Wonderfully defiant heroine elevates Stratford Festival's Romeo and Juliet

Antoine Yared as Romeo and Sara Farb as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the Festival Theatre,  (Cylla von Tiedermann Photo)


To read my review of Romeo and Juliet in the Stratford Beacon Herald click here

Mother Courage and Her Children: The Festival's Sleeper Hit

Mother Courage and Her Children
Stratford Festival
By Bertolt Brecht
Directed by Martha Henry
May 30-September 21
Festival Theatre
Approximate running time: 2 hours, 41 minutes (with one 15 interval)
1.800.567.1600
519.273.1600

If the mere mention of the name Bertolt Brecht or the phrase anti-war conjures up visions of a sombre night at the Festival, be not afraid of venturing into the Tom Patterson Theatre for a look of Martha Henry’s surprisingly buoyant and beautifully realized Mother Courage and Her Children.

While still very much true to the playwright’s intent – fired by his intense hatred of the German Nazi regime of his time, from which he found exile in several European countries – the work under director Henry re-discovers and exploits a great deal of its innate humour from a variety of sources – roaming minstrels, a touch of pre-performance mingling a la the Swinging Sixties with audience members and heart-felt, humanistic performances from the acting company.

Rather than create a work that plays out during the Second World War, Brecht set the play in Europe during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), a bloody conflict initially waged by Catholic and Protestant states over purely religious interests.

Mother Courage (a beautifully honest portrayal by Seana McKenna) is a tireless canteen woman, pulling her cart throughout war-ravaged Europe, aided by her three children – E.B. Smith’s sturdy Ellif, Carmen Grant’s mute Kattrin and Antoine Yared’s bookish, timid and oddly-named Swiss Cheese.

It’s an odd way of making a living, particularly in light of the fact Mother Courage makes no distinction over which army she does business with, alternately changing flags on her creaky vehicle and ultimately making a profit from the horrors of the seemingly endless war. At least superficially, she appears unmoved by the conflict, choosing neither side over her business interests.

McKenna is simply magnificent in the role – at one moment an earthy hard-bitten no nonsense businesswomen out to make ends meet for herself and her brood but yet, particularly in the revealing second act, displaying flashes of recognizing, almost recoiling at the brutality she either experiences or learns from second- hand sources. Death becomes considerably more personal as the play moves forward.

Smith, Grant and Yared are solid and effective in their key roles – offering more than simple one-dimensional characterizations, in effect, with their mother, underscoring the humanity of Brecht’s work.

The first act, offering considerably more of a humorous backdrop, also features a tidy selection of musical entries, under the guidance of musical director Franklin Brasz and a delightful sprightly band of instrumentalists/vocalists that both lighten the mood and offer a clever complement to the playwright’s words.

Supporting characters like Geraint Wyn Davies’ incurably ‘randy’ cook and Ben Carlson’s oft time confused chaplain are top-notch, while the regal vocal stylings of Stephen Russell as the stern regimental clerk adding the perfunctory sense of the all-pervasive military dictating the lives of all who come under its control.

For Henry, this is a triumph over what could have conceivably turned very much into a one-note production with simple musical interludes. Such is not the case. The blend of drama, tragedy, with splashes of humour is superbly handled, with the second act, particularly the poignant closing moments, evolving into an uncompromising visual poem that is truly moving.

Unquestionably one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written; this production bristles with life even if only barely visible amidst the rising toll of death and social disintegration. Mother Courage and Her Children may well be and quite frankly deserves to be the sleeper hit of the Stratford Festival 2014 season.

5 stars

Photo. Fom left to right: Seana McKenna, Geraint Wyn Davies and Ben Carlson. Photography by Don Dixon with digital art by Krista Dodson.

This review also appeared online at Donald's Dish.

King John: Where burlesque and drama go hand-in-hand

King John
Stratford Festival
Tom Patterson Theatre
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Tim Carroll
Approximate running time: 2 hours and 56 minutes (with one 15 minute interval)
May 28-September 20
Toll-free: 1.800.567.1600
519.273.1600

Review by Geoff Dale 

STRATFORD – King John may be one of Shakespeare’s lesser produced works in recent memory but that hasn’t stopped the Festival from staging it several times over the years – at last count four.

Now it’s Tony-nominated director Tim Carroll’s turn to try his luck with the troubling play and, while there are noticeable shortfalls, the overall sense is that it is an imaginative candle-lit effort highlighted by a number of thought-provoking characterizations, not the least of which is Tom McCamus’ startling interpretation of regal off-handedness mixed with grandiose fits of rage and madness.

 

As with all the Bard’s historic efforts there are generous portions of pure fantasy, much needed for a period of British history that appears to be rather confusing and often badly misunderstood by historians of considerable reputation.

