DareArts: Daring to Dream

Marilyn Field remembers her first taste of the arts.

"I used to sneak out at night, over to the farmer's field across the road and dance," recalls the former teacher, "because I could sense I was dancing with my mother in the sky."

It was through that childhood experience that she came to know the power of the arts, and the role it can play in helping one to deal with tragedy -in her case, the death of her mother from breast cancer.

Field is President of the DareArts Foundation, a charitable organization that assists low-income, at-risk youth in exposure to the arts. The organization reaches 7,500 students from 35 schools across the GTA, and includes aboriginal youth in its programming.

Through grades four to eight, participants are exposed to a mix of theatre, dance, opera, and ballet, and have the opportunity to explore their own creativity as well.

Companies like Soulpepper, the Canadian Opera Company, and the National Ballet (to name but a few) help DareArts in exposing kids to the sort of art they wouldn't normally get the chance to see or participate in.

"From my experience as a schoolteacher in Scarborough," she explains, "I knew we needed stronger arts education. I was shocked when I had to create maps to show kids how to find Front and Yonge streets in the city of Toronto -it shocked me into starting DareArts."

April 2nd marks the 2008 DareArts Cultural Leadership Awards, which recognizes figures who expose youth to arts and culture outlets. This year's recipients include Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz and Canadian boxer George Chuvallo.

Field says the awards are about "Canadians who have done something that parallels DareArts' aims in terms of youth and children bettering world."

For those who might raise in eyebrow to a boxer being chosen to receive an arts award, Field offers a passionate explanation.

"Culture can be on a wider scale," she says, "it's more than a paint brush -culture itself is broader than that."

"What I respect about (Chuvallo) is that he's gone beyond his own tragedies - he's using his fame and accomplishments to now reach out and help those who have lost their way, to find that path. It's the perfect parallel with us -that is, what do you need to replace those negative activities? The arts are a perfect activity to replace them. Whether it's the arts or creativity, it can come in sports as well as in arts, as well as in science -whatever passion one has."

Schultz, however, with his extensive resume of arts involvement, is the obvious cultural choice.

"It was absolutely a no-brainer to choose him," she says, "(Soulpepper) have always been very open to having DareArts be part of their outreach program, even in younger years. They seem to be steering more to older teens, but it's so nice for us to be able to have a group like (them) who we can lead our children towards."

According to Field, both school administrators and parents have noticed a difference in students who participated.

Julian Sale, the Vice-President of DareArts, concurs.

When he began photographing participants for brochures, he says " I really saw how DareArts was making a real change in their lives."

Sale, who is retired from Agfa, volunteers his own photographic experience for DareArts participants.

"We use photography to help see the world differently," he explains, "Most are inner-city kids. They think the city is boring. We challenge them, and they say at the end, they will never see the city or the world the same again. It's opened up a whole new world for them that is rich in colours and textures, and patterns -and relationships. Something as simple as photo can have a huge impact."

John Hastings, School Trustee in Etobicoke North, currently offers DareArts programs for roughly 40 kids in his area.

"The students are offered the opportunity to see things they probably wouldn't, given their parents are involved in three or four jobs in the city," he says, "and given we have a low-income demographic here. Instead of sitting in front of televisions or playing software games, growing up hanging around malls and apartment buildings, we want them get out and do things. I definitely see the value of DareArts in setting that up."

As Sale explains, "the aim of DareArts is not to create artists or not to create people who are going to take a career in the artistic or cultural field", but, as he notes, there are exceptions.

One particular past participant "had a real artistic flair to him that even he didn't know about."

Through a combination of luck and talent, found himself in a Canadian Opera Company production of Verdi's Falstaff.

"He will definitely have a career in the artistic-cultural field -that's an opportunity he never would have even realized, one that he wasn't even initially interested in."

"Kids at this age are absolutely bursting with creative energy," Sale says, "If they don't have a good, positive outlet for that, it comes out in a negative way. We already have enough negative leaders out there to spear them the wrong way. Our biggest challenge now is raising funds fast enough to expand the program, and getting word out there more will help us do that."

Expanding DareArts across Canada is something Marilyn Field aims to do.

