stink like horses.” 
Anton Chekhov

You don't want to know! But I'm going to tell you anyway. But why? you will ask. Because it has to be said. It started with a posting on Facebook by a well-known actor. An anecdote about his present job. Then all my horrible, hideous memories of my life in art came back to me.

Like the time I was in a school production of Midsummer Night's Dream and the costume design involved all the nobles wearing tights. Ballet-dancer-tight tights. So a bunch of late-teen boys would be walking about on stage with goolies clearly visible. Moreover, not only would the goolies be on view, but late-teen boys often have goolie...mishaps (if you know what I mean and I think you do). Buying the right undergarment garment, dance belts, was too expensive for the school so they went on the cheap and bought all the boys skin-tight white bikini-underwear to wear under the tights. But things happen to teen-boys and their riding-the-crack bikinis too. Bad things. Wrong things. Every night, at the end of the show, we all took off those bikinis and put them in a bin to be washed. This may sound like assuring each user's anonymity. Nope. Our names were sewn into the goddam things.

Oh, yes! Scratch a performing artist and before they tell you a story of artistic ecstasy, they will share some hideousness from their own experience - share the secrets. I will share some now.

In a Word... Elizabeth Morris on A Spirit's Face

The Dance and Language of Silence
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Elizabeth Morris is a Deaf Community Consultant and ASL (American Sign Language) coach for theatres/films. She was born deaf, in England, and has lived in four countries. She is fluent in ASL and was an ASL coach for the Toronto Young People's Theatre production, “Love you Forever and more...”, based on Robert Munsch's books which won a Dora Mavor Moore award. She’s currently working as an ASL coach for the Stratford Festival’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She was the ASL coach for an episode in 2012 of the TV show called, “Flashpoint” featuring a deaf child. She graduated with a BA in Educational Drama and Elementary Education from Gallaudet University for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. She is also a certified teacher and a professional actor. She has been a member of two Deaf Theatre tour companies in the USA (National Theatre of the Deaf and Quest for Arts), and used ASL in all of their shows.

CHARPO: I’d like to talk about your background. I see you studied at Gallaudet which is well known for being both a centre of discussion on cochlear implants but also ground zero of Deaf Culture activism. Tell us about the atmosphere there and what the training brought to your subsequent work.

MORRIS: I first visited Gallaudet University when I was 15 years old. I attended a summer drama camp for high school students called the “Young Scholars Program”. I was the only student from Canada at the camp and it was my first experience performing in ASL for a Deaf theatre. After that summer, I travelled and performed with Gallaudet’s theatre of the deaf called “Road Signs.” We performed in Romania, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and Mexico.  The show was fully in American Sign Language (with interpreters, voicing over for us). Deaf and Hearing actors were in this group.  

When I became an undergraduate student at Gallaudet University, I found that most of the students communicated in ASL. There were a few students who were verbal, but most used sign. All professors either signed or had an interpreter in the classroom, as ASL was required in all classrooms.  

On campus there were a lot of political issues involving Deaf Culture. With the issue of cochlear implants, I found that many of the Deaf students felt that a cochlear implant on a baby was taking their identity as “Deaf” away from them and it was better to let a child make that decision themselves when they were old enough to understand the issues involved. We did not consider being Deaf as having a disability and were proud to be part of the Deaf community with its culture, history, and language.    

My degree was in Elementary Education and Educational Drama. I wanted to include Drama in my studies because it was, and still is, a big part of my life.

My years at Gallaudet made me proud to be a member of the Deaf community and I became very aware of the beauty of sign language and many ways in which it can be used in artistic expression. There is a depth to expressing something in ASL that is both beautiful and powerful. I am very aware of the importance of facial expression and body language when communicating in sign language. I am always aware of this when I work as an actor myself and equally when I am coaching other actors to use ASL. I want the actors to use their entire bodies as a visual expression of what they are trying to express and I make sure that their ASL is accurate.

In my work, I also observe and give feedback to ASL interpreters (they are fluent in ASL, but they cannot see themselves interpreting).  

After Dark, June 3, 2014

The Strangest Debate Ever

The tragedy of UCSB may be a game changer

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

There is not much doubt that the shooting spree in Isla Vista was an act of profound ugliness. But what the act of the gunman actually means has - in the short week or so since the event - been parsed to death and in every which way. 

