FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved
On Stage
by Lori MontgomeryIf there was any big news in last week’s announcement of the Betty Mitchell Awards nominees for the 1999/2000 season, it was Theatre Calgary’s impressive showing. For the first time in the awards’ admittedly short history, TC leads the pack with a whopping 16 of the 56 nominations, including three of the four nods in the category of set design, and at least one mention in almost every category.
The company had a successful season, with a series of plays that were well received both critically and popularly, and that was borne out in the nominations. A Fitting Confusion, The Glass Menagerie, A Christmas Carol, Holiday and the musical Berlin to Broadway all found a mention in the announcement of the nominees.
Despite a rough season, Alberta Theatre Projects managed to come in a close second at 14 nominations, with a clean sweep of all four nominations in the supporting actress category. In stark contrast to previous seasons, ATP’s playRites Festival only garnered one new play nomination, for the English premiere of The Coronation Voyage, by Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau – a play that also won mention for performances by Donna Belleville and Todd Waite, and for the staging by director Roy Surette.
While the two major regional theatres dominated the nominations, things are a little more spread around after that: One Yellow Rabbit logged in at six – four of which honoured the second Calgary visit of Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks’s Monster; Theatre Junction and Stage West made respectable showings with five nominations each; Lunchbox Theatre received four; Sage Theatre ended up with three – all of them for its production of Bent; and single nominations went to Quest Theatre (for Bruce Horak’s new play What You Can’t See), Destiny Theatre (for Jenifer Darbellay’s costume design in Oedipus the King), and the Berserker Gang Collective (for Anita Miotti’s choreography in I Think I’m a Wolf).
In the category of "inexplicably overlooked," there were, of course, a few: Grant Reddick’s performance in Closer and Closer Apart at Lunchbox, for one, and Blake Brooker’s staging of OYR’s The History of Wild Theatre, for another. But some gems inevitably fall through the cracks, and if I were an Equity member spending the summer voting (the winners will be announced at the ceremony at Stage West on August 28), my greatest agony would be choosing between the four shows nominated for Outstanding Production of a Play, all of them richly deserving of the award: Good (TJ), Holiday (TC), Monster (OYR) and Wit (ATP).
****
With the exception of the Betty Mitchell Awards nominations, June is a bit of a dead zone in the theatre community, and a twisted comedy from Ghost River Theatre has jumped in to fill the gap. Venus Rising is a compendium of pop culture references built around a slightly quirky storyline that gets more realistic every day: a dysfunctional couple coming to terms with their new puppy, who happens to have opposable thumbs.
Edward (John Ullyatt) is a scientist employed by a company that provides "genetic solutions" for agriculture. Grain that tastes like peanut butter. Pigs without cloven hooves (to get around that whole kosher issue). Struggling to give his marriage a boost, Edward decides to surprise his wife Mary (Kira Bradley) with a puppy, genetically altered so as to add an opposable digit – as Edward puts it, "a dog that can really play ball." It soon turns out that Venus (Annie Dugan) also has an abnormally small tongue, and evolves the ability to speak, all of which brings her to the attention of an ominously mild-mannered veterinarian and a comically ominous Jerry Springer-esque TV personality (both played by the mercurial Dave Clarke).
The script by Ghost River’s Doug Curtis is funny and flows well, but would benefit from some judicious editing. It lingers a shade too long on the inherent gag, and leaves no joke undisturbed no matter how obvious. But there are enough surprises in the play to keep it moving, and the team Curtis has assembled to stage the play is first rate.
Ullyatt, Dugan and Clarke, as well as director Eileen Sproule, all hail from Edmonton, where Curtis knew their work in the context of generic theatre (Mistero Buffo, High Performance Rodeo 1999), and their talents combine to make for a mesmerizing, physical show. Curtis describes the circular set he and Sproule designed as representing a petri dish, where the characters find themselves under a microscope, but that implies altogether too much sober reflection. The colourfully lit set, bombarded with Peter Moller’s eclectic soundscape, is nothing so much as a circus ring in which Edward is the proud ringmaster, putting his wife and puppy through their paces.
There is nothing serious about this production – no comment on the implications of Edward’s dabbling, and only passing references to faith, theories of creation and the arrogance of humanity, all of which merely serve to set up more jokes. But it’s a satisfying piece of light summer theatre, and a perfect showcase for the varied talents of our neighbours to the north.
Venus Rising plays at Crump Manor until July 2.
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