"The program is set up so it's a template that can be dropped in to larger communities first, then altered for smaller communities. All it takes is having the right people in the other communities ready to pick up the template and run with it, and also corporations that are brave enough to support this on a national level."

In addition to Schultz and Chuvallo receiving honours, six students selected from the program this year will also receive awards.

"It's been hard to choose," Field admits, "there have been so many through the program. The six are good spokespersons -they get a scholarship for further education, and they have a chance to tell their story. These are six people who have a sense of leadership and accomplishment, simply by leading their own lives, being strong enough to stand up to negative forces, and following the goals they set for themselves."

"These kids have discovered they can do something," explains Field passionately, "it's not just a matter of 'let's go play', but they worked to accomplish something, and in a short enough period of time that's measurable for them emotionally. I cannot ask for anything better than that -that sense of self, that sense of, 'if I can do this, what else can I do? if I can do this, what dreams can I have for my whole life?' It helps kids to know there is a broader world within their access -and they dare themselves to seek that broader world."

Dare to dream big is the message. DareArts, it seems, is the medium.

The DareArts Cultural Leadership Awards takes place April 2nd at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District.

For more information, go to www.darearts.com.

Use Your Imagination

Finding connection in the messy days of March is a challenge.

There's a dirty order to the snowbanks lining Toronto streets, exacerbating the isolation winter brings. People are packed away under layers of sweaters, riding alone in cars, subways, and streetcars; they're lost in their i-pods, glued to their Blackberries, stuck to television screens. Roads and sidewalks separate people, people separate themselves, and pretty soon one looks in the mirror to find a pale, puffy stranger in need of Greens Plus and a case of Prozac.

Yet there is an alternative to all this "in the bleak midwinter" stuff. Toronto's lively arts scene is full of inspiration and wonder, as evidenced in Soulpepper Theatre Company's current production of As You Like It.

Lest you feel tempted to emit a yuck-Shakespeare groan, be aware that this isn't a production full of big wigs, tight bodices, pointy shoes, grave tones or that most tiresome of classical performance habits, U-S-A-ing, otherwise known as Urgent-Shakespeare-Acting. Far from it.

As You Like It, now on at the Young Centre, is chock-a-block with fresh-faced members of the Soulpepper Academy -so fresh, in fact, that one wonders if they were kept in a hyperbaric chamber since July. The casting and presentation give much-needed jolts of youth, joy, and vitality to one of Shakespeare's most complex and layered works.

This is a production that is deeply satisfying in its simplicity: accessible but never patronizing, intelligent but never impenetrable.

Instead of imposing large ideas or hokey concepts, Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz directs As You Like It with a deft and knowing hand, allowing the poetry of Shakespeare's words to reveal and illuminate. He inherently understands that the Bard requires no gimmickry or interference, that characters and their dilemmas can -and do -speak for themselves.

In place of a recognizable period and locale, there is a mixed bag of visual and aural references to chew on. But far from being confusing, these elements, used in tandem with a consistent palette of colours and sound effects, combine in challenging the audience to use their own imaginations, much in the same way Shakespeare would have done with his own audience.

The story is simple enough, with Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior, banished by her usurping uncle, and fleeing with cousin Celia to the Forest of Arden, where both meet love and life experience, and encounter a sense of community their court existence had deprived them of.

The dualism of the plot can, of course bewilder: Rosalind pretends to be a man, but then acts as a woman, in order to court her beloved Orlando, even as Rosalind, as a man, is wooed by another woman. Then there's the terrible twos: two sets of brothers share a terrible animosity, there are two (very different) fools, there are two country girls, and there are two sets of two weddings. That's a lot for any audience to keep track of, let alone one director.

Yet Schultz keeps things flowing, choosing lights, props, and staging that emphasize a sensitive balance between intimacy and openness. The stage of the Baillie Theatre is refreshingly uncluttered, and Lorenzo Savoini's clean design goes a long way to telling a story that has implications far past the mythic forest of Shakespeare's imagining.

