Durham Shoestring's Dead Metaphor opens Mar 24 2017, multi-talented John Lunman directs.

Local actor and director John Lunman has had his plate full this theatrical season with involvement in a number of productions in the Durham Region:  Jenny’s House of Joy at Northumberland Players; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Borelians in Scugog; and this summer, Dracula at the Peterborough Theatre Guild.  

At the end of this month, he will direct George F. Walker’s DEAD METAPHOR for the Durham Shoestring Performers.  

For 43 years, DSP has presented the most challenging and cutting edge plays in the region.  It is a director driven company under the astute artistic direction of Carolyn Wilson who keeps the passion burning for good theatre from all countries, but with a particular emphasis on our own Canadian playwrights who are not so well represented in the seasons of other local community theatres.

George F. Walker is arguably one of Canada’s best-known playwrights with over 35 plays to his name along with several television series.  He originally answered an advertisement for new playwrights posted by Factory Theatre in the early 1970s, and his writing started a new era in Canadian plays.  Until then, most Canadian plays dealt with a rural existence set in the western prairies.  Walker turned that on its head by writing about urban characters of whom many were based on the people he grew up with in Toronto’s East end.  He loved to write about the poor and the marginalized in society and showed them to be heroes in their own lives, if slightly comic heroes, who didn’t quite know what to do and often did the wrong thing or the right thing by accident.

His latest work, although still urban in nature, no longer references Toronto specifically, and his themes and characters now echo the lives of urban poor and rapidly failing middle class of any major metropolis.  DEAD METAPHOR deals with the plight of returning soldiers who, having served their country, now struggle with PTSD and lack of meaningful work.  What can you do when your main skill is killing people from a distance?

Walker’s works have always been political but DEAD METAPHOR, although written long before the 2016 U.S. presidential election results, certainly foreshadows such a political aspirant in the role of Helen, the play’s right wing politician  

DEAD METAPHOR is a scathing political comedy about the collision of values between left and right, rich and poor, male and female.  It is a Walker trait that his female characters are always much smarter than the males around them--and often far more deadly.  Having a former sniper as the main character is certainly a comedy of a darker nature.

 Audience members are warned the language in this play is very harsh and at times blistering.  The play will cause you to question your beliefs about right and wrong.  Given Walker’s penchant for the ambiguous, audiences will leave with plenty to discuss at intermission and after the performance with one major question on everyone’s mind.  No spoiler alerts here, but suffice it to say the conclusion deals with a very current social issue at its heart.

A number of Durham actors appear in this production – Craig Martin, Paul Love, Amber Vibert and Jane Hickey.  Joseph and Kristi Lauria hail from Toronto.  The Stage Manager for this production is Tracey Magee-Graham and Producer is Carolyn Wilson.

The Durham Shoestring Performers’ production of DEAD METAPHOR runs March 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and April 1 at 8:00 pm at the Oshawa Arts Resource Centre behind City Hall, 45 Queen Street.  Tickets are $15 and may be purchased either at the door before performance times. For further information, please visit their website here.  Once again, this is a reminder of mature themes and language in this production.

Driftwood's Trafalgar 24 spotlights the community of theatre

“It is important that each of us takes an opportunity to support and to watch the art and craft of live performance as audience members.  Why?  This is the very art of community building among all artists in our community.”

By Joe Szek

Each year, I applaud the energy Driftwood’s Artistic Director Jeremy Smith still has for the live theatrical company he created over twenty years ago.  I asked him recently how he has still maintained his creative momentum after twenty plus years.   For Jeremy great energy can be found in change and, when you primarily work out doors in the summer, things are always different.  Jeremy re-iterated that he has had the good fortune to work with many artists over these twenty plus years, but it is his core group of members with whom he has worked from the company’s inception who have helped to keep both he and Driftwood grounded.  

Friday March 10, 2017 marked the annual presentation of Trafalgar 24, a sold out and well attended fundraising event in support of Driftwood Theatre Group.  If the talent this night is any indication of these future-performing artists, Driftwood will continue to leave an indelible footprint on Canadian theatre. On this blustery and bitterly cold winter’s night, twenty-four artists within a span of twenty four hours wrote, rehearsed and performed six site-specific ten minute scripts played out in various locales in Whitby’s Trafalgar Castle School known formerly as the Ontario Ladies’ College.  

Friday’s enthusiastic audience members also played a crucial role as they selected one of these plays to receive a commission for further development from Driftwood Theatre.  Driftwood also announced that OTHELLO is the Summer 2017 Bard’s Bus Tour throughout the province.  Jeremy describes how OTHELLO is one of Shakespeare’s penultimate tragedies whose setting for this summer’s production is 1974 when Canadian peacekeepers are caught in a life and death struggle between opposing forces on the small island of Cyprus.

