Airport Security – what’s in a name?

Photo Credit: Andrew Alexander

The opening night of Gruppo Rubato’s Airport Security was surprisingly low key. Audience members shuffled into the studio theatre of the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre and quietly found their seats on one of three sides surrounding the stage. While any approximation would be mere hypothesis, I imagine that within the audience there were various levels of attachment to the show: there was Pat Gauthier – the playwright, director, creator – sitting in a corner on stage left; there were some spectators who had attended workshops of this play, perhaps participated in a staged reading or two; and there were others – like me – who were experiencing this show, for the most part, for the first time.

I did my research, though: read the preview articles, followed Kris Joseph’s blog, and watched the mostly well-executed promo videos that were put up on Apartment 613. I even have a fun little memory of visiting Pat’s house last Canada Day and seeing post-it notes for the show all over his wall above his work station. I say “surprisingly” low key because Pat has been working on this play (writing, workshopping, rewriting) for approximately three years. Now that’s dedication.

This show is definitely worth seeing. The direction and the acting is excellent: Kris Joseph was charming, as usual; Simon Bradshaw impresses me more and more every time I see him onstage (thank gawd this guy is getting more work nowadays); Catriona Leger was sunbeams and awesomeness, even when she played a brain-dead Quebecois security officer;  Tania Levy is at her best when brazen and indignant; and I get never get enough of the Kate Smith pout.

Photo Credit: Andrew Alexander

One of the strongest scenes is between Kate and Simon, playing a married couple (there’s quite a bit of kissing in this play! Meow), one of whom refuses to tell a little white lie to the airport security in order to get their bags checked smoothly. Hilarity, naturally, ensues. And the audience actually broke into applause after this scene, a mere 15 minutes into the play. Amazing.

The set was not very pretty, but it was incredibly functional: two structures that could become a shuttle bus, a duty free store, a full-body scanner, a registration desk, and eventually revealed seating in the airplane. We have John Doucet to thank for that one.

The company – and yes, I would argue that this collection of actors has the makings of a good company – could spark chaos with a cacophony of sound and movement and then move into the next scene with the subtlety of silence. The play was officially written by Pat, but the end result gives the impression of a collective effort, what I imagine an early Electric Company Theatre production would have looked like. I’d say Gruppo Rubato could easily be going in that same direction.

I’m still not sure how I feel about Pat’s writing. Obviously the guy has some talent for narrative, for creating character, for revealing the absurd in the everyday. But he has this strange repetitive style of writing – and I do realize that it is a “style” and not supposed to be realistic. For example, a character might say something like: “Would you mind holding my place / my place in line again”. Or a line would be repeated with one word changed: “Would you do me a favour / Could you do me a favour”. It certainly makes his writing distinct, and it does work sometimes, but I’m still not entirely sure of its function. Oh, also, I couldn’t see the purpose of those scenes in the dark: sure, they broke up the action, but they felt a bit silly and unnecessary otherwise.

While the idea for setting a play in an airport is not all that original — Departures and Arrivals from a few years back, as well as Fear of Flight from the Magnetic North Festival last year come to mind — this play does take a fun approach by using defamiliarization to point out the absurdity of new airport regulations. We hear the actors list off instructions and cliches that are heard all the time in airports. But hearing them in this theatrical context makes a huge difference. I tried to imagine some alien visitor coming to see this show (let’s assume the alien knows what theatre is and is totally chill with those conventions) and thinking, do people seriously have to go through all this nonsense just to get on a plane? just to have the illusion of being safe? Because – let’s face it, people – all these security measures are included just to make us feel a little better about flying. And they are entirely absurd.

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Which brings me to an interesting point: The Ottawa Citizen chose not to review this show. Now this was not the theatre reviewer’s decision — Patrick Langston not only attended the show opening night, he also paid for his own ticket. Good guy. So was this an executive decision by the new Arts & Life editor Wendy Warburton? Or was it someone else? This confuses me because the show has all the right publicity angles: topical humour, young company, all-local cast, a play that has been in-the-works for three years. What’s not to love?

Was the title Airport Security enough to scare off a mainstream newspaper? After all, as I mentioned, this play does highlight the absurdity of security in airports, even daring us to question the rules that have been instilled in our travelers’ minds. The content of the piece, though, is relatively tame: they use the phrase “racial profiling” once, but do not actually confront the issue (difficult to do, I suppose, with an all-white cast).

Or maybe the Citizen just didn’t have room in the Arts & Life section this weekend, or all of next week….

But that seems unlikely: after all, didn’t the publication recently spare a few inches for an article by some columnist who argues that the internet destroys our bodies and minds simply because he didn’t like what Britney Spears posted on her Twitter account? Gee, if I was stupid enough to spend time following Britney’s Tweets, I would probably hate the internet, too. What a waste of space.

At least I’ll be able to search online for more reviews of Airport Security, since – for whatever reason – I certainly won’t be able to find them in our mainstream newspapers.

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So-called “elite” artists fight back

Seducing Traffic - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

On September 23rd, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the following statement about our national arts community:

I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see … a bunch of people … at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough when they know those subsidies have actually gone up, I’m not sure that’s something that resonates with ordinary people.

(First of all, I’d like to point out that artists who require funding don’t generally attend rich galas. They are “ordinary” [gawd, I hate that word] hard-working people who justify every penny they spend on their work. Government funds go towards organizations – like the Canada Council for the Arts – that distribute these funds amid various arts companies, training programs [including programs geared towards artistically inclined children; and didn’t Pablo Picasso once claim that “every child is an artist”?] and festivals in their beginning years. Many of the artists, companies, and festivals that we know and love once relied on arts funding to become the cultural icons they are today. Without this preliminary support, they would be non-existent.)

