DETAILS

Queen Lear by Urban Curvz Theatre
Pumphouse Theatre
Wednesday, February 11 - Saturday, February 21

More in: Theatre

Joyce Doolittle is getting old, there’s no denying it, but that’s just not enough to keep the 81-year-old actress from doing what she loves. There aren’t as many roles available as when she started acting more than 50 years ago, but she’s happy with the one or two plays she acts in each year. After all, it’s a gruelling process for any actor — just remembering her lines can be a tough job. Rehearsing six days a week for seven hours a day, well, that takes a lot out of you, she says.

While I watch a rehearsal for Queen Lear, a new production by Urban Curvz, in a condo development in Calgary’s southeast, Doolittle forgets a couple lines of dialogue. Even though her memory now sometimes fails her, she gives a vigorous and emotional performance. In the play, as in life, Doolittle plays a strong and aggressive woman (Queen Lear), who is not dependant on a man for validation and support. “I feel really fortunate to be getting parts in professional plays at my age,” she says, adding that there are not enough roles for women of her vintage.

This performance will also mark the first time that Doolittle performs in the theatre that bears her name.

The premise for Queen Lear came from an experience Doolittle had while practising for a previous role. A couple of years ago, she enlisted playwright Eugene Stickland’s young daughter, Holly, to help her prepare for the role. This gave Stickland the idea for a play about an elderly woman cast in an all-female version of Shakespeare’s King Lear, who hires a young girl to help her remember her lines. Doolittle’s performance during the rehearsal is captivating and, as Stickland explains, there’s an inherent theatricality in the situation.

“She’s inspirational for sure,” says Stickland, who has known Doolittle for more than 12 years. “I mean, it’s funny, the play is about an actress playing a huge role, so the art is imitating her life.

“And what a sad thing, with someone who’s got so much experience, that the roles don’t exist for them to play. Every city has someone like Joyce in it, and it’s not like the artistic directors don’t want to work with them,” says Stickland. He says there was only one other play this year he can think of that starred an elderly women in a leading role, and that role was played by Doolittle as well.

The lack of leading roles for women, and especially older women, is definitely a problem. That’s why Jessica Dollard, founder and artistic director of Urban Curvz, decided to set up the theatre company in 2005. The theatre group’s mandate is to create opportunities for female artists, “particularly in leading roles where they aren’t someone’s mother, daughter or prostitute,” says artistic associate Kathryn Waters. The company is now in its fifth season and does about two shows a year. With Queen Lear, says Stickland, Urban Curvz provided him with a great opportunity not only to support women in theatre, but also to put a modern spin on classic Shakespeare.

“When you hear the title Queen Lear,” says Doolittle, “it’s very evocative. You just think how are they going to do this? How are they going to do King Lear with all women?’”