The stark, white, geometric precision and hard angles that characterize the world of Duke Frederick are replaced with pungent, cushiony scarlets and the rich, billowing browns of forest life. Fraying red ropes hang like random umbilical cords, whispering a confirmation of sustenance and shelter. There is a natural balance to life here, which reminds the audience of the essentially dualistic nature of the play.

Thus, dualism is acknowledged, both inventively and economically. Something as simple as a cooking pot in Arden becomes an instrument of torture in the Duke's court. Bare, cold walls become soft, satiny moss. Dualism even extends to casting, with Mike Ross doubling as Oliver (angry brother to the smitten Orlando), and Amiens, the chief musician who serenades Celia (an effervescent Jennifer Villaverde) at a moment when she needs it most.

The importance -indeed, necessity -of creativity (again, between the characters, audience and performers) is underlined repeatedly. The mask of a wrestler near the play's start bares an unmistakable resemblance to Strongbad (an online cartoon character), adding a nice element of playfulness. A babbling brook (the edges and stepping stones of which are indicated with rope) that divides the stage for many of the Arden scenes acts as a reminder of what the play's characters -and perhaps audience -seek: purity, cleansing, redemption.

Music is another element that creates a sense of community between performers and audience. But instead of tinkling Elizabethan tunes or peppy modern pop, composer Mike Ross has opted for a Celtic-Appalachian sound. It's Bill-the-Quill-meets-Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp, and it works well in complementing the clear, elegant aesthetic of the production, while never robbing it of joyful vivacity.

Making the most of this joy is Sarah Wilson, who infuses her Rosalind with youthful zeal. Despite the gravitas of being one of Shakespeare's greatest female parts, here she is presented precisely for what she is: a young woman on the edge of adulthood.

It's fascinating to watch Wilson as she explores her character's feminine identity through that of her male alias, Ganymede. Particularly charming are the scenes with Michael Blake's enthusiastically love-crazed Orlando. We see the two frequently navigate between awkwardness, openness, vulnerability, hurt and adoration, and we recognize every single moment on that bumpy road to love.

Diego Matamoros brings a wry, dry, eminently-watchable energy to the role of the famously-melancholy Jaques. Not so much melancholy here as too smart and self-aware by half, his combination of weariness, wit, and honesty is particularly effective when placed with the altogether hilarious, kinetic energy of Oliver Dennis' Touchstone. You don't have to be familiar with Soulpepper's history to sense the casting genius in having these two talented actors, in these particular roles, verbally sparring and playing off one another's energy.

Whether it's Jaques outrageously swaying to Amiens' music like a hillbilly Bob Dylan, or Touchstone wielding his staff like a badly-dressed Gandalf, there is always a constant balance being maintained, here, as in every scene of As You Like It: a balance between smart and silly, anger and forgiveness, love and indifference.

All of this is underlined in the final scene, with the four couples joined in marriage, as red leaves slowly fall around them, marking a transition both without and within, that is as natural as it is poetic.

As You Like It underlines the great need for maintaining balance within a creative environment that fosters, nurtures, and encourages growth. If that sounds complicated, it isn't. Schultz makes it clear -in the most simple and timeless of ways - that As You Like It is every bit as applicable in its call for connection in 2008 Toronto as it was in 1599 London.

This is Shakespeare presented clearly, with much imagination and love. It's a welcome respite from the dirty details of winter, and worth a trip, with toque, Totes, and TTC, down to the snowy lanes of the Distillery District.

Arden awaits.

As You Like It runs at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts through April 19th.
For more information, go to soulpepper.ca.

Odd or not...

There is nothing in the world like the feel of a blank canvas, its promise of possibility still fresh, potent and palpable.

As a painter, I enjoy bringing that sense of promise to my other passion in life: theatre.

So instead of walking into productions with preconceptions or ideas, I prefer to approach each work on its own merit, akin to a blank canvas, ready to be painted in direct relation to the dance between directors, designers, performers, and audience. It is precisely the rhythm, feel, and flow of this dance that determines what sort of painting I'm left with by evening's end.

And yet, history dictates that some plays are harder to approach as blank canvases than others.

Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, now on at The Young Centre, certainly has its share of splattered, splodgey history, what with the memorable film and later television program. It's hard walking into something that is so loaded down with cultural baggage and personal history -and yet, in this instance, my unfamiliarity with either certainly has its advantages.

Yes, I have images of Jack Lemmon/Tony Randall in an apron, and Walter Matthau/Jack Klugman in an untucked shirt -one's the neatfreak, the other a slob -that much I know. But is there more to it than that?

Director Stuart Hughes thinks so.

Written as a comedy, the piece takes a look at the lives of two men who have recently suffered separations from their family lives. The inadvertent establishment of a pseudo-domestic situation perpetuates personal issues and forces them to try to resolve them and make peace with their own faults. I was struck at how much Hughes has explored the theme of friendship, support, and human relating, particularly between men, in this production.

To use an Oscar-ism, who'da thunk it?

The opening scene, with various Friday night poker buddies crowding around a table presents us with the typical "guys playing cards, gabbing, smoking, acting like guys" tableau. And yet the absence of their regular poker buddy is cause for much concern, as they suddenly transform into awkward mother hens and readily exude the kind of energy they claim to be escaping from.

Oliver Dennis, Kevin Bundy, Derek Boyes and Michael Hanrahan are uniformly wonderful as the team of buddies, to say nothing of the play's leads. Diego Matamoros infuses the nebbish Felix Unger with a desperate humanity, even as he balances the considerable comedy in the role. Albert Schultz, the Artistic Director of Soulpepper, puts aside the leading-man-gentility and revels in the rebellious slob-dom of Oscar Madison.

The two develop an interesting pattern of co-dependency as the play progresses, with Felix demanding phone calls and Oscar manically stalking his empty apartment after he throws his friend out. The stereotypes of each character are acknowledged, but never indulged; Felix is indeed a neatfreak, but his proclivities toward tidiness are treated as an exacerbated effect, rather than a cause -a wild clutching to keep a life in order that has fallen to chaos. We see him wielding a vacuum in one scene, as if he can simply suck away the pain his separation is causing.

Oscar's lack of hygiene, past being a personal defect, is more the result of a life and man given in to chaos -the stuffed wrappers, crushed crisps and crusty dishes symbols of middle-aged rebellion against an invisible wife, and one suspects, domesticity in general. His desperate flirtations with the silly Pigeon sisters, his thundering about the apartment, and close cushion-clutching shows us a man who is ultimately terrified of being alone.

Even with Simon's addition of those "cuckoo" Pigeon sisters (played with appropriate lightness by Amy Rutherford and Krystin Pellerin), this is a play about men. Time and again, Hughes gives us a powerful symbol of the great need men have to take care of, and indeed, be taken care of.

For all of its inbuilt comedy (and there are certainly plenty of laughs), this is a production that takes the importance of friendship, bonding, and honesty (however brutal) to heart, and mixes them to create an altogether new interpretation of what many consider to be an American classic.

The fact a company like Soulpepper -known for its classical repertory -is producing a piece like The Odd Couple is a brave, ballsy choice. Yet its inclusion into the current season perfectly compliments their reputation for providing solid, intelligent productions of classic works.

As Schultz noted in his comments for choosing the 10th anniversary season, laughter is a wonderful way to celebrate; it's also the perfect way to share moments with friends, old and new, and to appreciate the many gifts of friendship.

There's a canvas I heartily applaud.

The Odd Couple runs at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts through April 19; for more information on Soulpepper Theatre Company, including how to buy tickets, go to www.soulpepper.ca.

Hamlet (solo)

Raoul Bhaneja is nothing if not audacious.

The Toronto-based actor, writer, director and musician, recounts the time a former high school saw his one-man production of Hamlet.

"One of my high school teachers came to to me afterwards, and as if he quoting Obama, he says, 'the audacity... to do that!'. It was meant it in a good way, though."

Hailing from Ottawa, Bhaneja's Hamlet (solo) show has been garnering critical praise and developing with every performance. Having already taken the show to Edinburgh, London, and New York, as well as Edmonton's Push Festival most recently, the project has been a labour of love for Bhaneja, as proven by his documentary on the years-long experience, airing Wednesday night on Bravo!.

