LONDON ASSURANCE – REVIEW OF 2024 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Dion Boucicault’s London Assurance receives a hilarious production at the Stratford Festival directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. He has assembled a brilliant cast and turned the play into a rollercoaster of laughter.

London Assurance premiered in 1841, and it is one of the few plays written in pre-Oscar Wilde 19^th century England that one is likely to see produced.

The plot is vintage comedy. The aging Sir Harcourt Courtly (Geraint Wyn Davies), a 57-year-old London fop wants to marry the pretty and wealthy 18-year-old Grace Harkaway (Marissa Orjalo). Her father’s will provided that she must marry him or forfeit her inheritance to his son Charles Courtly (Austin Eckert).

Sir Harcourt heads for the country to the estate of his friend Max Harkaway (David Collins), Grace’s uncle to complete the marriage arrangements. Charles and his friend Razzle (Emilio Vieira) go to the same place unbeknownst to Sir Harcourt. Charles will pretend that he is not Sir Harcourt’s son and appear as Augustus Hamilton. Augustus and Grace hit it off.

Sir Harcourt is attracted to Lady Gay Spanker (Deborah Hay), a spunky and hilarious horse rider who is married to the hopeless and ineffectual Adolphus Spanker (Michael Spencer-Davis). Lady Gay will pretend to elope with Sir Harcourt, Charles will resolve his identity issue and fall in love with Grace and all’s well that ends well.

Deborah Hay as Lady Gay Spanker (centre) with from left: Marissa Orjalo as Grace Harkaway, David Collins as Max Harkaway, Graham Abbey as Mark Meddle, Emilio Vieira as Richard Dazzle and Geraint Wyn Davies as Sir Harcourt Courtly in London Assurance. Stratford Festival 2024. Photo: David Hou.

There is an assortment of other characters to fill out the plot. The servants play a more important roles than usual, from the servants Cool (Rylan Wilkie), Pert (Hilary Adams) James (John Kirkpatrick) to the Constable (Scott Wentworth) and all of them are given opportunities to create laughter.

The actors: Wyn Davies as Sir Harcourt is the quintessential fop in a black wig and colourful clothes, tossing his head back with self-importance and arrogance. He is a parody of himself and very funny.

One of the biggest bringers of laughter is the wonderfully named Lady Spanker. She is a horse lover, and we hear the hoofs of a horse racing around the theatre before she enters, fired up with energy and humour. She is irreverent and hilarious. Her husband played by Michael Spencer-Davis brings the house down. He wears a dishevelled naval officer’s uniform (I think) that is ready to fall off his body, he can’t get a sentence out and totters as if he may drop on the ground any second. His every move produces a laugh.

Graham Abbey plays the foolish lawyer Mark Meddle giving barristers a bad name and the audience a lot of laughs. There are some roles that are less ridiculous than others (they can’t all be clownish) and they deserve individual praise but the humour that they deliver is dependent on their ability of course, but more so on the inventiveness of Antoni Cimolino that can make a simple line of text funny.

As I said, the production garners laughter almost at every line and the credit must go to Cimolino. He is imaginative, inventive and has a keen sense of comedy that is brilliant. A look, a posture, a doubletake, a hesitation, the delivery of a line produces a gale of laughter. Charles Courtly kisses Grace on a bench and Cimolino develops it into an extended and hilarious scene as they enjoy the act and almost fall to the ground. There is a myriad of such inventive ways that Cimolino comes up with and the result is an almost non-stop roll of laughter. Stupendous.

The play is set in the upscale London area of Belgravia and a country estate. The thrust stage is decorated with flowers and rugs for an interior scene in the mansion. Even here Cimolino finds a way of creating a scene – servants light the candles of a chandelier, and it is raised. It is unexpected and produces a laugh. Beautiful dresses for the women and wigs and upper crust attire for the men. Kudos to set and costume designer Lorenzo Savoini.

This production of London Assurance surpasses all expectations and provides an exceptional night at the theatre.

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London Assurance by Dion Boucicault continues until October 25, 2024, at the Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

JAMES KARAS IS THE SENIOR EDITOR, CULTURE OF THE GREEK PRESS

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN HEART – REVIEW OF 2024 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart is a play by Reginald Candy based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That is what the program tells us. Its production by the Shaw Festival marks its world premiere. Candy is an Australian writer who has written a few plays including another one about Sherlock Holmes.  