On a personal note, a few of these six ten-minute scripts engaged my interest while a couple of them required further revision and re-writing.  The challenge for me was to listen to the text itself and not to focus on the performances of the actors, which is something each of us does automatically.  My personal favourite of the evening was MONSTERS MATTER by Warren Bain and Matt Bernard, a highly literate comedy of an eager lawyer who agrees to represent the Bride of Frankenstein in her divorce case.   Other scripts that showed potential promise were RESURRECT by Jesse LaVercombe, the story of Gideon who visits his priest the night before Easter Sunday with a special request.  I REMEMBER THE MAZES is a script that takes place in the mind of someone living with anxiety; when both sides of the brain are having “a day”.  Audience members this night selected RESURRECT by Jesse LaVercombe as the emerging playwright who will take part in a residency which coincides with this summer’s Bard’s Bus Tour.

It was also appropriate to see a number of members from other local community based theatre groups participating at Trafalgar 24 either as a volunteer that evening or as a participating audience member.   It is important that each of us takes an opportunity to support and to watch the art and craft of live performance as audience members.  Why?  This is the very art of community building among all artists in our community.

Once again, Jeremy believes that exciting things are in store for Driftwood audiences in the next three to five years.  In 2019, Driftwood will celebrate its 25th season and the company has been taking the time to consider what is important to them, and what legacy they hope to leave for theatre in Ontario.  Driftwood will become even more accessible for all people - especially in communities with little or no access to professional theatre.  Finally, Driftwood hopes that its’ work will diversify to include productions of new plays started here at Trafalgar 24.  These are lofty goals, but Driftwood holds no hesitation to continue reaching out further to communities.

Visit www.driftwoodtheatre.com for more information about this company whom retired Toronto Star writer Richard Ouzounian called “Shakespeare on a shoestring, but the shoestring has a lot of class.”  Make it a point to see one of the stops this summer of the Bard’s Bus Tour of Shakespeare’s OTHELLO.

Dancyn's 'The Laramie Project' is a poignant reminder hate can never be allowed to win

THE LARAMIE PROJECT by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project
DANCYN PRODUCTIONS
Executive Producer:  James Mansfield, Stage Manager:  Kit Bauldry with assistance from Kailey Kacaba and Nancy Cann, Director: Joan Mansfield
With: Gillian Campbell, Diana Chappell, Nicholas Ferron, Barb Grenier, Robert Herr, Mike Kutrowski, Meg Oxenholm, Kyle Robertson

As patrons of and participants in live theatrical productions in Durham Region, there is a line from the docudrama THE LARAMIE PROJECT that resonates with all of us:  “You have to say it right.  You have to say it correct.”  This is the challenge for any director and cast to make sure they say it right and say it correct no matter what art form is presented to the general public.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT is another ensemble ‘actor piece’ that many professional and non-professional performing artists would like to add to their resumes simply for the fact that, if done right and correct, its’ message is timeless.  LARAMIE draws on Mr. Kaufman and the Tectonic Project’s accounts of news reports, conversations with local residents and first hand accounts of events before and after this horrible hate crime of homophobia against the struggles and death of Matthew Shephard in Laramie, Wyoming for the reason of who he was.  When the play was first performed it was highly controversial, albeit powerful, as some of the language and dialogue is raw, hurtful, spiteful and vengeful.  As we move further into the twenty first century, this play becomes even more important as Mrs. Mansfield pointed out in her public address to the small audience before the performance began.

For her, in treating this story with poignant sensitivity, LARARMIE transcends ALL hatred and not just homophobia given the world in which we find ourselves right now. Heavy and risky stuff for an audience to consider especially on a Friday night, but kudos to the actors and crew who rehearsed the play in order to have it ready for Anti Bullying Week.

The semi-circular set design on the intimate Dnipro stage is intriguing to watch for actor entrances and exits.  For this particular production, every inch of the stage is used to its’ maximum.   The set design worked to allow a smooth transition for the actors and scene changes to unfold in this near three-hour production with intermission.  

Opening piano musical score by Chopin’s C Sharp Minor Waltz hauntingly underscored the empathetic directorial vision.  There were some beautiful tableaux moments created to heighten dramatic effect.  The first comes at the top of the show as the cast reconstructs the iconic buck wooden fence as they hum“Amazing Grace.”  Another moment occurs at the end of the production as all eight actors, with their backs to the audience, have their heads bowed in respectful prayer and a moment of silence for Matthew and for all victims of hate crimes everywhere.

