Picture of the Week, September 6, 2012

Emily Cooper does brilliant work on the smallest of things. Take, for example, this cast picture for Arts Club's upcoming Clybourne Park: beautifully lit, beautifully dressed, nice colour composition - down to the sneakers on Marci T. House, seen here with Daren Herbert. 

Video of the Week, September 5, 2012

Montreal's newest company - Metachroma - is heading towards their first production: Richard III. This video gives you a good idea of the look of the company and a sense of their very high level professionalism. 

(Read their first-person piece about their mandate)

After Dark, September 4, 2012

The Tribes
There are lessons we must learn from politics
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Today Quebeckers vote. It has been a rancorous and unpleasant campaign and I'm glad to be rid of it (though suspect by midnight we will have a minority government and be heading back to the fucking polls in no time).

I've heard all the hyperbole I can handle. It didn't come close to the scum thrown in the US, but it did approach it. Because of the confluence of the student uprising and the burgeoning strength of the sovereignist Parti Québécois we were treated to ugly epithets hurled on one side and another not just on Facebook and Twitter - bad enough - but in editorials too. One idiot editorial in anglo Montreal trotted out "fascist" to describe the PQ leader's aspirations. When you've heard that one thrown at the Liberals for nine months, it becomes meaningless.

US politics are uglier than ever. But that seems to be a refrain we repeat every election.

Openings We're Tracking This Week, September 3-9

Jersey Boys (photo credit: Joan Marcus)

The Sunday Read: First-Person - Paul Van Dyck on The Harvester (Atlantic Fringe)

(photo credit:
Camille McOuat)

The Growth of The Harvester

I feel that when you write, direct, and produce a play, you are showing your community a piece of your self, your soul, and your dreams. 

By Paul Van Dyck

Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do. Make theatre, that is. And I often answer myself with: Because it’s the only thing I’m good at. And then I wonder if I’m actually that good at it. All I have to go on is what people tell me. Sometimes people tell me I’m good at making theatre. Sometimes they tell me I’m not. And sometimes, the worst times, they tell me I’m “mediocre”. 

Having recently mounted my latest theatrical creation, The Harvester, at the Montreal Fringe Festival, I was grateful to never hear the word “mediocre” thrown about concerning this play. However, ambivalent opinions abounded from audiences and critics alike. In fact, I discovered there was quite a debate amongst theatregoers concerning the merits of the piece. Some loved it and some hated it. Sure, they all loved the magnificent costumes by Melanie Michaud, or the magical props by Vladimir Cara, or the spooky lighting of Jody Burkholder, or the stellar performances by Eric Davis and Melissa Carter, but the story itself seemed to be the point of contention in this theatrical chain.  

Tour Whore, September 2, 2012

On a Starless Night

by Cameryn Moore

A few weeks ago I titled my blog post “What would you do if there were no stars”, wherein I talked about the star system  and its potential problems for some of the major shareholders in the Fringe community: reviewers, audience members, and performers. I thought I would be following up on that piece with something on the flip side, about what the review system would be like and how those shareholders might have to change the way they operate, if there were no stars or pictorial rating systems attached to Fringe reviews. And how that might be better.

I was going to write that piece, but as I kept talking with other artists, in little clumps around tables in beer tents or online in private artist groups, one on one over dinners, I understood what I think we all understand: the star system is not going to change any time soon. Everyone is too invested in the way things are. Newspapers will keep churning out the stars, and no artist is going to NOT use stars when that’s the system: it’s too financially risky. We have a system that flows down certain well-defined channels, and it’s choking out risk.

Theatre For Thought, September 1, 2012

THE ART OF TRANSLATION
joel fishbane

“I think translators have done their job when they aren’t noticed,” remarked Bobby Theodore. “The moment someone compliments me on the translation, I worry the script needs another draft.” It was a smart remark from a veteran translator / writer, one that encompasses both the goals of a translator and the problems in being one in the first place. As important as theatre translators are, if they do their job well, people forget they were ever in the room. 

This talent for invisibility has had an unfortunate consequence within the Canadian theatre industry: there currently exists no standard contracts that outline the translator – writer relationship. “What’s missing is dialogue,” Theodore revealed. “No one ever talks about money. There needs to be something that outlines the legal relationship.”