Matchbox Macbeth – which opens at a secret, site specific location on October 13th – was born when three friends, frustrated with their lack of resources, brought a bottle of wine into a shed and said: “Hey – let’s make a play in here.”
From our very first moments in the space, it was apparent to us that the shed needed to be more than just a roof above our show – it needed to be a character in whatever story we decided to re-imagine. The creative potential of the space was so palpable, so obvious, that the show we built around it was unadorned, magical and deeply rooted in its surroundings.
So deeply rooted, that this four actor, hour long re-telling of Macbeth simply couldn’t work anywhere else. And we sort of loved this. It forced us to work with what we had, to simplify, to problem-solve, to look closely at who and what was in our immediate vicinity. It was, in essence, purely Local theatre. And it all started with the shed.
Or maybe it started before the shed. Because we were in the shed for good reason – we didn’t have access to affordable rehearsal space elsewhere. It’s a terrible irony that the more theatre schools teach their students to incubate and collaborate over long rehearsal periods, the more a premium is placed on rehearsal spaces in the city. And this became an immediate roadblock to us. But soon enough we began to find the merits of a highly urban, site specific, character-based venue too good to resist.
The conversation about space for indie artists seems to be evolving and gaining momentum in the city. The Fringe of course just launched its Creation Lab, which provides subsidized rehearsal space to indie artists and grew out of a series of roundtable discussions that identified and articulated this very issue. And companies are also getting creative: this month alone there are at least four site specific shows happening in the downtown core at historic houses, in laneways and in sheds. Ours opens in less than a week.
So let’s think outside the theatre this fall. See you in the shed!
“In creating the man that we want to be, there is not a single one of our acts which does not at the same time create an image of man as we think he ought to be. To choose to be this or that is to affirm at the same time the value of what we choose, because we can never choose evil.”
~ Jean-Paul Sartre, from the 1945 lecture “Existentialism Is a Humanism”.
Sunday the 25th of September 7-9pm
Dancemakers Centre for Creation -55 Mill St., Building 58, Studio 313
A resource exchange session is on this Sunday.
Any artist who as ever found themselves needing something specific for a process, workshop or show may have a new way to get their hands on those things without paying, but in the spirit of community, through offering something they might already have (and not use, or not use regularly) in exchange.
It is free!!!
Come with a list of what you need and what you have.
Meet some other artists.
Work better with the resources we already have between us!
Don’t talk too much about Rob Ford.
And see you there.
For the inaugural edition of our new series Culture Heroes by Jody Hewston, we look back at the past few months, and declare Michael Healey our clear Culture Hero of Summer, 2011.
In response to the Canadian Heritage department cutting its funding of Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival, Healey put out a call to action for all Artistic Directors of theatre companies that receive federal arts funding to come together in an act of solidarity for freedom of speech. His words were straight to the point:
If you find yourself anxious about the potential ramifications for your own company’s federal funding as a consequence of taking part in this demonstration, I can think of no better reason for participating in it.”
You can read an analysis of the SummerWorks Homegrown controversy here on the Praxis blog. Michael Healey’s own words in the Globe & Mail can be found here, and Globe theatre critic J. Kelly Nestruck’s views on the matter here. A great backgrounder on the story, as well as a list of the companies who answered Healey’s call is available here on the Wrecking Ball blog.
The post-show discussion will be an opportunity to reflect on the play and the G20 experience, to talk about the frailty of police accountability mechanisms and to discuss broader issues surrounding law enforcement.
Photo from CCLA's June 2011 Panel at U of T's Faculty of Law - G20: Lessons Learned, Messages Lost
Tommy Taylor, playwright/performer of You Should Have Stayed Home Ajamu Nangwaya, labour lawyer specializing in police accountability Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel of Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Free // Snacks and drinks will be provided.
7:30 Performance: The Theatre Centre
Post-show panel: Conversation Room at the Great Hall
1087 Queen Street West
Wednesday, August 10th
7:30pm show
9pm panel
In 2005, unbeknownst to almost everyone, theatre and dance artists Ame Henderson, Chad Dembski, and Jacob Zimmer spent a summer at Hub 14 making a “play”. Six years later, after more than a dozen shows and national and international tours, they return to spend another August at Hub 14.
Perhaps in a Hundred Years is a tender science fiction story about three friends stuck in outer space, waiting for the future to arrive. Despite an almost overwhelming pessimism for the long term future, which many of us share, Perhaps in a Hundred Years endeavors to keep it upbeat, or at least tenderly, militantly, hopeful.
“(SummerWorks) is tackling one of the biggest thorns in the city’s side in recent years: last year’s G20 summit, demonstrations and police overkill. In the highly anticipated play You Should Have Stayed Home, writer Tommy Taylor depicts his experience as a detainee in the squalid makeshift prison where hundreds of protesters were held.”
“Despite a certain controversy over a play about homegrown terrorism last year, SummerWorks isn’t shying away from politics. In this show from Praxis Theatre, Tommy Taylor adapts a Facebook note he wrote last year after being detained for 24 hours during the Toronto G20 Summit for the stage. Billed as “the true story of a heartbroken Canadian.”
“Here are a few of our best guesses as to what shows might cause a stir (and even if they don’t, they’re worth checking out).
You Should Have Stayed Home: A G20 Romp
The always political Praxis Theatre teams up with Tommy Taylor’s company The Original Norwegian in a stage adaptation of Taylor’s experience being illegally detained while out for a walk during last summer’s G20.”
“After the years and years of weaker and waterier imitations, we now find ourselves rejecting the very notion of a holy stage. It is not the fault of the holy that it has become a middle-class weapon to keep the children good.”
Recent Comments