Lighting and special effects are crucial in order for this play to have its tremendous impact.  The Dnipro Hall’s lighting is limited in this respect as the venue for many years was used solely for wedding celebrations, and for Durham Region’s weeklong Fiesta celebrations in June.  Nevertheless, DANCYN has not allowed this limitation to affect a performance standard.  Lighting designer, Zac Mansfield, has painstakingly and exhaustively worked tirelessly to ensure the best lighting design possible set by Joan’s directorial vision.

This enthusiastic troupe of actors, who are diverse in their age range and experience, are to be commended for tackling this highly charged drama, as the rehearsal process would have been challenging for its four-week period.  These individuals want to pay tremendous respect to the material and to acknowledge it was an awful event that occurred.  Once again, DANCYN is to be applauded for its’ mandate to ensure new faces and talent are seen on stage here in Durham, and I hope these people will return in future for other productions.  

There are moments where these eight performers are a true ensemble of players who listen, who watch, who hear and who respond accordingly given the context of a particular scene.   For example, the scene at the Fireside Bar where the patrons recount the last time Matthew Shepard was seen there before his disappearance heightened some of the dramatic intensity needed.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT continues this week at the Dnipro Hall and Theatre, 681 Dnipro Blvd in Oshawa.  Tickets ($20) may be purchased at the door (cash only) before the performance or online  Performance dates this week are Wednesday March 1 – Saturday March 4 inclusive at 8 pm with a final performance on Sunday March 5 at 2 pm.

Borelians' play, 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' is a Chekov inspired comedy

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE by Christopher Durang
BORELIANS COMMUNITY THEATRE
Produced by Kyle Brough and Helen Coughlin, Staged Managed by Liz Auston, Directed by John Lunman

Kudos to The Borelians of Port Perry once again for selecting another ‘actor play’ this season. Currently in performance until February 25 is Christopher Durang’s VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a quirky and absurd comedy especially if you have some knowledge of Anton Chekov’s dramatic masterpieces.  The names of the characters in VANYA come from some of the Russian playwright’s other works; however, to appreciate the humour of VANYA, you do not need to understand Chekhov’s style, but it would most certainly be advantageous in some of the context of this particular production.

VANYA is not an easy work to stage as there are layers of text and subtext of weirdness and oddity to decipher and to unravel.   As Director, John Lunman’s extensive background in the performing arts assists him tremendously in his journey to bring his cast to convey to audiences that VANYA is ‘a very human comedy of people who are trapped in their life choices; people afraid to follow their heart’s desires.’

Lorenz Werkmeister’s set design is an actor’s dream upon which to perform.  His construction team has worked diligently to create a visually pleasing room from every angle in the Town Hall auditorium.  Every inch of the stage is used for a specific purpose in this production. 

Helen Coughlin and Kyle Brough’s work in props, décor and sound design complement effectively the playing space for the actors.  Andre Grander’s lighting design is subtle while clearly focusing our attention on the central action of the scene. The use of music from the Beatles placed smiles on some of the faces of the audience, while a few of us either hummed or sang along quietly.

There are some delightful performance moments.  As Masha’s oversexed boy toy Spike, Kyle Dickie is considerable bravado while being very comfortable for appearing, at times, in his underwear.  His real life wife Justine appears as Nina, the sweet neighbour and up and coming actress, who inspires a highly charged lust in Spike.  

Ms. Dickie has a lovely and clear speaking voice.  We always root for Nina especially in those moments either where she reveals her fears to Vanya whom she affectionately calls ‘uncle’ or in those moments where she is eschewed by the jealous ‘has been’ actress and drama queen, Masha.  With those moments called for in the script where Nina and Spike are to ogle each other, I’m certain this husband and wife, and audience members in the know, have great fun in watching the sexual chemistry unfold.  

Alexandra Hines is Cassandra, the eccentric and very peculiar housekeeper for Vanya and Sonia, who constantly predicts direly what will happen in the future for many of the characters.  Ms. Hines is quite amusing to watch especially in those moments where Cassandra appears unexpectedly from nowhere for comic effect.

Critic Patrick Healy of The New York Times called this play ‘a black comedy about unhappy siblings’.  As the play opens, we are introduced to Vanya (Colin Murphy) and adopted sister, Sonia (Cheryl Tulloch) who appear gloomily to be content just to sit and, at times, do nothing.  Their pretentious sister who always craves an audience, Masha (Joanne Norman) returns home for a visit and announces that all three along with Spike, in tow, (and later with Nina) will attend a costume party at the house of the late writer Dorothy Parker who led a very tempestuous and sad life.  

When this information is revealed to the audience, it is here that a strong directorial vision of ‘absurd comedy’ is tantamount to the success of this play.  Attendance at this ‘costume party’ results in misunderstandings and miscomprehension for all involved.  Ms. Tulloch relishes in the moment of appearing as Maggie Smith as the Wicked Queen in Snow White.  Ms. Norman appears as Snow White who is hilariously mistaken by Nina as Norma Desmond from the film version of Sunset Blvd. Mr. Murphy appears as one of Snow White’s dwarves while trying to maintain peace amidst all of this confusion.

