a field of crowns

dossier: Brandon Crone for TURTLENECK and SAFEWORD

Today’s dossier is exciting to me because it is the first to profile a Toronto playwright. I’ve met Brandon at a few events and his charisma and general excitement for anything theatre is awfully infectious. I have no doubt you’ll be able to get a glimpse of this below.

That said, here’s dossier #4:

Who are we talking with?

The self-proclaimed enfant-terrible of Toronto independent theatre. The title is a little premature but here’s hoping it’ll stick. You’re speaking with Brandon Crone, Artistic Director of safeword.

Turtleneck is your first play. What drew you to playwriting?

The whole thing sort of happened unexpectedly. I never thought I would be a writer. When I was studying theatre in school, I was surrounded by playwrights who were constantly working on new material and I generally concluded that in order to be a playwright, it was required that you possess a natural skill with language and that was something I would never be able to attain to. I was always very good at structure but hopelessly inarticulate. It wasn’t until I started reading Harold Pinter for the first time that I suddenly realized that I could potentially use this impediment to my advantage when crafting a play. The way he uses language as a cover or a code to illuminate the true desires of his characters made me realize that most people aren’t actually that particularly lyrical or articulate in their daily interactions with other people. It’s what’s going on underneath those commonplace phrases or jumbled sentences that’s most exciting to me and more true to life in any case. I attended a bi-monthly, play-reading group that was created by two friends of mine, Andrew Young and Shayne Monaghan called Monday Night New Works, where people could bring in new work to share and discuss with fellow writers. After that, I told them I would write something and bring it in to be read at the next session. During that month and the half, I wrote Turtleneck start to finish and it hasn’t changed much since then.

What is you earliest memory of wanting, or needing to do theatre?

Since birth I guess. I’ve been doing it for long as I can remember. When I was growing up, my Mom ran her own daycare in our basement so I was always surrounded by other kids at a young age. She would read us stories, fairy tales, nursery rhymes and when we went on to the park, she recalls me directing all the other children in visionary re-enactments of the stories. There are also very embarrassing photos of me wearing a dress when I single-handedly directed and choreographed a production of The Nutcracker with my Grade Two class in the playground and presented it to the school’s faculty and students unannounced. It’s never been something I’ve had to think about because that need has always been inside me and I’ve always pursued it. I’ve been very fortunate to know from an early age what I wanted to do in life.

Turtleneck only has 30 seats per showing. Was this a conscious choice, or just a side effect of the venue?

A little of both. The initial idea was to do a small, intimate production but choosing to have specifically 30 seats was influenced by the size and capacity of our venue. However, having rehearsed in the space while experiencing the show from the viewpoint of the audience makes me realize that it has definitely worked out in our favour. Everyone is in such close proximity to the action that it’s hard not to feel like you’re a part of the play. It really creates an encompassing effect that perfectly lends itself to the overall theme of the show.

What has been your favourite memory from writing and/or directing Turtleneck?

What I’ve enjoyed most is the conversations I’ve had upon sharing it with other people. Turtleneck is an experience. You either come out of it deeply moved, deeply offended or in a strange limbo of moral ambiguity so for me what’s most important about this project is being able to create a forum of meaningful discussion and reflection about important issues, feelings and experiences. I’ve been living in the Turtleneck bubble for the past few months now as we ready ourselves for the production and in a way I really don’t want it to end. I wish we could just keep meeting together in rehearsals to work on the material, talk about it and explore the infinite ways the text can be interpreted. But now the time is fast approaching for us to share the fine work everyone’s put into this show with our audiences. I think that’s what I’m most looking forward. How are people going to react to this crazy play?!

Describe Turtleneck in three adjectives or phrases.

Carnal – The play is very driven by sexual desire in all its different lights. But whether it be sensual, tender, rapturous, forceful, aggressive, pathetic, mournful or just plain repulsive, it all derives from our base, primal instincts.

Side-splitting – Did I mention it’s a comedy? There are certain moments in the show where I can always guarantee without fail that I will be curled up in a ball on the floor crying my eyes out with laughter.

Haunting – When all is said and done, the play just stays with you. It’s designed in a way that allows the audience to draw their own conclusions and try to piece together the rubble for themselves.

Do you have anything you’d like to share with us? A story? A picture? A video? A song?