If you are an aficionado of Sherlock Holmes stories or of murder mysteries, you may ignore this review and get tickets for the play at the Shaw Festival.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart opens with Dr. Watson (Ric Reid) telling us of the death of his friend and colleague Sherlock Holmes (Damien Atkins). Then the lights go on to reveal Holmes’s roomy and well-appointed apartment in late nineteenth century London. There is a crowd of noisy people with appointments minutes apart to see the great detective. He shows up and gives short shrift to his visitors by solving all their  cases and is called to a murder scene.

At the scene, a blanket cover is lifted and we see an object that looks like an orange. But it is a human heart carved out of the corpse of a victim. A hubbub ensues, Inspector Lestrade (Sanjay Talwar) is there with his know-it-all daughter and amateur detective Amilia Lestrade (Rais Clarke-Mendes).

Thirteen people were murdered, and five orange-size hearts are recovered from places across London. Who are the victims and who are the perpetrators. No one knows. 

The hearts are taken to Mrs. Allstrüd, (Nehassaiu deGannes) a pathologist where Holmes,  Watson, the Inspector and his daughter examine the hearts carefully for a very long time and comment on their observations at a level that I could not place  anywhere except that of bovine feces.

Damien Atkins as Sherlock Holmes and Sanjay Talwar as Inspector Lestrade, 

with the cast.  Photo by Emily Cooper.

Holmes visits Mr. Hall Pycroft (Johnathan Sousa) where he (Holmes) is poisoned but recovers. How hediscovers Pycroft’s residence is the sign of his inestimable genius but I am not sure how he did it. His boots?

Holmes ends up in Switzerland and the murders in London are solved but he and the world’s other genius, his mortal enemy Moriarty fall into a waterfall and are both dead. Moriarty’s body is recovered but not Holmes’s. but there is no doubt that both of them are dead. (Don’t ask how Moriarty shows up and who plays him.) 

This dreary summary may make the play seem better than it is. Some details are missing or wrong because I could not always understand what Holmes’s landlady Mrs. Hudson (Claire Jullien) and Pycroft’s servant Miss Vespertine Hunter (Sophia Walker) were saying, and they seemed like important characters.

We are dealing with geniuses, one for good and one for evil. Holmes, if I am not mistaken, could tell where a person lives by looking at his boots.

The production has some production values especially the sets from Holmes’s apartment to outdoor scenes, to the pathology lab to a scene in Switzerland. The set was changed by moving large panels to the side with impressive speed and beautiful results. Sound lighting and production values are not enough to alleviate a dreary production. I found the whole thing trite and boring. It lasted three hours with two intermissions.

I level no criticism against director Craig Hall or the actors who did their best with the script that they were given.

I could not fathom why the play was chosen for production in a season that has almost no Canadian content. There are many Canadian plays that deserve production or revival. Why is the Shaw Festival treating Canadian writers with such contempt?

In fairness I should add that the Festival Theatre was almost full and on the date that I attended the performance received a standing ovation.

POSTSCRIPT

After I had finished the above review, it came to my attention that playwright Reginal Candy may not exist at all. If that is true, then the Shaw Festival has practiced a bad joke on us all. It is not only not funny but is a contemptible lie and a fraud. How many people conspired to foist this despicable deception on all of us? Shame on you all.

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Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart by Reginald Candy continues in repertory until October 13, 2024, at the Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Preaa

CANDIDA – REVIEW OF 2024 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Shaw Festival has ten main productions and a few other entertainments but only one play by the author after whom it is named. The explanation may be as simple as a play by Shaw equals too many empty seats. Or it may reflect the quality of the productions not attracting sufficient audiences. Either way, calling it the Shaw Festival and producing only one of his plays for the season is no homage to the festival or the playwright.

This year’s choice is Candida, an early play by Shaw, staged at the 305-seat Royal George Theatre. It is a traditional production to which Director Severn Thompson adds several modern songs including the music of Never on Sunday. I have no idea why.

The plot of Candida is about an intelligent, attractive and strong woman, Candida (Sochi Fried), who is married to Rev. James Morell (Sanjay Talwar), a socialist Anglican pastor, and is pursued by Eugene Marchbanks (Johnathan Sousa), a romantic poet.

In the end Candida must choose between her husband and the poet and the two bid for her as if she were on the auction block. But before we get there Shaw will deal with the role of the woman and wife in late 19h century England and social and political issues. Rev. Morell is a popular speaker on socialism and religion. His wife is devoted to his care and the success of his career and despite his illusions about what he does, she takes care of everything.

 

Sanjay Talwar as Rev. James Morell, Johnathan Sousa 

as Marchbanks and Sochi Fried as Candida . 

Photo by Emily Cooper.

