Theatre Preview
PROVENANCE
Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes
Created and performed by Ronnie Burkett
Presented by Alberta Theatre Projects
Runs March 16 to April 4
Martha Cohen Theatre (Epcor Centre)
In the fall of 2001, Ronnie Burkett was back in Calgary, performing his hit marionette opus Happy at Alberta Theatre Projects and packing up his Ramsay studio in preparation for his move to Toronto. At the time, he was already making plans for his next puppet play, which would deal with the theme of beauty, and he recalls a conversation he had with his old pal, One Yellow Rabbit’s Denise Clarke, on the subject.
"I had the usual bar-stool chip on my shoulder about beauty," he says, laughing. "I think I said to Denise something like, ‘Oh, beautiful people have it so easy.’ And she said, ‘Well, I’ve got a book you should read, my friend!’ It was called Survival of the Prettiest (by Nancy Etcoff), which is an anthropological study of beauty and how, biologically, we as a species are programmed to go toward the strongest and most beautiful. With that book under my arm, I set out on a new journey."
Now, two-and-a-half years later, Calgary will get to see the outcome of that journey when Burkett returns with his latest touring Theatre of Marionettes production, Provenance.
Like Happy, it comes dressed in garlands of praise, showered upon it since its debut in Edmonton this past fall. As we speak, Burkett is in his new home, Toronto, in his new studio at King and Dufferin, gearing up for the final performances of an eight-week run at the Canadian Stage Company that was completely sold out shortly after it opened.
"We could have run another month easily," says the in-demand puppeteer, were he not committed to a three-week stint at Alberta Theatre Projects, followed by overseas engagements in London, Manchester and Vienna.
However, we were talking about beauty, weren’t we?
After reading Clarke’s recommended book, Burkett found a focus for Provenance – the objectification of beauty. "It grew out of asking the questions, ‘What do people do to be near beauty or to become it, or to possess it, or even sometimes destroy it if they can’t hold on to it?’" he says.
In Provenance, the thing of beauty is an artwork – a mysterious, early-20th-century art nouveau painting of a naked youth in a Saint Sebastian-like pose against a tree, caressed by a swan. The picture and its pulchritudinous subject have become the obsession of Pity Beane, an unprepossessing little Canadian art history student.
"She’s in love with this boy," says Burkett. "It’s almost the equivalent of teenagers who put Beyonce or Justin Timberlake posters on their wall. He’s kind of a poster boy to her; she’s created this whole fantasy around him."
Pity’s determined search for the provenance of the painting (called, simply and ambiguously, Tender), leads her to Vienna and a brothel run by an elderly, half-mad madam named Leda. A woman with a history as complex as the painting’s, Leda holds the key to Tender’s origins in her own shadowy past.
Fans of Burkett’s previous shows will recognize some familiar elements, from the character of Leda, a colourful old tart on the order of Lucille in Happy and Esmé Massengill in Street of Blood, to a plot that hinges on one of the 20th century’s great tragedies. But whereas Happy and its predecessor, Tinka’s New Dress, called forth the grim spectre of the Holocaust, Provenance goes back further to the senseless slaughter of the First World War.
Burkett says he didn’t begin the play intending to incorporate a war theme again, but the U.S. invasion of Iraq got him thinking otherwise. "Last spring, when this show was being created, here we were with another war in the world that didn’t make any sense to me," he says. "Maybe the day I can understand (war), I can stop discussing it."
The First World War happened to fit in with the chronology of Leda’s past, says Burkett, and besides, its infamy as the war that decimated a generation gave it poignancy in light of the play’s theme. "It has that notion of the young sent off as sacrificial lambs, of beautiful youth being used as fodder for bullets and cannons, and fat men with cigars making decisions," he says.
Provenance is Burkett’s first new play since his stunning Memory Dress Trilogy – Tinka’s New Dress, Street of Blood and Happy – which established his reputation as a major international theatre artist. Yet Burkett junked those spectacular productions, quite literally, before embarking on Provenance – consigning their sets, including Tinka’s gorgeous carousel, to the scrap heap. There were various reasons, both pragmatic and artistic, for such a dramatic bridge-burning.
"With the trilogy, I had over seven hours of text in my head that I had to keep memorized. I think I just needed to clear the hard drive," he says. "It was getting a bit muddled up there. I was able to manage those three (plays), but the thought of adding a fourth piece to my memory seemed a bit excessive."
Besides, he felt the trilogy was becoming a bit dated. "It just seemed time to get on to new stuff, and the only way I can make the stakes really high for myself is to not have anything to fall back on," he says. "Which has been a terrifying aspect this year. There were moments before Provenance premièred where I thought, ‘Oh my God, why did I throw that carousel away?’"
Provenance is just as ambitious as those previous plays, boasting 34 puppets and continuing Burkett’s exploration of puppet possibilities with a cast that includes, along with his trademark marionettes, hand puppets, tabletop dolls and head-rigs – puppet heads that dangle from a wire attached to a headband worn by the operator. A creative dynamo, Burkett also designed the set – in what he calls "Prairie art nouveau" – and even did the painting of Tender himself. "It’s Romantic with a little (Gustav) Klimt influence on it," he says. He painted the picture in acrylics, based on a digital graphic image created by his partner, jazz musician John Alcorn.
The show is also another one-man tour de force and Burkett doesn’t pretend that it’s easy. "Provenance is a killer for me," he says. "Emotionally and physically, it’s like climbing a mountain every night."
Nonetheless, the youthful 46-year-old plans to continue performing mammoth marionette productions like this for some time to come.
"I probably have another 10 years easily to be able to pull off these big vocal and physical shows," he says. "So I might as well do them now and get them out of my system." He already has another one brewing in his brain, entitled 10 Days on Earth, which will likely debut in the 2005 - 2006 season.
Meanwhile, Provenance still has plenty of kilometres to log, including a festival gig in Melbourne, Australia and engagements in Ottawa and Winnipeg next season.
Although he’s garnered a following across Canada, Calgary is always a homecoming for Burkett, who built his theatre career here over a two-decade span, between intervals of lucrative television puppetry in New York and Montreal. It’s also a chance for his parents to come up from Medicine Hat and catch his latest work.
They remain as supportive as ever of their talented son – if a little embarrassed by his R-rated material. Burkett says his mother happened to see the nude Tender painting during a visit to the rehearsal hall. "So she thinks the entire play is about a penis." |
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