Yes, here’s the link to our show trailer:

Turtleneck is happening from Feb 7th-17th at hub14 (14 Markham St., just West of Queen and Bathurst). Tickets are only $15. Since seating is limited, it’s best to book online ahead of time at http://www.secureaseat.com/turtleneck to ensure you’ll get a spot.

Shows are on Thurs, Fri, Sat evenings at 8pm and Sat and Sun matinees at 2pm.

It’s gonna be a fantastic production and I hope everyone will try their best to come out to experience the ride.

For more info on safeword, “Like” our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/safewordtheatre

A thoughtful explanation and affirmation from a good friend that, yes, you are a human being and, yes, it is absolutely acceptable to not enjoy a play but not dislike it either.

bleeding hearts and sympathetic ears: a response to Xtra’s Theatre Issue

This post is a response to two articles in the most recent “Theatre Issue” of Toronto’s Xtra Magazine. The articles in question are mainly “Down in Front” (pg. 30), but also, to a lesser extent, “United We Stand” (p. 24).

Is there really not enough to talk about in the theatre world that in your “theatre issue” two fifths of the feature articles are about chastising audience members?

If the goal of “The Theatre Issue” is to spread the word about theatre and to get new readers interested in coming to the amazing things our theatre community is working on, then we should agree that these new readers/potential theatre goers have done nothing to offend us yet. Whatever happened to optimism? Why have we become so xenophobic?

Fine, those people I don’t know can come, but they can’t touch my stuff.

If the goal is not to garner new interest in theatre, then congratulations! You have successfully aired your grievances to sympathetic ears and essentially done nothing to further theatre’s image of being an inclusive and open community. In fact, if anything, this will reinforce to the uninitiated that theatre people are a bunch of snobs who charge too much for their often lacklustre shows and screw it, I’m just going to spend the twelve dollars and go see a movie, or a show at Lee’s where I can hang out with my friends and have a drink at the same time the band is playing.

What has been accomplished, if the latter truly is the purpose of the article, is equivalent to posting anti-Stephen Harper sentiments on your twitter feed for your left-leaning and liberal followers in a meagre attempt to get a few favourites and re-tweets.

Now, I’m not saying we should allow, or even endorse this sort of behaviour, or that we should lie down at our audience members’ feet, begging them for the right to put on a show. What I am saying is pick your battles. After all, isn’t this why theatres hire ushers? So that if any of these offences are committed, they can step in an chastise them to their faces?

What is the point of theatre if we do everything we can to alienate our audience? Even Brecht worked against this. The purpose of his alienation was to awaken the audience, to show them that they are inhabiting the same space as the living people on stage in front of them, and to turn the audience into one found at a baseball game or boxing match. Because no matter how hard you want the audience to believe that they are in Ancient Rome, there’s no escaping the fact they are actually sitting in a little black box with sixty other people looking at a set made out of papier mache.

If we suppress the audience, if we don’t care about the reactions coming from the live crowd sitting in the seats in font of us (we’ve also, apparently, taken to chastising our audiences when they show us support. See, “United We Stand”) why don’t we just make film? If we just want to perform in front of empty husks, why should we even care about people coming to the theatre at all?

Seriously, stop touching my stuff.

Have you ever seen a show, or performed a show to a group of seniors? Seniors are among the most numerous patrons of the theatre (yes, it’s usually of canonical works and safe productions at community theatres or Mirvish stages) but they are also amongst the most vocal. They will let you know, whether you like it or not, how they felt. To be performing in a tragedy and have the villain do something dastardly, as they usually do, and then to hear a lady turn to her friend and say, “No he didn’t!” or, “What a crook,” is one of the most endearing and reassuring experiences an actor can have. Because they are present. Yes, they may be treading on your pet peeves, but they are engaged. And they can’t, and don’t care about keeping their emotions and reactions to themselves. It is absolutely lovely.

Theatre will not survive if left to snobbery.

So, yes, turn your damned cell-phones off. That includes you, theatre people. But don’t assume that everyone coming to the theatre is about to commit a crime. They are there for the same reason you are: they want to see a show. If one person in the audience is ruining that for everyone else, please, don’t be afraid to tap them on the shoulder and say something instead of complaining to your like-minded friends afterwards and writing articles about it that more of your like-minded friends will read. In essence, stop being so bloody Canadian!