Mr. Murphy, Ms. Tulloch and Ms. Norman are accomplished local actors who render sufficiently good performances.  Nevertheless, there were moments from the first Saturday evening show where pacing falters especially in the second act where Mr. Murphy has to deliver a 3-4 page monologue.  This quibble might be for the fact the actors are tired as they and the crew are coming off their tech week along with a matinee performance earlier in the day.

This is only one area that will need some possible tightening up before performances continue again this coming week. The Borelians’ production is definitely worth seeing.  For the two and half hours, we are living our lives through these people, and we are most certainly glad we are not these people.

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE continues February 23, 24 and 25 at 8 pm with a 2 pm matinee on February 25.  Tickets may be purchased at the box at Port Perry’s Town Hall 1873, 302 Queen Street.  For further information, please visit Borelians or the Town Hall site. 

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is a peach of a play

FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS by Alan Ball
AJAX COMMUNITY THEATRE
Produced by Mark and Sarah –Liis Salonius, Directed by Michael McFarland, Stage Managed by Dillon Hunter
With:  Mireille Awad-Arnberg , Sharon Berman, Linda Chapman, Sam Smilovic, Amber Dawn Vibert and Lincoln Trudeau.

To borrow a quote from the token male, Tripp, in FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS, there is veritable ‘major babe action’ going on the stage at Ajax’s St. Francis Centre.  Yes, this line when taken out of context does sound sexist; however, writer Alan Ball has woven a complex series of life events into an engaging story line that keeps its audience hooked. Yes it is that same Alan Ball who penned two groundbreaking and phenomenal works – AMERICAN BEAUTY (with Kevin Spacey) and the televised series SIX FEET UNDER (where the I learned quickly the meaning of the term binge watch).

This play becomes a skewering commentary on the state of matrimony, and the Ajax Community Theatre has taken a risk in staging it last week and this coming week.  This risk was worth it.  ACT’s production has hit its’ stride, and you should go see it.  Be prepared and forewarned as salty language, naughty innuendo and adult situations abound aplenty.  

Director Michael McFarland likes the play’s premise.  The life moments of these characters are dissected and analyzed in the upstairs bedroom of an ostentatious wedding reception at a Knoxville estate.  Identically yet hideously clad in peach coloured bridesmaid dresses, these women are hiding out from the downstairs invited guests.  Mr. McFarland points out that women bond far quicker than men do in establishing relationships.  In order to make these relationships believable, he has cast five beautiful and talented local Durham Region ladies who, first and foremost, like and respect each other.  They have had a lot of experience in live theatre and understand clearly the intricacies of female relationships.

Another reason to see this production - these ladies are a true ensemble of actors who listen well and respond to each other credibly.  We see a catty and bitchy side to each character, and this makes for even more fun as the story clips along at a good pace.  The challenge of any live comedy is to find those peaks and valleys where you have that split second for a creative comic effect, and these ladies have been successful in discovering and sharing those moments with the audience.

Since I’ve never read or seen this play before, I was also intrigued by one dramatic moment where one of the particular characters makes reference to a sexual assault a few years ago.  I won’t give any spoilers, but this moment in the production slows down the quickened pace due to this delicate subject matter.  There was a hush over the audience as I think each of us wondered how this matter was going to resolve itself, as sexual assault is criminal.  I was impressed with how the actors involved treated this material with dignity, compassion and conviction before the comic pace picked up once again.

The arrival of one of the groomsmen, Tripp (played by Lincoln Trudeau) adds a further layer of character development to the plot.  Mr. Trudeau is a solid actor who also reveals his performance experience in his revealing scene with Trish (played by Mireille Awad-Arnberg).   Both actors handle the cut and thrust banter of word play with heightened sexual chemistry and build it to the point where we can sense that a consummation of some sort will take place in the near future.

I imagine a good deal of work would have had to be done on the Appalachian dialect of Tennessee.   Thankfully, Mr. McFarland and his cast did not create caricatures or stereotypes.  Lighting and sound cues are clear, crisp and exact.  The intimate stage at the St. Francis Centre allows for a specific set design that helps focus the action. Nevertheless, there is a quibble on the set design and construction. The shaking wall as doors close periodically breaks the focus that we are actually in a room of a grand Tennessee estate.  

FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS continues this Thursday February 23, Friday February 24 and Saturday February 25 at Ajax’s St. Francis Centre, 78 Church Street South at 8 pm.  Tickets may be purchased at the door or visit the website for further information.