The art of overwhelming
After winning a Betty Mitchell Award, director Gail Hanrahan takes on art itself
PREVIEW
QUIETLY OVERWHELMED
Teatro Berdache
October 3 to 12
The Pumphouse Theatre
What’s it like to win a Betty Mitchell Award?
"Mostly nerve-racking," says Gail Hanrahan, the actor and director who recently won for directing last season’s hit, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again at Alberta Theatre Projects.
"When I was first approached with (Michel) Tremblay’s play, I was only really impressed by the ending, then as time went on, I fell in love with it. I kind of hoped I would win an award someday, but then it happened. It was great, but afterwards, it became more like, 'whatever.'"
In other words, admits Hanrahan, phones don’t always ring off the hook with offers for work when you’re a hot ticket. And that’s just one of the many themes of Corinna Hodgen’s Quietly Overwhelmed, which Hanrahan is now directing for Teatro Berdache.
"It’s fun to direct because it deals with being an artist," says Hanrahan. "Selling out, trying to live off your art, self-doubting, ambition against all odds – these are all things we deal with, so it’s even more interesting to me as a theatre person."
Hodgson's new play is essentially about what happens when the artist shuts down. Cass (Mariette Sluyter), a graffiti artist, is grieving the loss of her partner, Turea, in a car accident. Seeking a painting of Turea’s, Cass returns to an arts colony somewhere in the mountains (Banff, anyone?) to confront its embittered director, Nora (Laura Parken). Somewhere in the middle is Cass’s cottage neighbour, Peter (Berdache co-artistic director Larry Smith), a watercolour artist who triggers an unlikely chain of events that affects all involved.
The play has received a lot of attention over the last year, from dramaturge Sharon Pollack among others – she helped pull the script together for its première.
Having directed plays like For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again and Michel Marc Bouchard’s Lilies, Hanrahan knows gay sensibility and culture. While Quietly Overwhelmed is her first stab at a work about a lesbian relationship, Hanrahan stresses that Hodgen’s play is concerned with more than that.
"There’s a lot of interesting discussions in it," says Hanrahan. "The play hits a lot of points on sexuality, relationship, gender, art, politics and gender, so there are a lot of different appeals for audience members."
Originally from Quebec City, Hanrahan moved to Calgary in 1988 to pursue her master's degree, maintaining a strong interest in Quebec plays and those in translation. Following her studies, she co-founded Theatre In Exile, a company specializing in translated work, and Calgary became home. Juggling work as an actor in stage, TV and film, Hanrahan seems to enjoy working with both new and established works and that's reflected in the companies she has worked for, including ATP, Lunchbox, Theatre Junction and now Teatro Berdache, which is quickly becoming Calgary’s leader in gay and lesbian theatre. For Hanrahan, the play’s the thing.
"It’s a strong play. The thing I think I find the most fascinating is the idea of falling in love with someone’s artistic output and thinking you are actually falling in love with that person. We were talking yesterday about who we would 'sleep with for the art' – what it is that an artist does that makes you think that way about them?"
Who was Hanrahan’s choice?
"Tom Waits – for the art, I swear!" |
