Guest post by Leora Morris
The first time I read Gilbert’s Engaged (a wordy Victorian farce that inspired other wordy playwrights like George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde), it seemed like its success and artistic power hinged entirely on how it used language to throw into question our rituals around courting, marriage, and money. The second time I read it, I thought “I wonder if we could tell this story without speaking”. And so, in our silent-film style version (which threatens to end happily several times) we’ve replaced words with a live (original) piano score, a distinct physical language, and title card slides.
Ten lines you won’t hear in our silent-film version of Engaged
The Scots:
“Dinna heed the water in my ee—it will come when I‘m ower glad”
“A gude girl loves her husband wi’ one love and her mither wi’ anither.”
“My hairt is sair at losing my only bairn; but I’m nae fasht wi’ ee.”
The Ladies:
“I love you madly, passionately; I care to live but in your heart, I breathe but for your love; yet, before I actually consent to take the irrevocable step that will place me on the pinnacle of my fondest hopes, you must give me some definite idea of your pecuniary position.”
“Lor, sir, kissing’s nothing; everybody does that.”
“I have come to the conclusion that it my duty to fall in with Cheviot’s views in everything before marriage, and Cheviot’s duty to fall into my views in everything after marriage.”
The Men:
“I will think out some cunning scheme to lure her into marriage unawares”
“Who is the unsightly scoundrel with whom you have flown—the unpleasant-looking scamp whom you have dared to prefer to me?”
“Why is it that when I love a girl I can think of no other girl but that girl, whereas, when a girl loves me she seems to entertain the same degree of affection for mankind at large?”
“If you would be truly happy in the married state, be sure you have your own way in everything”
10 Things You Might Be Strangely Reminded of in Engaged
1) That moment in TETRIS when the bricks start piling up
2) Today’s Special
3) The Hamburgler
4) Mary Poppins
5) Grade 7 school dances
6) Richy Rich comic books
7) PSY
8) The Importance of Being Earnest
9) The sounds of Super Mario Bros
10) Criminal line-up
Theatre Hetaerae’s Engaged is part of the 34th Annual Rhubarb Festival at Buddies and Bad Times Theatre. Shows are 8pm nightly from Wednesday February 20th to Sunday February 24th. For tickets: Box Office (416-975-8555) or go to tickets.buddiesinbadtimes.com
Directed by Leora Morris
Created and performed by Hume Baugh, Miranda Calderon, David Christo, Colin Doyle, Caitlin Driscoll, Alex Fallis, Sochi Fried, Eleanor Hewlings, Viv Moore, and Andy Trithardt
With Original live music by Scott Christian
and Costumes by Nina Okens
Margaret Evans as Jim Watts in Jesus Chrysler by Tara Beagan
Jesus Chrysler
Wednesday February 16 – Saturday February 19 @ 9pm in the Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Click here to read a preview of the The Rhubarb Festival and Jesus Chrysler in The Toronto Star.
Image by Will O’Hare Photography
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Click to check out the Rhubarb blog
Nine days away from week one of the Rhubarb Festival- a lot of content has been going down on the Rhubarb blog.
The experimental performance festival has taken over the Buddies in Bad Times blog – running features and interviews with many of the artists involved leading up to the festival. In a core feature of this content, artists from various projects interview each other about their work and what they’re up to at Rhubarb.
This approach has led to some interesting discussions with 2Fik, Johnnie Walker, Morgan Norwich, Nicholas Billon, Erin Brandenburg, Out of Line Theatre and Alicia Grant. Using various combinations of text, image and video in their posts these discussions go beyond the basic overview you might read in a preview through traditional media. (Can you tell we’re fans?)
Stay tuned for an upcoming conversation between Praxis Theatre and bluemouth inc.
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