The strangest thing is that most of the discussion has had at least a germ of reality-based thinking but surrounding that germ is truly odd discussion and I thought it had reached its oddest when Seth Rogen suddenly appeared in the middle of it.

Let me backtrack...

After Dark, May 27, 2014

And The Action Plan?

Never has it seemed so important.

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Times are rough. That didn't need to be said, obviously, but what does need to be said is that they are rough in a new way. This is a time when - theoretically at least - coming together and doing something besides holding-hands-swaying-and-singing-We-Are-The-World should be easy. We are in an age of networking like has never existed in history.

But from my view, the arts have never been so Balkanized. 

We go onto Facebook, Twitter, wherever, and post links to horrific articles about cuts to the NFB, the CBC, to arts; about companies going under (especially in opera); about our government working to change the country in the worst possible way - a way that will no longer include any arts. Yup, we post those links and get the shares and likes and Amens and then crowd mentality takes over. Nothing is done because we all assume someone else will do it. We don't assume...we believe someone else will do it.

In a Word... Adam Lazarus on the Toronto Festival of Clowns

You Don't Know Clowns!

We have enormous variety at the festival and none of it is for kids.

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Adam Lazarus is an award winning actor, director and acting instructor. He is faculty at The National Theatre School of Canada and the Artistic Director of the Toronto Festival of Clowns. Notable credits include: [boxhead] (Crow’s Theatre/Mamalian Diving Reflex); Wonderland (QuipTake); Appetite (Volcano/Theatre Passe Muraille/Exchange Rate Collective); The Lupe Trilogy (QuipTake); Le Fain de Partie (Waves festival/Luminato); Tyumen, Then (Groundwater Productions); and Terminus (Outside The March). Mr. Lazarus is a graduate of L’École Phillipe Gaulier. Next, his The Art of Building a Bunker will open the Factory Theatre 2014/15 season.

CHARPO: When clowning first began to appear in mainstream theatre (as a new way of approaching a play, say) it was considered fascinating and clever. (I saw The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine where it was brilliantly used.) Then it became, especially during Fringe festivals, a bit of a cliché. (I also saw a production of Cowboy Mouth where it just sat there stinking up the joint.) What do the festival and your work do to reclaim clowning and its various forms from the dilettantes?

LAZARUS:  HAHA!  I hear you.  There’s the ever-present possibility of brilliance and catastrophe with clowning. And more so than with other forms of theatre: if you see a stinker of a comedy play, you don’t dismiss comedies. Yet if you see a stinker of a clown show, you may dismiss all clowns.  With the clown fest, we’re trying to broaden the definition of clown. We include very little red nose in the festival.  It is there, but clown permeates into character, bouffon, mask, vaudeville, physical theatre, dance, puppetry, and even some standard plays. Like any in form, every artist is different and brings their own stamp of experience to their work. We have enormous variety at the festival and none of it is for kids. We hate kids clowning. You think you know clown? Think again.

After Dark, May 20, 2014

Depression

A mini-rant

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

@gcharlebois

I was just going to ignore something, but now, weeks later, it is still bothering me.

I will not name names, because the central figure of this tale is, quite simply, an idiot who does not merit another iota of attention. He is (was) a well-respected actor and, it seems, writer. A few weeks ago - when a play of his did not appear in a theatre company's announced season - he did the dumbest thing anyone can do: he forgot to think twice. He subsequently mass-emailed members of the press (at least) berating the company for not doing his play and then naming other playwrights as turning out work not as worthy as his own. One playwright he referred to as a "House Negro" - so managing to offend more than just the people he was aiming at.

After Dark, May 13, 2014

Look Again

Censorship, Porn and the raising of boys

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I was listening to a podcast from BBC (if you are not listening to BBC podcasts, do yourself a favour and start downloading). This doc was about girls around the world - specifically how they lived in Jordan, Lesotho, Iceland and the UK. In the interview with the girl from the UK she was talking about the sexism of boys and how you simply have to move on because it was so constant. I was pretty much mortified (as was the BBC interviewer), but particularly so by the fact that in the parlance of the boys, "to beat" meant "to fuck" or even "to make love to", as in, "I'd really like to beat you."

What was not surprising was that boys now all watch mountains of porn. It's out there, it's free (on sites like Porn Hub and You Porn) and it's completely normal to watch it. 