"That's what the documentary is about - when I look back at my life working on the show, through the filter of a director putting together the story. There's not really a moral of the story, but if you're going to let ppl tell you that you're ... "

He pauses, lost in thought.

"Look," he says with fierce determination, "the play stands as a great example on so many levels, of why it shouldn't work. Lots of people might've said 'oh it won't work', but most of the really good people in the arts world, they nod, and say, 'go for it'." Everybody knows the only way you break through and get to the next level is when you're pushing the boundaries of yourself and concepts about what shows should be, and how they shodl be presented."

The idea for a one-man Hamlet originated in three experiences that Bhaneja still holds dear. One involved a high school English teacher introducing him to the play, ("He got me hooked on Shakespeare"), another was exposure to a theatre company in Ottawa who performed experimental classical theatre on the street, and the other was the much-praised version of Hamlet done by Quebecois theatre artist Robert LePage.

Oh yes, and then there was Claire Coulter, a Canadian actress, who Bhaneja witnessed performing playwright Wallace Shawn's The Fever during his days as a student at the prestigious National Theatre School.

"She did this monologue with no lights, no props, no costumes," he says, with reverence, "She sat in a rotten old loveseat at a rehearsal space in Montreal. I didn't know her, or her work. She pulled up this old chair and two metres from us, and went, 'can I start now?' We looked at each other and said 'um, yeah sure'. And she launched into this amazingly intimate whacky strange world. We were transported."

One can almost hear the smile across the line to Edmonton.

"It was such a big inspiration," he continues, "and it was then I realized, under the right circumstances, all you really need are the words, the actor, and an audience - that's it."

In the documentary, Bhaneja speaks with several famous Hamlets through the years, including Christopher Plummer, Tom Barnett, Ben Carlson, Colm Feore, Soulpepper's Albert Schultz, and everyone's favourite Mountie, Paul Gross.

Bhaneja says that although he was influenced by the many different interpretations of the famous melancholy Prince, "when you see mine, (there are) elements of it you love, but there are also characters there you love from certain (other) productions. The audience tells me what version of Hamlet they want to see -it changes ... sometimes people want it to be funny, other times, they're really listening, waiting to find out what happens next in story. Two years into performing and touring it, it's still a fulfilling experience."

He smiles again, imagining what the famous playwright might say about Hamlet (solo): "why doth one man play my play?"

He's realistic about Hamlet (solo)'s impact in the overall scheme of things, however.

"It's a play, it's Hamlet, it's not the cure for cancer or rocket science, but there is something about it that is personal and unique, " he explains.

"It's rare to see a production where an actor of any level has had eight years to (let) a play ferment and grow inside them -that's quite a special experience. I've been so spoiled by having this play as an organism inside me. I don't know every Shakespeare (play) back to front, I'm not a scholar, but through this one play, Hamlet, I feel like I have a personal, quite intimate relationship with Shakespeare, because of how long I've been on ride. It's a real gift."

Hamlet (solo): The Documentary airs on Bravo! Wednesday, January 30th, at 10pm.

For more information, go to www.bravo.ca
For information on the work of Raoul Bhaneja, go to http://www.raoulbhaneja.com/.

riding the salt water waves

You begin to understand how meaningful the work of David French is to Newfoundlanders when his characters are likened to Shakespeare's.

"Mary is a Newfoundland girl's Juliet", says Krystin Pellerin, currently playing Mary Snow in Soulpepper's production of Salt Water Moon at the Young Centre.

Growing up in Mount Pearl, just outside of St. John's, Pellerin began her career at the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival, before studying at the National Theatre School, and going on to play a variety of classical and contemporary roles. But performing the work of a fellow Newfoundlander is a different sort of treat.

"I love French's work. It's very important to me because it comes from home, "she says with pride, "and it's incredible, to have the opportunity to play somebody like Mary. He's created characters who are so identifiable. I know so many people who are like Mary."

Salt Water Moon is part of the French's series of plays exploring the lives of the Mercer family; along with Leaving Home (produced by Soulpepper last season), 1949, Of the Fields Lately and Soldier's Heart, French's work examines deeply personal notions of family, identity, and relationships.

