| Joe-Norman Shaw is done with politics, but not with people. Under Shaw, Rogues Theatre’s previous productions in the 2006/2007 season have included two highly political pieces, first with George F. Walker’s Heaven and more recently with Stephen Adly Guirgis's Jesus Hopped the A-Train. But while the company’s last production of the season, St. Scarlet, may not have the racial or spiritual charge of either of the previous offerings, says Shaw, the result is still as powerful.
"On first reading this appears to be a kind of quirky romantic dark comedy, but as I’ve spent a lot of time with the play I discovered the depth of humanity in these characters is quite profound," he says. "So while it is less political (than Heaven or Jesus Hopped the A-Train), it certainly has a depth of human feeling about it that makes it very attractive."
Written by Julia Jordan, St. Scarlet is a close-quarters family drama drawn between a trio of siblings – Rose (Latonia Hartery), Ruby (Mandie Vredegoor), and Seamus (Alex Arsenault) – and a wanderer in a leather jacket named Vinnie (Dustin MacDougall). For audiences who saw last season’s production of Jessica Goldberg’s Refuge, produced by Dark Forest Theatre, the image of a family of troubled dynamics finding its centre between clashing personalities and pathologies will be a familiar one, made even more familiar to Calgarians by the play’s winter-bound setting
Set in the American Midwest, St. Scarlet spoke specifically to Shaw, himself a native of Indiana. In addition to freezing winters, an experience he says is shared by every member of his cross-Canadian cast, Shaw sees the American region as a particularly potent setting for a play based on characters alternating between stagnation and meaningful change.
"I think there’s something to be said for being in the middle of the continent, landlocked, dealing with the northern elements; the snow, the long winters," he says. "I think that kind of shapes people. There’s a toughness that is there, a survival instinct that’s there. At the same time I think there’s a loneliness or a longing, whether that’s a longing for the ocean or for spring to come, for something to happen. To break out of that small town trap, to find some sense of excitement to it, to taste the world.
"I think that’s very much a part of the Midwestern experience, lost in the middle of nowhere, wanting to be somewhere," he adds.
In establishing the play’s location in the frozen Midwest, Shaw is also counting on the space of the Joyce Doolittle, a brick-walled Calgary icon whose rugged character is a natural complement to the play’s ramshackle setting. It’s a feature that is essential to a company like Rogues Theatre, where minimalism is not just an economic necessity, but a stylistic one as well.
"One of the reasons we love to use the Joyce is that the room itself provides some character – ambience that lends itself well to the kinds of plays we try to preserve, it has a character in and of itself," says Shaw.
As the performing arm of Company of Rogues Studio, a training studio for aspiring and emerging actors, Rogues Theatre draws heavily on graduates of the studio’s training programs. But just as the company’s final production of the season has emphasized its characters over broader political themes, Shaw is adamant that its productions too emphasize the character of his current and former students – professionals, he says, whose education is now second to their performances.
"I try to skirt around the idea of classes and training," says Shaw. "I call (the actors) members of the Company of Rogues ensemble. They’re all at the point that they’re able to work. This is a production by some really talented young actors willing to burst out on the scene, trained in the Rouges tradition, to bring an authentic, almost cinematic performance in its realism to the stage.
St. Scarlet runs from April 14 at the Victor Mitchell Theatre. For tickets or information, call 263-0079.
Quebecois
They’re young, they’re co-producing, and they’ve taken aim at the exotic wiles of the Quebecois. Co-produced by newcomer Theatre BSMT and Go See A Play Productions, who last season mounted an excellent production of Daniel McIvor’s Never Swim Alone, Forever Yours, Marie-Lou tackles family drama in working class Quebec. Written by Michel Tremblay, the co-production will feature young actors Ellen Close, Sara Corrigall, Laural Lepine and Jordan Schartner.
Forever Yours, Marie-Lou runs until April 7 at the birds and stones theatre (204 16 Ave. NW).
Thespians
Blinding sheets of snow whip across Calgary roads in the morning then melt into muddy streams by mid-day. It can only mean spring; death knell of the school year. And yet, the Rocky Mountain College Theatre Arts Department soldiers on with Creation Showcase, a collection of new, solo work by Rocky Mountain students Deanna Adam, Peter Aitchison and Sydney Allen.
Singular, one-handed devotion in the face of spring’s bizarre changes? Damned right. These are actors, the hardest working professionals ever.
Creation Showcase runs from April 11 to 13 at the Rocky Mountain College Auditorium (4039 Brentwood Rd. NW). For tickets or information, call 284-5100 extension 228.
Waifs
Perhaps Charles Dickens didn’t intend for young Oliver Twist to break into song, transforming the banal "I’d like some more, please" into a rousing rendition of "Food Glorious Food." Perhaps.
There’s really no way to know, but if Storybook Theatre has its way, anyone six and up will have a pretty good idea by the time Lionel Bart’s musical version, Oliver!, brings its cast out for the final curtain call.
Oliver! runs from April 13 to May 5 at the Victor Mitchell Theatre. For tickets and information, call 216-0808 or visit www.storybooktheatre.org.
New Englanders
Family drama and home cooking – Rosebud’s resident theatre company brings a New England family comedy to the stage with Ernest Thompson’s On Golden Pond. Unifying generations with home-style dinner theatre and a cross-generational comedy, Rosebud’s artistic director, Morris Ertman, directs a production made most famous by its Oscar-winning 1981 film adaptation.
Hearty food and Oscar fare. Hard to go wrong.
On Golden Pond runs until May 19 at Rosebud’s Opera House Stage. For tickets and information call 1-800-267-7553, or visit www.rosebudtheatre.com. |
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