So I hit Facebook, asking my friends if they felt the prevalence and easy access to porn was perhaps making boys more sexist or even more predatory. 

Let me return to that discussion, in a bit.

In a Word... Nadia Verrucci on Souvenir

A Play With...Music?
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Nadia Verrucci is a META award winning actor, singer, director and choreographer, and the Artistic Director of In Your Face entertainment. She has appeared onstage with Centaur Theatre (Neva Esposito - world premiere of Carmela's Table); The Segal Centre (Mary Dale - The Jazz Singer); Persephone Productions (Mrs. Adams - Be My Baby); HMC (Anytime Annie - 42nd Street); Second Company (Amy - Company); Small Pond Productions (Diane Arbus - Fruits Unheard Of); and Village Scene Productions (Hesther Salomon - Equus), among others. Film and television credits include Mirror, Mirror; Being Human; The Hunger; Pas de Trois and Sophie. Ms Verucci has leant her voice to animated tv series such as Arthur, Mona the Vampire and A Miss Mallard Mystery, as well as to the Assassin's Creed video game series, as assassin Teodora Contanto and the goddess Juno.  As a choreographer and director, she has worked with various companies, including Lakeshore Light Opera, McGill Savoy Society, Village Scene Productions, Dames in Disdress Burlesque and The Dukes of Drag.  Her own theatre company is in its fourth season of producing both musical and children's theatre, including Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and LaChiusa's The Wild Party.  Souvenir, based on the life of the world's worst opera singer, Florence Foster Jenkins, is the company's latest production, on this May at Centaur Theatre.

CHARPO: To get started, is this a rebuilding year for In Your Face? I ask this because this seems to be a smaller production than we have seen in the past.

VERRUCCI: Well, as much as I love doing large-cast, dance-heavy musicals, it does become an issue with finding triple threats, arranging rehearsal schedules, and so on. We went from a cast of 15 with The Wild Party to a cast of four last year for Jacques Brel, and it was so much more manageable.  However, the main reason that we're doing a 2-hander this year is because Chris Barillaro and I did Souvenir with another company in 2009 and ever since then we've wanted to produce it ourselves, and the opportunity presented itself this year.

In a Word... Actor Nonnie Griffin on Marilyn After

Hey, Nonnie, Nonnie!

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

A veteran of Canadian theatre and Andrew Allan’s fabled CBC Stage radio series, Nonnie Griffin is indelibly remembered for her appearances in such Toronto productions as Hello, Dolly! Waiting for the Parade, Tremblay’s The Impromptu of Outremont, Ring Round the Moon, and The Sea – for which she was named Best Actress of 1977.  She is also the author of Sister Annunciata’s Secret, based on an actual incident, in which she plays six characters. Her play brought audiences at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival to their feet and high praise from critics. She is also the author of SHOWBIZ and other addictions, published by Mosaic Press and endorsed by writer Timothy Findley, who called her “magical”.

CHARPO: You have had, especially considering it’s Canada!, a fabled career. What were some of the highs (and, if you like, the lows)?

GRIFFIN: The highs have been many. When I began, there was only one repertory company in the country, the Canadian Repertory Company (CRT)  in Ottawa and I was asked to be the resident ingenue at 19 years of age. William Hutt was the leading man, William Shatner (of Startrek) their juvenile, plus Eric House, Barbara Chilcott as well as other notable Canadian performers. CRT had hired the new famous and excellent actor Christopher Plummer the year before.

We had one week to rehearse any production but the standard of acting was always excellent even with the classics such as Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Another 'high' was being discovered by the great Andrew Allan in Lister Sinclair's new play, The Blood is Strong, who cast me opposite John Drainie. I went on to do countless productions in Mr. Allan's 'Stage Series' and other radio work. This was what they now call The Golden Age of Radio and it was.  Later, I was in the first musical production of Anne of Green Gables and from there, went to England for three years, the highlight being asked to be part of the Bristol Old Vic theatre company and travelling with the company to Lebanon with two Shakespeare productions in 1960. (cont'd)

After Dark, April 29, 2014

Now Is Not The Time

Random thoughts on the organizations which protect us

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I'd like to start by offering a personal anecdote. (Yeah, yeah, I know - but what's the point of being nearly 57 if you haven't had any experience worth sharing?)

