Review: (Toronto) The Tin Drum

(photo by Keith Barker)

Wartime Europe through the eyes of an innocent – or not
by Christian Baines

How does the first half of Europe’s 20th century appear through the eyes of a child? In particular, a man who remains a child by force of will, and perhaps through the magic of his treasured toy drum? The world of Gunter Grass’s novel is one in which the forces of fantasy, tragedy and whimsy converge against the backdrop of turbulent politics and a Continent on the brink of monumental change.

Oskar (Jesse Aaron Dwyre) is three years old when he discovers the wonders of his drum and resolves never to grow up. One household accident later, Oskar is granted his wish, albeit counterbalanced with a rapidly advancing intellect. To the outside world however, he is slow and ill-developed, much to the grief of his mother Agnes (Margaret Evans). Agnes has been splitting her life between her husband Matzerath (Gordon Bolan) and lover (among other things) Jan (Cyrus Lane), whose wife Hedwig (Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster) meanwhile has taken quite a shine to Oskar. The unravelling of this unhappily functional family is just the first in a string of calamities centred around the boy/man as he begins to grow old, but not up. Is he the cause? Or just witness to the destruction others bring unto themselves?

In a Word... Chris Hanratty and Shira Leuchter on The Tin Drum

(photo by Jennifer Liao)

Adapting Without Rules
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - CHRIS HANRATTY
A writer and director, Chris Hanratty's first full-length play, A Thousand Words, premiered at the 2012 SummerWorks Festival and was named “one of the top four productions” of SummerWorks by Lynn Slotkin. He has co-created many of UnSpun Theatre’s past work, including minotaur, Don’t Wake Me and One Block (Harbourfront HATCH program). He also works in film, and was the director and story editor for the shorts Family First (Worldwide Short Film Festival; Palm Springs International Film Festival), and Rung (Tribeca International Film Festival). He recently completed his third film Robert’s Circle. Mr. Hanratty studied Drama and Film at the University of Alberta. Upcoming: He will be directing The Speedy, part of Harbourfront Centre's 2014 World Stage season. 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR - SHIRA LEUCHTER
Shira Leuchter is an actor, theatre creator and artist. Her work as a theatre creator includes: One Block (UnSpun Theatre, Harbourfront’s HATCH program), Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (UnSpun Theatre), Sperm Bank (with Julie Tepperman, SummerWorks Performance Gallery), Bardbie (Nuit Blanche/Engine Gallery), The Red Machine (The Room, Harboufront’s HATCH program) and Uninvited (with Julie Tepperman, Theatre Passe Muraille's Bring the Buzz Festival). She has performed with some of Toronto's most innovative artists and companies, including Cahoots Theatre (Paper Series - Magnetic North), Convergence Theatre, fu-GEN, Native Earth, The Room and others. Her ongoing series for the Praxis Theatre Blog, Your Process is Showing, explored the theatrical process using visual imagery. Ms Leuchter has created live art for companies including Praxis Theatre, Canadian Stage and The Room. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. Upcoming: She will be performing in The Speedy, part of Harbourfront Centre's 2014 World Stage season. 

CHARPO:  When I was a kid - a long, long time ago - everyone was reading Tin Drum - why was a book originally published in German an international best seller do you think?

LEUCHTER:  I think, firstly, that it's just an incredible piece of writing. I've never spoken to anyone that hasn't had a strong reaction to the book - they've either loved it or hated it. It's dark, it's funny, it's ugly, and it's full of magic.

HANRATTY: I imagine, in that postwar period, that there must have been a great deal of curiosity about the German consciousness. How could that horror have happened? The novel was one of the first German works that examined the culpability, the complicity of the German public with regards to Nazi war crimes.