One of the most welcome fictional additions is the character of Philip Faulconbridge, otherwise known throughout as the Bastard, reportedly an illegitimate son of Richard the Lionhearted.

Appointed in the early going by John as an officer in his army, the Bastard affords the immensely versatile Graham Abbey much opportunity to play about with the role in an almost burlesque fashion, bellowing, threatening and assaulting his foes both with cutting verbiage and swordplay.

One highlight is the glorious moment Philip matter-of-factly tosses the decapitated bloody heady of a foe into the lap of an unsuspecting but most likely delighted audience member. Howls of approval immediately arise from the crowd.

Now enjoying his second year in the Festival Company Noah Jalava gives a strong and at times commanding and self-assured performance as Arthur, the King’s nephew and apparent heir to the throne. With youthful enthusiasm and an obvious understanding of his role, he clearly provides one of the much-anticipated tragic elements of any Shakespearean production.

As is always the case, the playwright takes great liberties with historic fact, conveniently replacing some to suit his purpose – whether that be to create a foil for the leading character or simply to enliven the action when it lags. To the latter point, that does occur sporadically in both the opening and closing acts.

The simple reality is that fiction more often than not captures greater attention and Carroll does a fine job of accentuating these tastier little bits of John’s life. For example, while it is widely known that John was not actually poisoned by a monk at Swinstead, it’s fair to say this is far more theatrically pleasing than the fact that he actually died of dysentery while on a campaign.

While there is considerably less grandeur than the great works like King Lear and Hamlet, there is still an abundance of wonderful characters with which to play, oft times with wild literary abandon and unchecked poetic license.

Sean McKenna has a veritable field day with Constance, Arthur’s mother – a complex passionate figure of maternal majesty, fiery frenzy and ultimately lonely despair. Her speeches often ring more powerfully than her male counterparts:

“Thou shalt be punish’d for thus frighting me:
For I am sick, and capable of fears;
Oppressed with wrongs, and therefore full of fears.
A widow, husbandless, subject to fears;
A woman, naturally born to fears;
And though thou now confess thou didst but jest
With my vexed spirits, I cannot take a truce,
But they will quake and tremble all this day.”

The always reliable Brian Tree is wonderful as the trouble making papal legate, Cardinal Pandulph, the man who excommunicates John but ultimately accepts the regal repentance. Wayne Best delivers John’s chamberlain Hubert as a troubled man beset with personal conflicts while Patricia Collins shows Eleanor of Aquitaine as a strong-willed woman of self-determination.

In the end Carroll, forgoing elaborate set designs and massive stage-cluttering battle scenes, leaves the fate of the production in McCamus’ hands as the oft times hilarious monarch who casts aside foes with the gentle flick of a TTFN wave, interspersed with uncontrolled bursts of sudden raucous, shrieking threats and gestures.

Often blatantly comic, McCamus brings John to life as a man with considerable human frailties, a monarch that one can easily see as having legions of both friends and foes alike. Clearly less majestic that some of Shakespeare’s kings; the character is nonetheless filled with the possibilities for explorations – both real and imagined.

What will always remain a mystery is why Shakespeare never refers, even casually, to John’s signing of the Magna Carta in June 2015. A small quibble perhaps but it is still one of several questions left unanswered by this curious but fascinating lesser-known production.

Powerful at times but likewise slowly moving, King John’s chief strength lies in its characterizations.

3 ½ stars

Photos: 1. Tom McCamus (centre, left) as King John and Brian Tree as Cardinal Pandulph with members of the company in King John; 2. Seana McKenna as Constance in King John. Photos by David Hou This review also appeared online at Donald's Dish.

Sights and Sounds of Stratford Festival 2013

Sights and sounds of Stratford Festival 2013
Article and photos by Geoff Dale
The Beat theatre critic Geoff Dale was on hand with his camera to catch some of the Monday evening highlights. More productions will open in late June, July and August. Keep reading The Beat for reviews and commentary. - Editor

It was a glorious opening to the Stratford Festival 2013 with a wide array of local, national and international stars from stage and screen milling about, a wide array of beautiful flowers in bloom on display and music of every kind.
Under seasonably mild and sunny conditions, the event drew a good crowd of spectators, Festival insiders and participants, along with those curious folks simply interested in getting a bird’s eye view of the annual opening ceremonies.
The festivities began around 6 p.m. Monday, May 27 with the pipe and band corps signaling the start to this year festivities, followed by the arrival of special red carpet guests and the 7:30 p.m. opening night presentation of Romeo and Juliet.
Actors, musicians, directors and Festival dignitaries were seen chatting with members of the general public, being interviewed by various media outlet representatives and generally enjoying and participating in the moment.
Colm Feore, recently seen on TV’s The Borgias was on hand with his wife Donna, director and choreographer of Fiddler on the Roof.
With several works about to hit the screen, one of the busier actors around Graham Greene was there, as were stars from various productions including Romeo and Juliet and Fiddler on the Roof. 
The prolific American actor of the big screen, television and stage, Brian Dennehy, was also seen in various spots inside and outside of the Festival Theatre.
The two gifted stars of the dynamic production of Mary Stuart (http://www.thebeatmagazine.ca/index.php/theatre-reviews/1662-peacock-and-mckenna-shine-in-mary-stuart), Lucy Peacock and Seana McKenna were also making the rounds.

