AlonNashman as John Hirsch in Hirsch. Photography by Cylla von Tiedemann.
Reviewed by James Karas
*** (out of five)
Hirsch is a one-man show now playing at the Studio
Theatre in Stratford. It is, of course, about director John Hirsch (1930-1989)
who, in addition to being a major presence in Canadian theatre, was also the Artistic
Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival from 1981 to 1985.
I think it is
significant and very praise-worthy that a play about a Canadian director has in
fact been produced. For many reasons, there is very little written about Canadian
theatre history and directors are generally ignored. A celebration of the life
and work of a dead director is infrequent if not unique.
Hirsch has been created and conceived by Alon Nashman
and Paul Thompson. Thompson directs and Nashman performs the piece that lasts
about one and a half hours. It gives some biographical information about Hirsch
and some scenes of him directing several of his major productions.
Hirsch’s background
could hardly be more tragic and dramatic. He was born in 1930 in Hungary and
lost his entire family in the Holocaust at age 13. He ended up in a refugee
camp and eventually came to Winnipeg in 1947 to live with an adoptive family.
The play jumps back
and forth in time as it relates scenes from Hirsch’s childhood in Hungary, to
his experience in post-war Europe and then as a director in Winnipeg, Toronto,
Stratford and elsewhere.
Nashman and Thompson
strive to illustrate as much as to tell Hirsch’s life. He seems to have been a
hard task-master, a visionary and man who loved the theatre. There are a few
memorable lines but this is hardly a play replete with anecdotes from the life
of Hirsch. At one time someone commented that Hirsch was his own worst enemy
and the lead actor in the play that he was directing topped it with “Not while
I am alive.”
Nashman and Thompson
highlight Hirsch’s productions of King
Lear, The Cherry Orchard, The Tempest and Mother Courage. We do get some insight into bits of the plays
and the director.
The approach taken by
the two creators is not entirely successful. There are times when it is not
entirely clear where we are and whose voice we are hearing. They are too intent
on Nashman acting everything out where a more sedate approach may have been
more informative and enjoyable. I am not sure if a strictly chronological
narrative would have been more appropriate but the jumping back and forth in
time certainly did not add anything.
Nashman manages to bear
a good resemblance to Hirsch and he does give us a sense of the complex man.
Hirsch was Hungarian, Jewish and gay with a nightmarish background to boot. He became a significant Canadian
director who has merited a biography (A
Fiery Soul: The Life and Theatrical Times of John Hirsch by Fraidie Martz
and Andrew Wilson. Véhicule Press, 2011).
The play and the
biography are just as much a tribute to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and
Canadian theatre as they are to that immigrant from Hungary that made such a
significant contribution to both.
_________
Hirsch, created and conceived by Alon Nashman and Paul Thompson, opened on July
12 and will run until September 14,
2012 at the Studio Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca
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