The capitalist issue is illustrated by Candida’s father Mr. Burgess (Ric Reid), a factory owner who is paying his workers starvation wages and is not above chicanery.

Marchbanks rocks the placid life of the Morell’s with his perceptiveness about the pastor’s character and with his love for Candida in whom he sees a strong woman who is not allowed to achieve her potential. He falls madly in love with her.

The play leads to the climactic scene where we get a concise view of the pastor’s character. He is a windbag who can make speeches and not much else. Candida supports he ego and allows him to maintain his illusion of being a man of strength who loves his wife.

Marchbanks is emotional and passionate about his poetry, but he sees what the pastor is and appreciates the strength and beauty of Candida’s character. I will not disclose her choice just in case you have not seen the play.

The best performance is given by Fried who dominates the play. She knows her husband’s   needs and illusions as well as the poet’s passion and strength. She makes the right choice without sacrificing anything.

Sanjay and Sousa present good contrasting characters as the apparently strong pastor and the weak poet. Reid is a fine capitalist and Gabriella Sundar Singh steps in as Morell’s secretary replacing Claire Julien in the role of Miss Proserpine, Morell’s secretary. Damien Atkins plays the curate Lexy Mill.

The set by Michelle Tracey represents an Anglican rectory with bookshelves at the back, an office on the left and a seating area on the right. The set eschews the heavy, dark atmosphere of some Victorian interiors but it is a long way from making the production more than a run of the mill. Fried’s fine performance and her beautiful blue dress by Costume Designer Ming Wood give a bright aspect to the play. But it is not enough to make up for the stolid performances of the others.

Director Thompson gives us an indifferent production where a lighter touch with humour and better pacing may have eliminated some of the cobwebs inherent in the text. Candida is an interesting play that deserves to be produced but Thompson failed to find a better way of expressing the script.
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Candida by Bernard Shaw continues in repertory until October 11, 2024, at the Royal George Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of the Greek Press.

CHRISTMASTOWN – REVIEW OF 2024 PRODUCTION IN PORT HOPE

Reviewed by James Karas

Christmastown is a new play by Briana Brwon that premiered at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope on August 17, 2024. It is an ambitious comedy with many farcical elements that has some virtues and some aspects that are mystifying.

The small town of Kringle, Ontario needs to give its economy a kick in the butt or bring tourists to prop up its financial health. The citizens decide to promote Kringle like a year-round holiday attraction using the theme of Christmas but at the same time reflect inclusivity.

The town reeve (and gas station owner) is the lively Mary (Deborah Drakeford), dressed in Santa attire, who, with help of townspeople like convenience store owner Nora (Alison Deon), her teenage daughter Adeline (Mirabella Sundar Singh), Sam (Darrel Gamotin) and Jeff (Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski) will achieve the desired goal.                       

                                 

Mirabella Sundar Singh, Deborah Drakeford, Alison Deon, 

Darrel Gamotin, and Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski. 
Photo: Sam Moffatt

Despite the heatwave, the townspeople of Kringle start early, say in August but run into an impenetrable obstacle. The usual terms used to celebrate Christmas have been copyrighted by a big and nasty company and if Kringle is to pursue its ambition it must comply with the trade mark restrictions of the TM owner.

Kringle will be visited by several Trademark inspectors (all of them played by Christy Bruce). There is some magic involved, some of which escaped me and there is a snitch among the townspeople but all is par for the course of the farce.

There is a lot of commotion, door-slamming exits and entrances, much over-acting that can be considered normal fare in a farce. Some parts of the play were unclear as in the appearance of one inspector and the showing of a video that I could not follow.

Parts of Santa clothes are worn by some of the cast, Nora is shown dressed in a large box like a Christmas present, Jeff shows up representing an elf with his well-built upper body naked and some other colourful attires. Jeff who acts very silly turns out to be gay and is adopting a little girl.

Despite the energetic and sometimes overdone acting, some of the jokes misfired. The play is creaky and seems to be getting nowhere. It could use the help of rewrites and perhaps a helping hand from a dramaturge.

I enjoyed my first visit to the pleasant atmosphere of the Capitol Theatre. The main street of Port Hope is under serious construction but with a bit of care you can find your way. The theatre has 350 seats and there were volunteers all over. I asked one of them about their number and she told me 350. The program puts the number at 150.   
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Christmastown by Briana Brown opened on August 17 and will run until September 1, 2024 at the Capitol Theatre, Port Hope, Ontario.

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

GET THAT HOPE – REVIEW OF 2024 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Get That Hope is a new play by Andrea Scott that received its world premiere in the Studio Theatre of the Stratford Festival. It is the author’s first play to be produced at Stratford and that is good news.