Mr. Harper seems to suggest that the majority of Canadian citizens see no value in the arts. He suggests that government funds would only be wasted on theatre companies, literary festivals, concerts, arts education, and urban arts. But a full-house at the Vote Culture town hall in the University of Ottawa yesterday would seem to prove him wrong.

Sylvie Lemieux (Green Party) and Raphael Dery (Bloc Quebecois) - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

On the panel were members of the artistic community and a representative from each of the political parties. Oh, except the Conservatives – even though they were invited to participate in the discussion. Members of the audience were given time to ask questions of the representatives. Afterward, the large group marched up Elgin Street to the Parliament Buildings, and several people (including myself!) spoke through a microphone with large speakers directed at the building and out into the street so the public could hear.

Student presentation from De La Salle arts High School - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

Here I have compiled a short list of letters written by members of our community (and a few celebrities!) stating in great detail why the arts are important for all Canadian citizens. Despite Mr. Harper’s knack for public oratory and his talent with fiction, I think you’ll find the following arguments much more believable and infinitely better expressed.

• Kris Joseph, local actor
• rob mclennan, local poet and writer
• Kathryn Hunt, local writer and employee of the Ottawa International Writers Festival
  
• Margaret Atwood, Canadian author

I plan to write my own thoughts on the subject in my next entry. For now, I suppose I should get back to writing my thesis on touring theatre in Canada and doing research for a National Arts Centre festival because – despite what Mr. Harper and his “ordinary people” might think – I believe my work is making an important contribution to our national community.

Photos of the event included here are courtesy of Ming Wu Photos. Thank you so much for sharing.

Joel Beddows - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

Wajdi Mouawad - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

Paul Dewar (NDP) - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

Peter Hinton and Mark Chatel - courtesy of Ming Wu Photos

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I think I’m in love…

The Gladstone

Isn’t it beautiful??? It was such a rush walking into that gorgeous, newly renovated theatre on Thursday for opening night at The Gladstone. Outside there was a crowd of elegantly dressed people holding their complimentary drinks and appetizers, socializing, and buzzing with excitement over Ottawa theatre’s hot new item. This former home of the Great Canadian Theatre Company has been completely refurbished with a larger box office, a spacious black-and-white lobby with tiled floors and crystal chandeliers, and a red curtain surrounding the proscenium stage. Instead of tickets, the box office staff handed out stylish programs with each guest’s name on the back. All these small details made the guests feel very welcome, like they were not only seeing a show, but being treated to a complete evening of entertainment. Everyone was in a wonderful mood, congratulating owner Steve Martin and manager John Collins on their fabulous work on the building.

You may be wondering: sure there was plenty of hype over the new digs. But how was the opening show?

In my opinion, absolutely fantastic. And I’m not just saying that because I had a couple glasses of wine before, during, and after the show. Though I am generally more appreciative of comedy under those circumstances. Maybe that’s why the staff was offering all those complimentary drinks. Ah, I see: very, very clever…

Either way, this production had everything: a hilarious script (“How the Other Half Loves” by Alan Ayckbourn), an intuitive director (the award-winning John P. Kelly), engaging staging and design (more about that in a bit…), and a cast of top-notch LOCAL actors (Pierre Brault, Kris Joseph, Michelle Leblanc, Teri Rata Loretto, Andy Massingham, and Alix Sideris). Just reciting those names makes my heart leap a little.

Perhaps those of us looking for an intellectual theatre experience might be turned off by the subject matter of this play, which depicts 3 couples of various social standing confronted by deception, confusion, and misunderstanding surrounding an adulterous relationship. Haven’t we all seen this before? Perhaps – but I’ve discovered that, despite his choice topic of common British farce, Ayckbourn is an incredibly clever playwright, and I’m going to tell you why.

The remarkable thing about Ayckbourn is not the subject matter he chooses for his work, but how he chooses to approach it in his work. Hasn’t it been said that “there are no dull subjects, only dull writers”? Theatre enthusiasts soon learn that content is only just the beginning when it comes to creating theatre. Some of the most interesting theatre creators today are focusing not on content, but on creative form and style. You will enjoy “How the Other Half Loves” for its witty dialogue, fast-paced action, and kooky characters, but you will remember it for its unique staging.

At any given time, two scenes are occurring simultaneously, and without any sort of split screen set. Characters from one scene move across the entire set that represents their home. Meanwhile, characters from another scene are using the same set to represent their own home. They interact only with the characters in their own scene, and pay no mind to the characters in the other scene. Often one actor would pass another actor (from a different scene) without even noticing, nearly missing each other. This takes an insane amount of sharp choreography to make the “close-calls” seems natural and to prevent any accidental collisions. This staging became even more challenging when the third couple comes for dinner at both homes, and has to interact with the other two couples at the same time.

The artistic team manages all these challenges with grace and skill. Kelly, who is familiar with the show having directed it twice in the past, guides his actors in exactly the right direction. On the opening night, they were confident, charismatic, and clearly having a hilariously good time. It was a joy to watch. And unlike most shows with a larger cast, there was no one actor that stood out as being superior to the rest: they were all undeniably professional, and they all brought something special to the scene.

One more thing: I found Ayckbourn’s trick especially appealing because I realized that it could never be successful in film. It is a technique that is unique to the stage and would not work anywhere other than the stage. That is something very special. It shows that this perceptive playwright knows his theatre very, very well. It shows that theatre is capable of producing something that no other art form can possibly produce to the same degree and effect. It shows that attending a play can provide a truly exceptional intimate experience. And I would like to personally thank The Gladstone for sharing that experience with me.

But enough gushing — just go see the darn play!

“How the Other Half Loves” runs until October 4th at 910 Gladstone Avenue (at Preston). For more information about The Gladstone, please visit their swanky website at http://www.thegladstone.ca.

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