March 22, 2013
The Montreal GazetteMarch 19, 2013
By Pat Donnelly
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MONTREAL - Is it just a lucky streak, or could there be a genuine renaissance of anglo theatre in Montreal?
After seeing Paul Van Dyck’s thought-provoking Oroonoko, adapted from a 17th-century work by Aphra Behn, at the MAI Centre last month, I did the math. It was the fourth outstanding English-language theatre work I’d seen in a row.
These plays were all “serious theatre” with overlapping themes, three dealing with racial inequality, all focusing on injustice.
Prior to Oroonoko, the plays that had stood out were Waiting for the Barbarians, at the Segal Centre, Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott, at Centaur Theatre, and Infinitheatre’s production of Kafka’s Ape at Le Bain St. Michel. They had opened on three consecutive nights, beginning Jan. 30. This, no doubt, reinforced the impression that something exciting was happening in anglo theatre in Montreal.
Theatre critics don’t often see a string of exciting shows. If one out of five pans out, we’re happy.
There’s no denying that the Montreal English-language theatre scene, chronically underfunded, with the talent always tempted westward, has a high letdown rate. But once in a while, due to various factors, something magical happens and a production like Porte Parole’s Seeds takes wing. Usually solo, not four in a row.
Then, at the Quebec Drama Federation’s spring calendar launch, I saw a funny sketch that enticed me to attend Yasmina Reza’s Art, presented by Brave New Productions at Théâtre Ste. Catherine. It was another pleasant surprise — not polished, but enjoyable. The night before, I’d seen the stellar Sidemart Theatrical Grocery cast perform Trad, by Mark Doherty, at Centaur Theatre. Next up was the première of The Mahalia Jackson Musical at the Segal, starring jazz diva Ranee Lee. More impressive musically than theatrically (writing and direction need work), it had the racial inequality theme again, with Tristan D. Lalla delivering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech as if he’d written it.
Talking with various theatre activists this week, several concrete factors (call them winning conditions) behind this recent surge in anglo creativity came to light. The list includes co-production, intergenerational mentoring, international connections and imports, the attraction of the city as a cool place for artists, the French influence, and the determination of a new bilingual generation (some of them from elsewhere in Canada) to stay and work in Quebec.
Andrew Shaver, who performed in Trad as well as directing it, ventured that the renaissance could be attributed to “just the sheer fact that we keep making theatre here and we haven’t given up and moved on. And you do get better.”
Shaver is a fan of co-productions, which he says leads to “cross-pollination.” He also sees Montreal’s linguistic diversity as a positive factor for English theatre: “There’s a lot of transference,” he said. “I think the two communities are speaking. There’s definitely a dialogue happening.”
This was one of the things that drew him back here, after three seasons at the Stratford Festival. Also, good opportunities were being offered by Centaur Theatre and the Segal Centre, two legacy institutions with a reputation for giving the next generation a leg up.
Gabrielle Soskin’s Persephone Productions, which produced Oroonoko, in collaboration with the MAI Centre, has the creation of youth employment embedded in its mandate. Van Dyck could never have produced such an ambitious work on his own. Nor could he have attracted such a large public. Soskin, a retired John Abbott College teacher, has gradually built up her company’s following, as well as its solid lineup of volunteers, over the past 20 years. (Volunteers are also crucial to the Montreal Fringe Festival, another forum for young talent.)
But Soskin sees another ingredient in the anglo renaissance: “It could also be that there’s a little political edge in the air,” she said. “In countries where there are minority groups and they feel threatened, they have to produce even better work — for those that wish to remain in place. That’s what I feel. If our language and our culture is threatened, we have to make it very good.”
Alexandre Marine directed Waiting for the Barbarians for Maurice Podbrey’s MoPo Cultural Trust at the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, before this co-production was brought to Montreal. Marine, born in Siberia, has been dividing his time between Moscow, New York and Montreal for more than two decades, directing over 70 shows. He chose Montreal as his home base in the early ’90s. “It’s a very open place for new ideas,” he said. “You can experiment; you can do something new.”
While this production has created a sensation in English, Marine’s next Montreal project will be at a major francophone theatre company. “It’s wonderful to see French audiences at my English shows and to see English audiences at my French shows,” he said.
Centaur Theatre artistic director Roy Surette is a domestic import from B.C. and a strong proponent of co-productions. If it weren’t for a partnership with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where it transferred after Centaur, Innocence Lost would not have been the same show, he said.
Centaur’s next production, Dance Me to the End On/Off Love (see story below), is a road-tested Danish import inspired by the work of Leonard Cohen.
Illustrious writers abound in Cohen’s home city. Yet one key element largely missing from the current anglo theatre upswing has been local playwrights. Surette is setting out to rectify that. On Wednesday, he donned a paint-splattered shirt to announce his 2013-2014 season, attached to the slogan Centaur Plays in Colour. It will include premières of works by David Fennario, Steve Galluccio and Arthur Holden, all rich in local colour, as well as a remount of Annabel Soutar’s Seeds, with its pan-Canadian perspective.
More emerging theatre artists are committing to Montreal, Surette said — partly because it’s a more economical place to live. As for a renaissance, he hopes anglophone audiences won’t miss the moment. Subscription sales are down at Centaur Theatre and ticket sales peaked with Good People last fall. His concern is that there may not be enough of a paying public to sustain the increasing level of English-language theatre activity in the city.
But Paul Flicker, artistic producer of the Segal Centre, says his box office is doing just fine. Subscriptions are up six per cent. The surprise factor, however, has been over-the-counter sales, which have risen by 232 per cent, compared to the average of the last three years, he said. People are making up their minds at the last minute.
Which is why raising the bar on professional quality counts.“You go to see a good play,” he said, “and you want to see more theatre.”
Flicker, who makes an effort to check out the competition, praised what he thinks has been a fine season “across the board” for English-language theatre. He talked about a widening talent pool of experienced actors and the importance of building long-term relationships with top talents like Marine, and Martha Henry, who directed John Logan’s Red at the Segal last fall.
The Segal Centre’s 2013-2014 season won’t be unveiled until next week. But Flicker is ready to promise one thing: “The renaissance will be returning next season. We won’t be going back to the dark ages.”
For English-languagetheatre listings, visit www.quebecdrama.org/whatson.