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Culture Stage

When the Fur flies

VENUS IN FUR by David Ives, directed by Jennifer Tarver, with Carly Street and Rick Miller. Presented by Canadian Stage at the Bluma Appel (27 Front East). Previews from Sunday (September 29), opens October 3 and runs to October 27, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Wednesday 1:30 pm, Saturday-Sunday 2 pm. $24-$99. 416-368-3110. canadianstage.com.


Casting a show is always difficult, but the challenges of finding two actors for David Ives’s 2010 Broadway hit Venus In Fur are particularly big. Epic, you might say.

The play-within-a-play starts off as a contemporary behind-the-scenes look at the casting of a new stage adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 SM classic. Thomas Novachek is searching for the right woman to play his lead character, Wanda, when in walks Vanda, late and disorganized. She seems all wrong for the role, but when the two act out scenes, she’s eerily convincing as a 19th century dominatrix. The play toys with reality, shifting back and forth between eras. The idea of Greek gods even pops up.

“It’s a two-hander, but each actor plays three different roles,” says director Jennifer Tarver. “And the three roles have completely different requirements, physical, stylistic, dialect. You witness complete transformations onstage.”

Tarver says the casting process was long, with many callbacks.

“I was looking for contrast, especially for Vanda,” she says. “You have to go from a very contemporary, edgy and street character to someone who’s from another era and universe stylistically. She also needs to make these hairpin turns. It’s not a matter of playing one woman one night and another the next. You have to change in a second.”

She decided on Carly Street, who starred on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park and here in the musical Bloodless.

“Carly’s highly articulated as a performer,” says Tarver. “She’s so agile, like an actor acrobat. And that’s what you need for this part.”

Finding the right actor for Thomas, who’s got a personal history of SM fantasies, was equally tough. But Tarver says she was looking for someone who, like the character, was also a director and a creator.

She ended up with Rick Miller, the versatile actor, writer and director of shows like MacHomer and Bigger Than Jesus.

“I thought of people like Rick and Daniel Brooks,” she says. “People who understand the affairs we have with our work, the things that make you so blind and driven that you often don’t see what’s in front of you.”

Coincidentally, Tarver is now artistic director of Necessary Angel Theatre, the same company Brooks helmed.

She can’t talk about her first production with the company since taking the reins earlier this year. But she will say the company’s developing a piece she began working on at Stratford about French/Armenian singer/songwriter Charles Aznavour.

“What I like about Necessary Angel is that it’s able to tailor the development process to the requirements of an idea,” she says. “If I need a playwright, I’ll work with one. If I need a musician or choreographer, likewise. The company offers a lot of freedom.”

While she’s still able to take on freelance projects like Venus – produced by Canadian Stage – and Waiting For Godot, her recent Stratford success, leading Necessary Angel also means she’ll be more rooted in Toronto. She’s got a partner and a three-year-old son.

“The older I get, the more I realize the importance of community,” she says. “For my work and my family.”

Interview Clips

Director Jennifer Tarver on first hearing about Venus In Fur and loving its “high-end B-movie” feel:

Download associated audio clip.

On her idea for the set on the large Bluma Appel stage:

Download associated audio clip.

On why she’s drawn to complex scripts:

Download associated audio clip.

glenns@nowtoronto.com | @glennsumi

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