I will leave you with this:

“[…] when I lived in New York, other than like midnight movies in Times Square, you will not find more polite movie theatre audiences anywhere in the world. And there’s a reason why people tend to be, I think, better behaved in New York City, which is: in New York City, if you’re a dick, you will get your teeth knocked out. There will be someone right there, literally, in New York City, if you’re, like, texting and being a dick in the movie theatre, someone will hand you your teeth. Someone will hit your face. And you know what? The world needs some of that. It’s just checks and balances.”

– Tom Lennon on the Nerdist episode 300

dossier: Helen Donnelly of FOO PRODUCTIONS and the FOOLISH CABARET

Today I’m proud to present a dossier for the generous and lovely Helen Donnelly! Aside from being my current clown teacher, Helen has had a long and illustrious career in both clown and circus performance. She’s with us to talk about the latest instalment of the Foolish Cabaret, an event I am happy to have debuted my clown at in 2012.

Right then. On to it. dossier # 3:

Who are we talking with?

Helen Donnelly. I’m a circus, theatrical and therapeutic clown. I’m producer of the new ‘Foolish Cabaret’ and Artistic Director of Foo Productions where I produce and create solo and group shows for festivals, theatre and circus events.

What drew you to this? (to clowning, to theatre, to wherever you are right now?)

Coming from a theatre background, I was an actor with designs for the stage, tv and film. But after a few years of auditioning, performing, wrapping up, back to auditioning again…I started to crave more of a through line to my craft. Where could I satisfy this? I was also seeking something in physical theatre. And so this led me naturally to the world of clown. I never set out to clown, and for the first few years I was awful. Truly. Crickets out there when I went on stage. But gradually (with the help of keen and talented outside eyes), I got better at it. I have no idea what made me stick to it. Stubbornness, I’m guessing.

Why the Foolish Cabaret?

I felt it was time to fill a void in Toronto to have a dedicated space for established physical theatre artists to promote their work & share their artistry while at the same time an opportunity for emerging artists to put polish on to their pieces in order to give everyone the best experience possible. So it’s about serious fools wanting to present polished pieces and give the audience the best value for their time and money. It’s also around educating people new to mime, clown, mask and bouffon. I feel there is so much talent in this city that needs to be encouraged and treasured.

What is the earliest memory you have of wanting, or needing to do this?

As soon as ‘The S.P.A.C.E’ closed back in 2003. For the last 10 years we have been orphaned and that is hard for a community. That said, the majority of clowns in our small community are newer to it, so there is not that history of knowing Mump and Smoot and training in a central spot. But I miss it. It was a special time.

Tell us a bit about therapeutic clown. I’ve heard stories about that Dr. Flap.

Ah, man—how long do you have??! Basically, this hidden art form has been an incredible opportunity for me to continue to be challenged emotionally and artistically 3 days a week. I’m currently working in pediatrics at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab Hospital and I have also worked for years at SickKids and in Long Term Care Facilities primarily with elders suffering from dementia. At Holland Bloorview there are over 60 inpatients who are brain injured, multi-disabled or have musculoskeletal rehab concerns. It has been my joy to work there as Dr Flap for the last 5 years but also as trainer of new nose hires and program coordinator. I love my job there and I especially love how it balances out my life. To be able to be in service to this unique population in clown and with a clown partner…I feel so lucky. I am dedicated to the growth of this emerging profession.

What is your favourite memory from a past Foolish Cabaret?

Oh…that is a toughy! I would have to say being backstage with master mime Giuseppe Condello….pinching myself as we both warmed up backstage together with me thinking “Is this really happening? Am I really sharing the space with this man??” So thrilling!

Describe the cabaret in three adjectives or a phrase.

‘A space for serious fools to call home’

Do you have anything you want to share with us? A story? A photo? A song? A video?

Sure! I’m attaching The Foolish Cabaret promo video. Also a video of me in clown as Flap in a day care facility with elders with early to mid-stage dementia. And my brand new promo video of my show Saucisse which I’m quite proud of; hot off the press! And the Foolish poster. See you all on Monday at Foolish! Doors open at 7:40 so get there in good time! Thanks Andrew for this great opportunity to plug it!

The Foolish Cabaret promo:

Dr. Flap:

Saucisse: A Foo Musical promo: