FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| THEATRE The Stone Angel The indomitable, prideful Hagar Shipley of Manitoba is one of Canadian literature's most memorable characters. In The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence crafted what has been called a variation on the Pygmalion tale, where it's the woman herself who carves out and completes her life story in a quest for self-understanding. In ATP's production of James W. Nichol's stage adaptation, an elderly Hagar encounters her past in a series of scenes between family, friends and her remembered selves. Actress Natascha Girgis, who plays Hagar's daughter-in-law Doris, calls it episodic - a series of snapshots that preserve the major events of Laurence's seminal novel. "It still flows. There are no blackouts. Hagar's just switching from reality to reality based on who comes on stage. She could be mid-scene with Margaret and somebody else will enter. Margaret's still there, but Hagar's reacting to that person now and becomes a different age, flipping between six and 90." According to Gerald Matthews, who plays Hagar's son Marvin, the adaptation is so good that the play is effective whether you're familiar with Laurence's book or not. "Michael Crichton said that doing a screenplay is condensing 400 pages of novel into 40 pages of text. And it's the same thing in adapting a novel to a stage play. So many things that are significant to the characters have to be (touched on) very lightly. But if you've read the novel, those parts will have a lot of resonance." In the play, Hagar has been living with her son Marvin and his wife Doris for 17 years. Smoking, drinking and in constant danger of falling and hurting herself, Hagar is a handful for her aging son and daughter-in-law. "She's becoming very difficult to deal with," explains Girgis. "She's getting old and losing certain faculties. And we're not young either. Marvin is 63 and Doris is nearly 60." According to Matthews, his character is a needy son forever seeking the approval of his strong-willed, bloody-minded mother, a woman Matthews calls "foolish but never silly." Over the years, Marvin has grown accustomed to being the lesser loved of Hagar's two sons. "We often love people who need love as opposed to people who want love. John is the charismatic bad boy and unfortunately, Marvin is the dull, reliable son.... I don't think Hagar recognizes that she actually loves Marvin until the very end of the play. The idea is that her heart and soul were stone." "There's quite a telling scene in the play," adds Girgis. "Marvin goes off to war and Hagar has remarkably little to say to him when it may indeed be the last time she sees him. It's such a fraught scene because they both want to say something, but are unable to for their own reasons." Hagar doesn't like Doris and the tension often takes a toll on the couple, leaving Marvin torn between the two women he loves. When Hagar dies, there are definitely mixed feelings. "We make jokes about the post-show music being 'Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead,'" says Matthews. "In some ways Hagar is very unlovable. She's very cold." The Stone Angel is being performed in repertory with Oliver Twist and Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). The ensemble cast therefore plays a variety of roles in an extended, closely knit rehearsal process. But even within The Stone Angel itself, the cast members play a number of different characters. Girgis has four roles in addition to her part as Doris, while Matthews has two roles. Because they don't wear make-up, the actors set their characters off through mannerisms, posture and minor visual changes. "Hair acting," laughs Matthews. "There's some serious hair acting. You know, different parts.... Audiences always look at that." |