The play may be described as “Scenes from the life of an immigrant Jamaican family in Toronto” and it should resonate with the experience of many other immigrant groups. As the lights dim in the theatre, we see a man on the stage, facing the audience and we hear what sounds like the land acknowledgement message and then we are asked to stand up for the national anthem. We are not sure about what is going on but we dutifully stand up. Music starts playing and the man sings the national anthem of Jamaica.

The singer is Richard Whyte (Conrad Coates), a proud Jamaican living in Toronto with his wife Margaret (Kim Roberts) and their son Simeon (Savion Roach). Richard has a daughter from a previous marriage, Rachel (Celia Aloma). Millicent Flores (Jennifer Villaverde), an immigrant from the Philippines and a caregiver who lives upstairs is also present. 

                        Conrad Coates as Richard Whyte in Get That Hope. 
                             Stratford Festival 2024. Photo: David Hou.

The family lives in a small living room and kitchen in Toronto’s Jamaica Town. It is poorly airconditioned and the couches are covered with plastic, a hallmark of immigrants’ protection of their furniture. The set and costumes are intelligently designed by Sarah Uwadiae.

Fissures in the family relations emerge quickly and as may be expected almost all the members of the group have problems. Richard is the eternal optimist trying to keep the family together. But he is unemployed, accused by his daughter Rachel of being an unloving father. He is uncertain of the way he will survive when Rachel, the only working member of the family, leaves. Coates tries to “get that hope” despite serious obstacles. 

Rachel offers to buy a condominium with earnings from three jobs. But the developer goes bankrupt and she runs the danger of losing her substantial deposit. There is tension between her and her father and Margaret her stepmother. Revelations show that her hatred of them is unjustified.

Simeon, a former soldier suffers from PTSD caused by a horrible incident while he was in a combat situation. He is unemployed, uncommunicative and unfriendly. He is having an affair with Millicent but she rejects the idea of living with him. Roach presents the gruff, unlikable misfit well.

 Millicent is perhaps the least dysfunctional person and we look to her for the voice of reason.

The issues of the dysfunctional Whyte family unfold for about an hour and a half and Scott puts an end to them rather quickly without much of an explanation or resolution.  No doubt we are to take some of the revelations as redemptive but I am not sure to what extent that is developed. One of the issues of the performance is that it was not always comprehensible. I am not sure if it was simply the accent or the use of Jamaican patois but there it was. There was some rumbling that sounded like an earthquake or thunder but I did not understand what it was.

The lives of immigrants in Toronto matter a great deal and they simply do not get the attention that they deserve. We owe a debt of gratitude to Andrea Scott for her salute to immigrants from Jamaica.
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Get That Hope by Andrea Scott opened on August 10 and will run in repertory until September 28, 2024, at the Studio Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA? – REVIEW OF 2024 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? is a play by Edward Albee that has a shocking theme that does not lose its power even after several viewings. Sylvia is a goat that Martin (Rick Roberts) falls in love with and has sexual intercourse with. That is no doubt beyond the comprehension of most of us (I hope) but Martin defends his actions and tries to explain the genuineness of his feelings for the animal.  

The Stratford Festival gives the play an outstanding production with a superb cast directed by Dean Gabourie. It is playing in the small Studio Theatre for reasons that I do not know. It deserves a larger venue. 

Martin (Rick Roberts) is a successful architect, a private school alumnus, assigned with a huge project to build an entire city in the American Midwest. He is 50 years old. His wife Stevie (Lucy Peacock) is beautiful, smart and classy and they have a happy and successful marriage Their teenage son Billy (Antony Palermo) is gay but that may not be a huge issue. Ross (Mathew Kabwe) is Martin’s friend of 40 years and he is doing a story about his friend as a person of interest.

In the opening scene, Martin discloses to is friend that he is in love with Sylvia, a goat, and is having sex with her. Ross then tells Stevie and there is an explosion that will last with almost relentless drama, comic and emotionally wrenching events to the shocking end of the play.

The acting is stupendous. Martin, dressed in a suit with his school tie, is nervous, forgetful, fidgety and a man with a huge problem. Roberts’ performance brings out Martin’s agony, passion, anger, turmoil and attempts at explanation and self-justification. This is acting on an emotional tightrope without any relief.

Lucy Peacock gives a defining performance as the shocked wife Stevie. She goes through a gamut of emotions that is stunning to watch. She is angry, sarcastic, acerbic, and witty. She breaks mantel pieces and furniture to control her furor. She gives a performance of power, conviction and splendor that one rarely sees and is privileged to witness.