In addition to the traditional sounds of a pipes and drums band getting the proceedings underway, an intriguing duet from Kitchener, The Vaudevillian, kept things lively, playing a number of eclectic songs on the lower sidewalk below the Festival Theatre.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was also in attendance for the official ceremony.
The ceremony kicked off the 2013 season which was highlighted by the first week of seven debuts of: Romeo and Juliet, Fiddler on the Roof, Measure for Measure  , Mary Stuart, Tommy (which featured an appearance on opening night by Pete Townshend of The Who);  and the Saturday double feature of The Three Musketeers and Blithe Spirit .  This feature also appeared online at The Beat Magazine.

Photos: 1. Donna and Colm Feore were on hand for the event; The musical opening of the Stratford Festival 2013; Flowers were in bloom everywhere;The pipes and drums corps was led by a proud drum major; One of the stars of this year’s Festival is Matthew G Brown; Geraint Wyn Davies is pictured with Donna Feore; The two stars of Mary Stuart, from left Sean McKenna and Lucy Peacock; One of the highlights of opening night was the lively music of the Kitchener based duo – the Vaudevillian; Minstrels from Romeo and Juliet took in the sights and sounds.

Blithe Spirit a delightful quirky drawing room romp

Blithe Spirit
Stratford Festival
Written by Noel Coward
Directed by Brian Bedford
Avon Theatre
Runs until October 20
Running time: 2 hours and 25 minutes (with two intervals of 15 and 10 minutes)
Tickets: 1-800-567-1600 or online www.stratfordfestival.ca 

Review by Geoff Dale

So what can you say about a play that’s been produced by countless theatre troupes around the globe for the past 72 years, won an Oscar for best cinematic special effects in 1945 and ended up as Noel Coward’s most popular work, despite the fact it only took him six days to write?

We’re guessing not very much – considering it appears yet again to be making the theatrical rounds all around the world. This latest batch includes a delightful outing at the Stratford Festival, a wonderfully amusing effort directed in grand style by the venerable Brian Bedford and starring the incomparable Seana McKenna.

So why the seven decade long interest in a drawing room work that is lightweight by any standards? Coward’s own words, when describing the play, are curious yet might explain why: “There’s no heart in the play,” he said. “If there was a heart, it would be a sad story.”

So it’s a happy but quirky play, an unlikely farce about life and love in the here-and-now and the hereafter. The focus is on a rather suave, genteel author, Charles Condomine (Ben Carlson), presumably fashioned much in the vein of Coward himself.

Thanks to the other-worldly activities of invited guest Madame Arcati (Seana McKenna), an annoying local bike-riding crackpot, author and psychic, who takes herself very seriously, poor Charles finds himself haunted by his morally loose first wife Elvira (Michelle Giroux).

That in itself presents a moral dilemma for the man, still very much married to his current and more staid spouse Ruth (Sara Topham). What it does for the storyline is provide all the laughs generated from what could be best described as a bizarre ménage à trois, of which no-one wishes to be part.

McKenna, who excels as Queen Elizabeth in the current Festival production of Mary Stuart, demonstrates here she is also a master of comedy. She can trade quips and barbs with the best of them and knows exactly how and when to milk laughs from the occasional pratfall, miscue and the oddly entrancing movements of the village’s rhythmically challenged medium.

Carlson does real justice to the role, showing all of us the author’s obvious disdain for the animalistic elements of passion, long-lasting relationships like marriage and morally questionable behavior, both from women and men. 

Proving to be quite the heel at times, he can also be quite ruthless and even cruelly hurtful in his interaction with his current wife:

“If you’re trying to compile an inventory of my sex life, I feel it only fair to warn that you’ve omitted several episodes. I shall consult my diary and give you a complete list after lunch.”

Topham is a wonderfully nagging wife while Giroux is a “spirited” addition to the less-than-happy household, getting under her husband’s skin at the most inappropriate times, leading to some of the play’s most entertaining and prickly encounters between the three.

If there’s a downside side to the levity, it may simply be that Coward appears to have little time for women, portraying Elvira as loose, Ruth as a constant nag, Arcati clearly not in full possession or her faculties and the maid Edith as a bumbler of the highest order. 

With that in mind, it’s no shocker to suggest there is never any real sense that Charles does or will ever miss either one of his two wives.

