Features > Arts
Roundup of plays in Stratford, Ontario
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Reviewed by: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
As I reflect upon a spate of plays I saw at Stratford this past season, several key themes emerge, namely the idiocy of war and the pernicious effects of prejudice, be it racial, gender, religious or societal.
Start with “The Trojan Women” by ancient Greek playwright Euripedes. Written and first presented about 2,500 years ago, it is a relentlessly bleak and dismal portrait of war and its brutal effects on the innocent. In this timeless play, there are no victors in war, only victims.
Euripedes was inspired by political events of his time. When the people of Melos, a Greek island, tried to stay neutral in the war between Athens and Sparta, the Athenians responded by massacring the men of Melos and enslaving their women and children. Euripedes parallels Melos with Troy.
As the story begins, Troy has burned, its men have been killed, and their wives turned into concubines. The one-act drama consists of a series of monologues by three of the captives. Martha Henry, the doyenne of Stratford, delivers a lacerating performance as the stalwart Hecuba, Queen of Troy, now prisoner of war. As Hecuba laments her fallen state and that of all the women, her daughter Cassandra, the mad virgin and prophetess of doom, appears, as does Hecuba’s daughter-in-law Andromache, a model wife and mother, now widowed and childless.
Cassandra contrasts the base motives of the Greeks who died with those of her fallen countrymen. Whereas the Greeks perished in pursuit of the adulterous Helen, the Trojans died defending their country.
In this unremittingly harsh tragedy, the innocent are punished, and the bad walk away unscathed.
While Euripedes condemned war on principle, George Bernard Shaw recognized that mankind would always engage in war. Shaw also believed that no progress had been made in that arena since the time of Caesar.
In his comedy “Caesar and Cleopatra,” a triumphant Caesar has just arrived in Egypt. As ruler of Egypt and conqueror of the world, Caesar recognizes the folly of war and the unending cycle of murders.
The plot rambles; the rich characterizations are what give the play its heft.
Christopher Plummer is utterly captivating as the middle-aged, world-weary Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The avuncular Caesar, Cleopatra’s tutor and mentor, turns the impetuous and narcissistic 16-year-old Queen of Egypt into a true leader.
Making her Stratford debut, Nikki M. James is a winning combination of petulance and cunning as the child turned ambitious queen. Tony award-winning director Des McAnuff (“Jersey Boys”), who directed “Caesar …” is a great addition to the Stratford scene as the new artistic director.
McAnuff’s startling production of “Romeo and Juliet” makes the oft-produced tragedy feel fresh. Casting the star-crossed lovers as an interracial couple (as well as their parents) adds even more ammunition to the irrational hatred, violence and prejudice that consumes the feuding families. Gareth Potter and Nikki M. James are perfectly matched as the impulsive Romeo and Juliet.
In his director’s notes, McAnuff points out that the core of hatred between the young couples’ families is never explained. It’s an ancient grudge that has no explanation: “Prejudice has no justification, hatred no rationale.”
Irrational hatred and prejudice feed the frenzy of 1930s Berlin and the nascent rise of Nazism in “Cabaret,” the 1966 award-winning musical by Joe Masterhoff (book), John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics).
Director Amanda Dehnert’s inventive production uses cinema as a framing device; it’s a clever takeoff on “I Am a Camera,” the play by John Van Druten (adapted from The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood) upon which the musical is based.
Movies are all about illusion and fantasy, and in “Cabaret,” the protagonists live in an escapist dream world, oblivious to what is happening in the world outside themselves.
“Wilkommen” croons the Emcee in a variety of languages (Bruce Dow’s Emcee is more clownish than evil), where everything and everyone is beautiful. It is 1929, and Berlin, known as the sex capital of the world, is on the verge of collapse. Against this decadent and economically ruinous backdrop, the musical draws its cues.
Clifford Bradshaw (Sean Arbuckle) is an American writer who comes to Berlin in search of his muse. He meets her in the form of bohemian, pleasure-seeking Sally Bowles (Trish Lindström). In addition to having the worst English accent this side of the Atlantic, Lindström utterly fails to capture the complexity of her character, a combination of promiscuity, vulnerability and neediness. Arbuckle is similarly colorless as the writer.
Far more gripping is the doomed relationship between the German spinster Fräulein Schneider and Jewish widower and fruit merchant Herr Schultz.
This “Cabaret” is not as sinister or as unnerving as other revivals I’ve seen, most recently the now-defunct Kalliope Stage’s shattering production in 2005.
But as a Jew, I shuddered at the sight of the words Juden Schwein (Jewish swine) painted in blood red on the city walls as the Nazis take over.
On the brighter side of musical offerings is a perfectly marvelous production of “The Music Man,” Meredith Willson’s sunny-side-up slice of small-town America and pre-war innocence. Willson’s unbeatable score and a feel-good story will leave you happy and humming. Directed with verve by Stratford regular Susan H. Schulman, all the principals are great, and Stratford’s choreographic wunderkind Michael Lichtefeld continues to dazzle.
Editor’s note: All plays at Stratford run through October. For information: www.stratford-festival.on.ca.