When I was a nipper, and after I had embarked on a career as a playwright, a play of mine was a huge success. I was approached by a well-known Quebec film-maker to adapt the work. He also said he was going to teach me how to do things, along the way. He did.

I learned how to write a proposal, a treatment, a draft. I did all of them, over and over again. I adapted and re-adapted and changed and then fundamentally changed my play from the tragedy it had been on stage to - yup - a comedy that resembled not at all what had attracted the film-maker in the first place. And then it all stopped because a well-known Quebec actor (now a Hollywood star) reportedly wouldn't sign on. 

I later learned that the film-maker should have been paying me (and handsomely) for the work I had done. That it was all outlined in collective agreements somewhere. 

After Dark, April 22, 2014

A Walk-Out and a Pile-On
Leaving, staying, reviewing
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

I don't know which wise person said this about social networks, but I learned it the hard way a couple of weeks ago: Disrespect takes over when community becomes society. 

The person was talking about the phenomenon of trolling. Now I've been at the receiving end of trolling before, but it happened on Twitter the other night. It began as a perfectly civilized discussion about walking out of a show which one nevertheless reviews. 

Some background: A work appeared at World Stage Festival in Toronto, called Conte d'amour. It was insanely controversial. Kelly Nestruck at the Globe and Mail gave it no stars. People walked out. Our reviewer, Jason Booker, survived 130 minutes of its 180 before he left. Despite this I asked him to write a review anyway.(As I have done for shows I have walked out of, to explain why one's reaction would be so strong. Accept my word, please, that I, and none of the reviewers at CharPo, are delicate flowers.)

In a Word... Kate Applin on Metro Youth Opera's Hänsel and Gretel

Into The Woods

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Kate Applin is lauded for her passionate work in Toronto’s operatic community. In 2010, at age 23, Ms Applin founded Metro Youth Opera, offering emerging artists in Toronto their first opportunities to perform complete roles and be compensated. In addition to her role as Artistic Director of MYOpera she has performed with the company as Despina in Così fan tutte (2011), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (2012), and Serpina in La serva padrona (2013). In 2014, she will perform Gretel in Hänsel & Gretel. Ms Applin holds an Honours BMus in Voice Performance and an Opera Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University, and has trained at programs such as Opera on the Avalon, Opera NUOVA, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop. Some favourite roles include Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Anne Egerman (A Little Night Music).

CHARPO:  I’m afraid going into this you are dealing with an H&G veteran! I sang Hänsel in a children’s adaptation of the Humperdinck score when I was a child in Germany. There, as you can imagine, the piece is as traditional as bratwurst. But in North America, apart from the annual romp at the Met and a recent production in Montreal, this little masterpiece seems largely overlooked. Why do you think that is?

APPLIN: Well, because of its roots as a fairytale story, I think Hansel & Gretel often gets sidelined as a children-only opera here in North America. However, the themes in the story are as applicable to adults as they are to children. I think that many of our opera houses here in North America aren't willing to push the boundaries of the opera to make it something that is more than just child's play. The opera can be quite safe when presented exclusively for children, so it gets a lot of exposure in school tours and such. It takes bravery to visit the opera's darker side and cater it to a wider audience at the risk of alienating the children too much.

After Dark, April 15, 2014

Gratitude

Enough bitching, let me say thanks.

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

As I observe this effing election in Quebec, and, as I write this, watch an enraging leaders' debate, I need to go to my happy place. Come with me, won't you, and think about (and share in the comments section) what and who makes you grateful.

- Public relations which are brill. I have gone on and on about PR that is awful, let me thank those men and women in the trenches who know how to do it and do it well: Sue Edworthy in Toronto, Rachel Lowry and Maryanne Renzetti in Vancouver, and the great teams at companies across the country who make my job easier. PR is no longer an amateur's game, no longer a company's after-thought. These people, in their work, make that a lesson to us all.

- That Stratford Festival did Mary Stuart last year (and it was a monster hit!) and is doing Mother Courage this year. 

