Friday, July 8, 2011

Shaw Festival 50th Anniversary season gets underway

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake celebrates their 50th anniversary this season, and you know the creative minds in charge plan to pull out all the stops this year to make it a year to remember.  The musical My Fair Lady, never before performed at Shaw, is the big draw this year as you can imagine.  I finally get to see the show this weekend.  But what of some of the other offerings at Shaw this season? I've been to my first two shows, and let's get the season underway with a look at what I've seen so far.

The big Shaw play this season, at the Festival Theatre through to October 7th, is Heartbreak House directed by Shaw's Artistic Director Emeritus, Christopher Newton.  I am thrilled to see Newton's work back on the mainstage this year; his productions almost always fit like a comfortable old pair of shoes you can't part with.  So it is with Heartbreak House, an unwieldy play at the best of times, and definitely a long sit here as well.

By nature, Heartbreak House is a very long, wordy play in the best (or worst) Shaw tradition (depending on your point of view on Shaw...).  But sure direction from Newton, who knows how to get the best out of a very strong cast paired with fabulous set design work by Leslie Frankish go a long way to make this beast at least more bearable.  Don't get me wrong, it can get pretty tedious at times, with actors going on and on with Shaw's interminable speeches, so as such this will not be a play for everyone.  But Newton makes it all worthwhile in the end, even if the end comes after 11 pm, three acts and two intermissions.

The story, of course, revolves around the house of Captain Shotover, brilliantly designed to resemble a ship, and a grand one at that.  People come and go, all the while under the watchful eye of the grizzled old Captain, played here to perfection by Michael Ball.  He claims to be near death throughout the play but in the end, manages to steal away young Ellie Dunn, played by Robin Evan Willis, from the wealthy and progressively befuddled Boss Mangan played by Benedict Campbell.  This is after Shotover regularly reminds Mangan that HE is too old for Ellie - what a wily old guy the Captain proves to be!

Others in the cast also put in great performances here, particularly Patricia Hamilton as Nurse Guinness and Laurie Paton as Ariadne, Lady Utterwood.  The Hushabyes, Hesione and Hector, played by Deborah Hay and Blair Williams, respectively, also put in good performances.

Heartbreak House may not be to everyone's liking, but if you can withstand the three-plus hours, you will be rewarded with some fine ensemble work.  It rates a three-out-of-four stars at the Festival Theatre.  For others, they will be reminded of writer David Randolph's quote after attending a performance of a certain Wagner opera years ago:  "Parsifal - the kind of opera that starts at six o'clock, and after it has been going three hours, you look at your watch and it says 6:20."  Well, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea...

The second show I have attended this season is a little gem at the Court House Theatre by Irish playwright Lennox Robinson, Drama at Inish - A Comedy.  Robinson is another of those rare finds for the Festival; his plays are not widely known on these shores, although I suspect this is not the last we'll see of his plays at Shaw.  Directed by Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell, this is a lovely little tale of a touring theatre company taking high-quality theatre out into small backwater towns and villages in Ireland, hopefully entertaining the masses who are more used to circus shows and other low-brow entertainment.

The theatre troupe, led by husband-and-wife team of Hector de la Mare and Constance Constantia, stop in the little Irish seaside town of Inish and stay at the Seaside Hotel.  There, the action of the play unfolds as the locals get their first, close-up look at so-called 'real actors'; of course, Hector and Constance played by Thom Marriott and Corrine Koslo respectively, are suitably over-the-top in every respect, full of themselves and the importance of their mission.  The proprietors of the hotel, played by Ric Reid and Donna Belleville, earnestly want to bring some real culture to their townsfolk; still, many of the performances show few paying customers actually in attendance.  Was it ever thus...

The set design by William Schmuck is wonderful right down to the finest detail, and Maxwell keeps things moving along at a good pace.  The cast is uniformly strong; along with the aforementioned Marriott, Koslo, Reid and Belleville, all of whom put in solid performances here, top marks also go to everyone's favourite class clown, Mary Haney as Lizzie Twohig, trying valiantly to keep things humming along at the little hotel, and Peter Krantz as councillor Peter Hurley, who just can't seem to get a handle on things going on around him.

Drama at Inish - A Comedy is a nice way to spend an afternoon or evening at Shaw; it isn't going to big one of the really big shows this year, but it doesn't have to be.  It will, however, make you glad you made the effort to attend.  Sometimes, that is compliment enough, Mr. Robinson.  It plays at the Court House Theatre until October 1st, and rates a respectable three out of four stars.

July 8th, 2011.

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