James Blendick and Wendy Thatcher add nice supporting roles as Dr. and Mrs. Bradham, guests at the initial séance, while Susie Burnett rounds out the cast as the oft-times incoherent Edith.

Blithe Spirit is a fairly gentle, humorous way to end the first week of Festival debuts, thanks to the fine work of McKenna, Carlson and company. Director Brian Bedford knows the drawing room by heart – both in and outside of this world – resulting in three out of **** stars.

This review was originally seen online at The Beat Magazine.

Photo by Don Dixon: top Michelle Giroux bottom l-r Sara Topham, Seana McKenna, Ben Carlson

Peacock and McKenna shine in Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart

Stratford Festival
Written by Friedrich Schiller
In a new version by Peter Oswald
Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Tom Patterson Theatre
Playing to September 21
Running time: two hours, 47 minutes (with one interval)
Tickets: 1-800-567-1600 or online www.stratfordfestival.ca 

Review by Geoff Dale

One key element in Friedrich Schiller’s play, skillfully updated by Peter Oswald, is that the storyline is historically correct in many details, except for one intriguing “what if” scene – the meeting of Queen Elizabeth 1 and her imprisoned cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland.

While this work is clearly not the alternative history associated with present-day author Harry Turtledove (Hitler’s War) in which largely fictitious means dictate a complete reversal of the real ending, it is still the powerful and totally imagined scene between the two regal rivals that drives this play along emotional and intellectual journeys.

Equally important is that casting for Mary Stuart be without question or second thoughts. It requires top-flight performers known for flexibility of presentation, able to convey sincerity and compassion at all times through the nearly three-hour play.

Fortunately Lucy Peacock (Mary Stuart) and Seana McKenna (Elizabeth), two of the finest stage actors to be found anywhere in the theatrical world, landed the lead roles. Both exceed reasonable expectations, delivering spell-binding performances that reveal the complexities, power and even frailties of the regal cousins.

The imagined meeting of the two is simply chilling.

Peacock’s Mary Stuart is mesmerizing. As her cousin’s prisoner, she is deprived of her physical freedom but also tormented by her guilty conscience arising from her supposed role in the death of her husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

She is also at the mercy of several plots, engineered by the free-spirited Mortimer (played with delightful rage by Ian Lake) and the two-faced Earl of Leicester (portrayed with uncomfortable nastiness by Geraint Wyn Davies). Peacock is at the top of her game, delivering to the audience a conflicted soul, a misunderstood figure and clearly seen by the author as the personification of tragedy.

Yet McKenna is equally successful capturing Elizabeth’s different sides, as a strong-minded woman who is nonetheless trapped in her own metaphysical dilemma. Surrounded, seemingly on all sides, by a host of benign court sycophants and self-serving deviants, she is strangely isolated as a leader wielding ultimate power, yet still victimized by her own inner turmoil. The queen, while in control, is nevertheless a symbol of despair and at times out-of-control.

Each actress is afforded ample opportunities to demonstrate the contradictory nature of their characters and both, with the steady and masterful guidance from director Antoni Cimolino, succeed admirably.

Mary’s scenes with her handmaiden Hannah Kennedy (a gentle, touching portrait from Patricia Collins), her jailer Sir Amias Paulet (nicely underplayed with sense of honour by the always reliable James Blendick) and her confessor Melvil (Brian Tree making the necessary shift here from his usual comic persona  to drama)  are simply riveting.

Meanwhile, as she ponders her cousin’s ultimate fate in front of her royal advisors, McKenna’s stone-faced Elizabeth is electrifying. One just has to sit back and marvel as she contends with the potential consequences of executing another monarch, an unthinkable act for the times.

When she and Mary finally meet, their fictional confrontation becomes a multi-layered and glorious tour-de-force of fury-infused acting by the two leads.

Meanwhile, Brian Dennehy is a gracious, dignified and thoughtful Earl of Shrewsbury, begging his queen to act with humanity, not simply respond impulsively to the deafening screams of the crowds milling about, just outside her royal doors. He pleads with her to deal with her dilemma with caution rather than a knee-jerk reaction to unreasoned mob rage.

Blendick’s Paulet, caught perilously between two worlds, remains respectful to both queens but is nonetheless determined to honour his role as Mary’s protector as long as she lives.

Ben Carlson is an unyielding, bloodthirsty Lord Burleigh with no apparent signs of real passion or humanity– a beautifully crafted villain of the highest order. The audience is never left in doubt as to where his motivations lie, contrary to Wyn Davies’s sly vision of the slithering, ever-changing charmer Leicester.

Hats off to Peacock, McKenna, Cimolino and the full company for a ****out of 4 stars night at the theatre.

Geoff Dale is an Oxford County theatre reviewer and freelance writer/photographer. This review is also posted  in the Theatre Review section of The Beat Magazine 

Photo by: Don Dixon.  Pictured from left, Seana McKenna and Lucy Peacock.