Theatre For Thought, March 22, 2011

Here Today, Here Tomorrow

Filming the occasional production is a novelty but filming every production would be an act of historical significance. 

joel fishbane

Centaur’s new season proves that although plays get a second life, productions are not so lucky. Of the four remounts, only one (Haunted Hillbilly) will reunite the original creative team - God of Carnage will not feature the original Broadway cast, nor will the new version of Pierre Marivaux’s 18th century farce be resurrecting the dead. In this we have a subtle reminder: only text is forever. Actors have known this for years: the thrill of live performance comes from the knowledge that each show is one of a kind. If there is certain poetry to this idea, that poem is bittersweet. How can we not mourn all the productions we have loved that have disappeared forever? 

Fortunately, technology is making it possible for this to change. For years now, the Stratford Festival has been releasing films of specific productions, an endeavour which culminated in last year’s national screening of The Tempest. It was a charming event, but it begged a thorny question: why should only certain plays receive such treatment? Filming the occasional production is a novelty but filming every production would be an act of historical significance. 

The Sunday Feature, January 9, 2011

Sky Gilbert as Jane and Greg MacArthur, OUT-STUDIO 303 Factory Project (photo: Pierre Bourque, reprinted with permission)

The 'Gay Play' - Straight Up

by David King

If anyone in Canada has both practical and academic expertise on queer theatre, it is Buddies In Bad Times founder Sky Gilbert. So when Gilbert predicts the death of gay theatre by 2012, one can't help but perk up and listen.

In Playwrights' Canada Press' series Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English (volume 7 entitled "Queer Theatre in Canada"), Gilbert takes aim at the once subversive, now mainstreamed 'gay play' as an endangered species that even queers have abandoned to avoid "the notion of being outsiders and different." While Gilbert continues to suggest that the trans movement is still unexplored stage terrain, he does raise a good point about our Canada's quarter-century old "gay play". 

The definition of a 'gay play', or a 'gay' film, is as subjective as terms like 'culture', 'edgy', queer' and 'subversive'. Over-emphasis on the 'gay' subject has led to its misinterpretation as too 'marginalized', not universal enough, or not focused enough on quality or professionalism in production (struggling low-budget and poor production efforts in plays and films have contributed to that hit-and-miss scenario). Queers, who struggled for years to be included as 'same' and not 'other', often manifest that philosophy into both a lack of activism within their own community(ies) and by walking 'straight' past the ticket counters of gay plays that they feel would only mirror the 'marginalized' or 'ghettoized' aspects of their lives. 

The CharPoll results, December 15

We asked you how you would rate this last year's English-language works as a whole. 17 of you answered the call with 8 saying "shaken not stirred," 6 offering the slightly more enthusiastic "tweet-worthy" and three saying the year was a good one. No one said they wanted to kill themselves over it nor called it Nirvana.


What does this mean?


That it was a generally satisfying year with the memory of no one show polluting the year or making you hum through the crap.


This week's CharPoll is considerably more serious. Please take the time to tell us where you get your news about English-language theatre in Montreal.

What this is...and what this is not

WHAT THIS IS (or will be):
A place where you can find all you need to know about Montreal English-language theatre and a place to share information - beyond press kits. Postings will come from theatre practitioners themselves (on their news and on the "theory" behind their productions), a board of critics (which means reviews aplenty) and editors. This is meant to be a lively, argumentative and funny place for those who love the Montreal English-Language theatre community. The title of the blog is simply the name of the editor in chief of the blog and meant in irony and is not merely a reflection of his gigantic ego.

WHAT THIS IS NOT:
A place to air grievances or dirty laundry; a bitch-fest.

IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE SEND YOUR POSTING TO:
gaetancharlebois@gmail.com