August 28, 2014
Press RepublicanAugust 28, 2014
By Steven Howell
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MONTREAL — “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
The Segal Centre for Performing Arts opens their new season with “The Graduate,” the cinematic ‘60s coming-of-age tale of seduction that takes its rightful evolutionary turn on the Segal Centre stage beginning Sunday.
The adapted version of the play, written by Terry Johnson, is based on the novel by Charles Webb and the film version penned by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. The play features original music composed and performed live by Justin Rutledge and Matthew Barber. SideMart Theatrical Grocery artistic director Andrew Shaver, who oversaw last year’s Segal production of “Sherlock Holmes,” directs.
‘LARGE SHOES TO FILL’
“The Graduate” tells the story of Benjamin, a young albeit confused college graduate who’s trying to finding his way through the world. Adapting the very-well-known story to the stage comes with unique challenges.
“I think the perceived challenge of translating such an iconic film to the stage is meeting an audience’s expectations,” Shaver said.
Shaver says that people coming to see the stage version have probably already seen the film.
“And there are extraordinarily large shoes to fill,” Shaver said.
To fill those original shoes — be it the direction of Mike Nichols, the acting of Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, and the music of Simon and Garfunkel, Shaver chose a different approach.
“What I’ve set out to do in this production is eliminate the idea that we need to meet anybody’s expectation of anything,” he said. “I’m more interested of the evolution of ‘The Graduate’ as a living piece of art.”
Shaver calls it a “re-imagining.”
“I asked the actors to bring in their own responses and memories and even baggage that could come along with being so familiar with such an iconic piece of work,” Shaver said. “And then to re-imagine it.”
‘AN EYE TO RE-CREATING’
Shaver’s timeline approach is a modern day look back at the early 1960s.
“There’s an eye to re-creating the world of 1963, for sure, but we’re doing it within the context of a piece of theater that’s happening right now.” Shaver said. “And I find that liberating.”
“The Graduate” was first penned in 1963 as a novel by Charles Webb. It was released on the big screen four years later. “It’s a film that has helped revolutionize American cinema,” Shaver said.
Shaver says to consider that audiences have now embraced the likes of Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson for some five decades now. The long lasting transformation of these renowned characters continued with a stage version that debuted on Broadway in 2002. “And the play offers some new scenes, which I think it needs to,” Shaver said. “And I think that’s part of the playwright not having to want to live up to the expectation of what Buck Henry did for the film. So an adaptation for the stage with new scenes frees us up from the film and brings new ideas from the characters to the audience.”
Shaver also wanted to employ another important theatrical element — original music performed live.
“I’m so interested in the marriage, even the collision at times, of live music and theater,” he said. “I enjoy when those two art forms combine to make something new. It’s part theater, part concert, but all spectacle.”