In a Word... Chelsea Haberlin on Killer Joe

Dark and In-Yer-Face
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Chelsea Haberlin is Co-Artistic Director of ITSAZOO Productions as well as a professional producer, director and dramaturge. Favourite ITSAZOO directing credits include The Flick (Presented by Blue Bridge), Mojo (for which she received a Jessie nomination for Outstanding Direction), Chairs: A Parable, Robin Hood, Grimm Tales and Death of a Clown. Other directing projects include Glendale (Co-op), Rhinoceros (UBC Masters Thesis project), Featuring Loretta & Criminal Genius (Vancouver Fringe Festival) and Faust is Dead (UBC). Assistant directing projects include My Turquoise Years (Arts Club Theatre), Elizabeth Rex (Bard on the Beach), The Idiot (PuSh Festival), Burnt By the Sun and London Assurance (United Players). Ms Haberlin  has an MFA in directing from UBC, a BFA with a specialization in Applied Theatre from UVic and is a graduate of the National Voice Intensive. She is the recipient of the Sydney J Risk award in directing and the Ray Michal award for outstanding body of work by an emerging director. She is currently Resident Producer with Neworld Theatre.

CHARPO:  We’re told Killer Joe is a grisly, pitch-black comedy. This is my cup of tea but I often ask myself - and am asking you - when does black comedy simply become an unpleasant night of theatre and how do you find that exquisite balance?

HABERLIN:  For me it's all about humour. We've always tackled heavy topics in our plays and the way we do that is through comedy. If we can keep you laughing you'll enjoy everything that comes at you. Killer Joe is hard hitting, dark and in-yer-face while at the same time being very funny. Tarantino films are really enjoyable and he's one of the greatest filmmakers of our time but if I described the plots to you it would be impossible to see where the humour could be found. It's found in the real human interactions that occur that we all relate to, in the clearly defined and exquisite characterizations and in the stuff that is so harsh that all you can do is laugh. That is the same with Killer Joe. It's a huge challenge but one I'm entirely up for. 

After Dark, April 8, 2014

The Music of the Night

Politesse and fluidity

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

When the Fringe movement was beginning we all thought it would be a free-for-all. But it would not just be theatre itself breaking out, but - we thought - so would the audience. We fully expected in the first years audiences would express their delight and dismay ostentatiously: boo, hiss, walk out during the play (which often meant across the stage). However, unless someone tells me otherwise, this went the way of all Canadian theatre: to a place of restrained politesse and a loving condescension to the people onstage.

I hated it.

I am a proud boo-er from way back. I do it as Mr. Regular Spectator and I do it as a reviewer. I have gotten in big trouble for it and, too, been thanked for it. No I don't lose it every second performance. The times I have expressed myself that way can be counted on the fingers of one hand. 

In a Word... Playwright/Performer Jennifer Ansell-Clark on Speak Truth of the Dead

Speaking for the Unknown

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Jennifer Ansell-Clark was born in Quebec City and grew up living by the docks with her mum, aunt, uncle and her dog Lady. From her first time on stage as a stick in The Three Little Pigs in kindergarten she kept performing right through elementary, high school and on into CEGEP. Once she moved to Montreal she continued her theatre studies with the Phoenix Theatre Workshop. A published author she also worked in independent cinema behind the scenes and has recently been a stalwart volunteer for both Mainline and The Fringe Festival. After a very long hiatus from acting she decided to dip her toes into the theatre waters again and has appeared many times at the Confabulation Storytelling events. One of those performances has led her back to the stage to create her first multidisciplinary performance piece.

CHARPO:  I know about your ongoing battle with cancer. Would you mind sharing it with our readers? Clearly, this battle marks the elegiac themes of the play - what drove you to actually write a play, and more, gave you the energy to rehearse and perform it?

ANSELL-CLARK: What drove me to write the play is a series of events directly related to my conquering cancer. From the second week of December 2012 when I found the lump (and if your readers don't know how to do a self-exam I strongly insist that they learn) until October 2, 2013 when I had my operation, my life was torn apart. I had promised Matt Goldberg that I would perform a story at the Confabulation show on October 6 and intended to do so no matter what but...  On October 4 we had tickets to a Steve Hackett show at Place des Arts. I went, a corpse in all but name and the music resurrected me, redeemed me and re-animated me. So, for the Confab story, I told of this death and resurrection. Al Lafrance saw the show and got in touch and asked me if I'd be interested in doing a show based on that story. I said yes faster than I have ever said yes to anything other than marrying my life partner. And the story has written itself almost. (cont'd)