(to be continued)
As I reflect upon a spate of plays I saw at Stratford this past season, several key themes emerge, namely the idiocy of war and the pernicious effects of prejudice, be it racial, gender, religious or societal.
Start with “The Trojan Women” by ancient Greek playwright Euripedes. Written and first presented about 2,500 years ago, it is a relentlessly bleak and dismal portrait of war and its brutal effects on the innocent. In this timeless play, there are no victors in war, only victims.
Euripedes was inspired by political events of his time. When the people of Melos, a Greek island, tried to stay neutral in the war between Athens and Sparta, the Athenians responded by massacring the men of Melos and enslaving their women and children. Euripedes parallels Melos with Troy.
As the story begins, Troy has burned, its men have been killed, and their wives turned into concubines. The one-act drama consists of a series of monologues by three of the captives. Martha Henry, the doyenne of Stratford, delivers a lacerating performance as the stalwart Hecuba, Queen of Troy, now prisoner of war. As Hecuba laments her fallen state and that of all the women, her daughter Cassandra, the mad virgin and prophetess of doom, appears, as does Hecuba’s daughter-in-law Andromache, a model wife and mother, now widowed and childless.
Cassandra contrasts the base motives of the Greeks who died with those of her fallen countrymen. Whereas the Greeks perished in pursuit of the adulterous Helen, the Trojans died defending their country.
In this unremittingly harsh tragedy, the innocent are punished, and the bad walk away unscathed.
While Euripedes condemned war on principle, George Bernard Shaw recognized that mankind would always engage in war. Shaw also believed that no progress had been made in that arena since the time of Caesar.
In his comedy “Caesar and Cleopatra,” a triumphant Caesar has just arrived in Egypt. As ruler of Egypt and conqueror of the world, Caesar recognizes the folly of war and the unending cycle of murders.
The plot rambles; the rich characterizations are what give the play its heft.
Christopher Plummer is utterly captivating as the middle-aged, world-weary Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The avuncular Caesar, Cleopatra’s tutor and mentor, turns the impetuous and narcissistic 16-year-old Queen of Egypt into a true leader.
Making her Stratford debut, Nikki M. James is a winning combination of petulance and cunning as the child turned ambitious queen. Tony award-winning director Des McAnuff (“Jersey Boys”), who directed “Caesar …” is a great addition to the Stratford scene as the new artistic director.
McAnuff’s startling production of “Romeo and Juliet” makes the oft-produced tragedy feel fresh. Casting the star-crossed lovers as an interracial couple (as well as their parents) adds even more ammunition to the irrational hatred, violence and prejudice that consumes the feuding families. Gareth Potter and Nikki M. James are perfectly matched as the impulsive Romeo and Juliet.
In his director’s notes, McAnuff points out that the core of hatred between the young couples’ families is never explained. It’s an ancient grudge that has no explanation: “Prejudice has no justification, hatred no rationale.”
Irrational hatred and prejudice feed the frenzy of 1930s Berlin and the nascent rise of Nazism in “Cabaret,” the 1966 award-winning musical by Joe Masterhoff (book), John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics).
Director Amanda Dehnert’s inventive production uses cinema as a framing device; it’s a clever takeoff on “I Am a Camera,” the play by John Van Druten (adapted from The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood) upon which the musical is based.
Movies are all about illusion and fantasy, and in “Cabaret,” the protagonists live in an escapist dream world, oblivious to what is happening in the world outside themselves.
“Wilkommen” croons the Emcee in a variety of languages (Bruce Dow’s Emcee is more clownish than evil), where everything and everyone is beautiful. It is 1929, and Berlin, known as the sex capital of the world, is on the verge of collapse. Against this decadent and economically ruinous backdrop, the musical draws its cues.
Clifford Bradshaw (Sean Arbuckle) is an American writer who comes to Berlin in search of his muse. He meets her in the form of bohemian, pleasure-seeking Sally Bowles (Trish Lindström). In addition to having the worst English accent this side of the Atlantic, Lindström utterly fails to capture the complexity of her character, a combination of promiscuity, vulnerability and neediness. Arbuckle is similarly colorless as the writer.
Far more gripping is the doomed relationship between the German spinster Fräulein Schneider and Jewish widower and fruit merchant Herr Schultz.
This “Cabaret” is not as sinister or as unnerving as other revivals I’ve seen, most recently the now-defunct Kalliope Stage’s shattering production in 2005.
But as a Jew, I shuddered at the sight of the words Juden Schwein (Jewish swine) painted in blood red on the city walls as the Nazis take over.
On the brighter side of musical offerings is a perfectly marvelous production of “The Music Man,” Meredith Willson’s sunny-side-up slice of small-town America and pre-war innocence. Willson’s unbeatable score and a feel-good story will leave you happy and humming. Directed with verve by Stratford regular Susan H. Schulman, all the principals are great, and Stratford’s choreographic wunderkind Michael Lichtefeld continues to dazzle.
Editor’s note: All plays at Stratford run through October. For information: www.stratford-festival.on.ca.
(to be continued)
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