Rick Roberts as Martin and Lucy Peacock as Stevie in The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?. 
Stratford Festival 2024. Photo: David Hou. 

Ross is akin to the Chorus or Perhaps the Messenger in Greek tragedy who sets the action in motion and appears at the end for the denouement. Kabwe gives an excellent performance.

Billy, a student at an upscale private school makes several appearances and discloses a troubled relationship with his father. Kudos to Palermo for his performance.

The single set by Shawn Kerwin consists of a well-appointed, all white living room with four easy seats and bookcases with knick-knacks.

The play has powerful, literate, dramatic, salty and witty language that has the impetus and inevitability of a tragedy in the original sense of the word. It kept me glued to my seat for one hour and forty minutes without an intermission.

Director Gabourie deserves credit for the taut performance that he masterminds.

Tragedy as a theatrical genre was born in the plain of Attica about twenty-five hundred years ago. The word means goat song and Albee is not relying on a lurid story about a modern architect doing something unthinkable. The role of goats in Ancient Greek tragedy is unknown but the sacrifice of goats in the theatre has often been suggested.

If you do not know the ending of The Goat, I will not disclose it but it may throw your imagination to performance on the foothills of the Acropolis a long time ago. Near the end, Martin gives three cries of despair as he realizes the enormity of his actions. I imagined hearing the voice of Thespis, the first actor on stage in ancient Athens in 534 B.C. as he cried out in anguish when as Oedipus, he realizes that he killed his father and married his mother.

That is the pedigree, however imaginary, I prefer to ascribe to The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? and the current production at the Stratford Festival.  

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The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee opened on August 9 and will ran until September 29, 2024, at the Studio Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE – REVIEW OF 2024 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance is this year’s “light” entertainment offered by the Glimmerglass Festival. We get a vibrant, enthusiastic, well-sung and simply delightful production of a classic operetta that is near the top of its genre.

These “pirates”, in case you have not met them before, are flying their skull and cross flag not in the Caribbean or South Pacific or the high seas. They ply their profession off the coast of Cornwall, England and they follow a strict moral code that leaves them broke. For example, they will not steal from or interfere with orphans. And they quickly find out that all English merchant ships are manned by orphans.

One of the pirates is a young man called Frederic (Christian Mark Gibbs) who was supposed to be apprenticed as a pilot but his nurse Ruth (Eve Gagliotti) made a phonetic error and apprenticed him as a pirate! (Where is Professor Higgins when you need him?) Frederic is bound to serve on the pirate ship until his 21^st birthday and he respects and abides by his duty and waits for his 21^st birthday to be discharged. But he was born in  a leap year and has a birthday every four years on February 29. Oops!

We have a hero with a chronological disorder but also a hero who has not seen a pretty woman  until his eyes fall on Mabel (Elizabeth Sutphen) and he falls in love with her. She is not just a pretty face and a lovely voice but the daughter of  the very model of a Major-General Stanley (Troy Cook) which gives her class. 

 The Glimmerglass Festival 2024 Production of The Pirates 

of Penzance. Photo by Sofia Negron/The Glimmerglass Festival

The Pirates has the rigorous demands of an operetta. The plot is comic, farcical, bouncy and demands disciplined performances by the leads and the chorus. The patter songs sound wonderful but they are not easy to perform. The Glimmerglass Festival production under director and choreographer Sean Curran and conductor Joseph Colaneri with the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and Chorus  put together and maintain a lively, funny and delightfully entertaining rhythm and pace.

Christian Mark Gibbs as the naïve, heroic and loveable Frederic has a superb tenor voice and we root for his upstanding respect for duty and his love for Mabel. Troy Cook gets the juicy role of Major-General Stanley and delivers the famous patter aria “I’m the Very Model of a Modern Major General.” It’s a long and tough slog getting all those rhymes and unfamiliar words in but Cook handles the whole thing with aplomb.

His daughter Mabel as the heroine who gets the heroic Frederic is exactly what the audience wants and precisely what the hero deserves. Ruth is another wonderful role and Ruth Gigliotti takes full advantage of its comic opportunities and vocal demands. Craig Irvin shines as the proud Pirate King.

The pretty young maidens make a beautiful chorus as do the policemen under their Sergeant (Joshua Thomas). Combined with the verve of the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra under Colaneri, we got a wonderful evening at the opera on the shores of Lake Otsego.

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The Pirates of Penzance by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan is being performed as part of the Glimmerglass Festival at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

James Karas is the Senior Editor, Culture of The Greek Press