This Diary’s a good read
The story of Anne Frank is one of the most enduring of Holocaust tales, and a vital way to inform young audiences about a piece of history of which they might be unaware.
Shakespeare in Action, which until now has focused on the work of the Bard for school groups, took a big leap in programming The Diary Of Anne Frank. The production, happily, is touching and emotionally rich, with a nod both to the tension of the story and the warmth of family relationships.
The success of the piece, of course, rests on Anne, and Sascha Cole combines the irrepressible, playful child and the incipient young woman she makes the transition believable, with great heart. It’s important, too, that the company uses Wendy Kesselman’s adaptation of the original Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett script. Kesselman’s version relies on diary entries that address Anne’s budding sexuality.
Director Michael Kelly’s production captures the atmosphere of danger and fear both inside and outside of the attic where the Jewish characters hide. It has some real bite, in part because of Glenn Davidson’s claustrophobic, multilevel set and Thomas Ryder Payne’s sound design.
Standouts in the cast include Cindy Block’s practical Miep, one of the attic-dwellers’ two contacts with the outside world, who radiates a concern for everyone in her charge. Chris Karczmar as Mr. Frank brings strength and tenderness to his final speech, recounting the last days of his family.
Best of all are Bruce Beaton and Catherine McNally as the Van Daans, inextricably linked in a web of fond devotion and petty squabbles. Beaton’s irritable, conniving husband makes a good foil for McNally’s flirtatious, sentimental, self-centred wife, and their final scene together demonstrates the love they feel for each other.
Facing the music
The Hart House/fu-GEN production of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face proved another worthwhile production.
Best known as the award-winning author of M. Butterfly, Hwang uses his own personal and professional history from the 90s to explore the importance of race, culture and heritage in the arts and society as a whole.
Starting from the casting of a white man in a key Asian role in the American production of Miss Saigon, Hwang charts the anger and political ramifications of who can and should play various ethnic roles, as well as who can speak for a cultural group. Creating a central character with his own name, the playwright even mixes a bit of Pirandello is-this-real-or-fiction narrative toward the end of the play.
Director Esther Jun’s production hits all the play’s humour and most of its philosophical notes, with Toronto newcomer Ben Wong especially impressive as Hwang and Kristoffer Pedlar memorable as Marcus, the Jewish white man who takes on an Asian identity to play, among others, the lead male role in The King And I.
The best scene of the play has Hwang in conversation with the play’s narrator (Carl Swanson), transformed into a reporter called, for legal reasons, “Name Withheld On Advice Of Counsel,” who tries to draw certain statements from the playwright that will make the reporter’s news story the more incendiary. A combination of sharp writing and a manipulative give-and-take between the actors makes the scene sizzle.
Funny, thoughtful and sometimes disturbing, the play deserves a longer run.
A decade of spicy Paprika
Paprika, the festival devoted to creations by artists 21 and younger, turns 10 this season, with a flurry of performances and other activities to mark the special anniversary.
“When Anthony Furey envisioned the festival in 2002 and presented it to the Tarragon, which offers Paprika a home, it was a totally new idea,” says Rob Kempson, the festival’s current artistic producer.
“The focus on youth arts was almost unknown at the time, and part of the reason it’s been so successful is that fills a niche, offering young artists an opportunity to interact with established theatrical institutions in meaningful ways. It still remains the only festival in Canada that invites up-and-coming artists to participate in a professional environment for training, creating and producing their own work.”
Those involved in earlier editions of Paprika who have gone on to theatrical acclaim include Natasha Mytnowych, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, Daniel Karasik, Bethany Jillard and Johnnie Walker.
The festival now also helps some artists who are over 21, often those who began their creating in Paprika as teens. The Olde Spice Alumni Program offers mentorship and staging opportunities to those who are starting to make a mark on the local theatre scene.
In this year’s Olde Spice series, Sara Farb is working with Richard Greenblatt, Anna Standish with Hanna Moscovitch and Jenna Turk with Adam Lazarus.
“The alumni program marks the generational shift of Paprika participants,” says Kempson. “Artists can come back and share what they’re currently doing.”
Another returnee is one of the playwrights in residence, Britta Johnson, a Stratford native whose show Big Box Musical was staged not only at her high school but also, for a single performance, at the Stratford Festival. Johnson’s from a talented family, with musician parents and a sister, Anika, who’s a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School (and played Mother Courage with that company).
Anika’s in Paprika’s Alligator Tears, Britta’s musical commissioned by the Blyth Festival last year it returns to Blyth next summer, after some polishing here at Paprika. The composer’s paired with the talented Leslie Arden as mentor.
The March 25 performance of Alligator Tears, which explores the media-driven nature of today’s society, is a benefit for Paprika, with tickets at $10. It’s the only event for which the festival charges every other performance is free.
“The bottom line,” says Kempson, “is that we’re a community and home for emerging artists, providing an opportunity for both creativity and presentation.”
Other Paprika events include play readings, discussions, panels, a cabaret series and workshops. The fest begins Friday (March 18).
See paprikafestival.com for details.
Ciao, Toronto
As part of its expanded mandate, Canadian Stage brings three Italian dance and theatre troupes to Toronto to give local audiences a sense of cutting-edge European work.
You’ll have to act fast to catch them, though. Two shows run through Saturday (March 19), and the other two open next Tuesday (March 22) and close March 26.
First up are choreographer Virgilio Sieni’s La Nature Delle Cose, inspired by the writings of classical author Lucretius it runs the same evening as Nunzio, Compagnia Scimone Sframeli’s theatre piece about an ailing man and his mysterious roommate.
See a review of these first two shows here.
Next week’s performances pair Caterina Sagna’s dance piece Basso Ostinato, in which a trio of men try to avoid the topic of death, and Spiro Scimone’s La Festa, which explores a family’s everyday yet absurd quarrels.
The mini-festival, held in both spaces at the Berkeley Street Theatre, includes a celebration of Italian fashion, music, food and art, and a reading by Toronto’s Theatre RUN of The Pasolini Project, about the life and work of poet and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, by Adam Paolozza and Colleen MacPherson.
See listings or canadianstage.com/italy.
stage@nowtoronto.com