"Ted (Dykstra, the director of both Leaving Home and Salt Water Moon) reminded us that the script we're working with should be approached as a classical text," she explains, "and David French was there through the rehearsal process, which was very helpful."

Pellerin reflects on the advice David French gave during rehearsals in terms of balancing the comedy and drama in the piece.

"He commented on the quality of silences," she muses, "and said, yes, it's nice to get big laughs, but make sure you observe the silence too."

While Leaving Home sometimes painfully exposes the challenges faced by Mary and Jacob Mercer in later years, Salt Water Moon explores the moonlit, starry night that brings them together. The piece weaves a melange of emotions, some caustic, some tender, as Mary, having lost her father in the first World War, is confronted by Jacob (played by Jeff Lillico) who has just returned after a year-long absence in Toronto.

"Mary is 17, but ... it's like a 40-year-old mind in a 17-year-old body," she says thoughtfully.

"She's experienced an incredible amount of hardship."

Pellerin captures a wonderful mix of premature weariness and energetic precociousness in her performance. She notes that Mary, while mature in some ways, is still a teenager in others, and as such, experiences the same sort of self-involved drama that is characteristic of teens everywhere.

"It's hard to go outside yourself and try to imagine what it's like to be in someone else's shoes. That's why Jacob and Mary butt heads so vigorously -they're still teenagers."

The intensity Pellerin and Lillico share is one that must be sustained for 80 minutes without interruption. Unlike many other dramatic works, the two only have one another to look to and rely on.

"It's 80 minutes, right through, yes, but it gets easier", she says with a laugh, "although when I did the first run-through, I went, 'okay, now I know how hard this is!' I was sweating, my heart was going, and I still am that way a bit -but you learn how to ride the wave."

Of her co-star, she says, "Jeff is there for me and I'm there for Jeff. He's my lifeline."

Pellerin will have considerably more co-stars in upcoming Soulpepper productions, as she is playing Cecily Pigeon in The Odd Couple (opening February 19th) and Audrey in As You Like It (opening March 6th).

"It's great," she says of the variety of roles, "it keeps things fresh, and it takes your mind off things. You can't be thinking about one part too hard, or you'll go squirrely. I like switching it up."

Salt Water Moon runs at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts until January 31st.

For more information, go to www.soulpepper.ca
Tickets can be purchased online at www.youngcentre.ca

salty soul

Soulpepper Theatre Company symbolically opened its 10th anniversary season lastnight with the sort of theatre it does best: elegant, intelligent, heart-felt, and entirely Canadian.

Set in 1926 Newfoundland, Salt Water Moon tells the story of Mary Snow and Jacob Mercer, two lovers reunited after the latter vanishes off to Toronto for a year. It's spiked with moments of anger, frustration, despair, passion, with faith running like a steam train through the proceedings.

Salt Water Moon explores the foundation that was laid for Leaving Home, the French play presented by Soulpepper last season, in which Jacob and Mary, married for 30 years, face the trials and turmoils of life in Toronto.

Once again, in Soulpepper veteran Ted Dykstra's capable directorial hands, the two leads, Jeff Lillico and Newfoundland native Krystin Pellerin, thoroughly explore the inner (and outer) journeys of the two characters on the road to maturity, and use their youth to express the impetuous nature of Jacob and Mary's relating.

Dykstra deftly balances the moments of argument and turmoil with moments of tenderness and humour, all the while firmly placing the context of each character's suffering within historical and personal realms.

The two young actors, Lillico and Pellerin, do a marvellous job of carrying the emotional and spiritual weight of this two-person piece; their chemistry is palpable, and their connection is such that you don't want to take your eyes off either one, even for a moment.

While Jacob is haunted by the ghost of World War I that hangs over Newfoundland, and indeed, over the coming nuptials of his beloved, Mary cannot escape the horror of her younger sister living in an abusive orphanage in St. John's. Each bring a different personal history, one that is both epic and intimate in nature, but never feels forced or contrived.

With a simple, elegant set design by Victoria Wallace, and intuitive, sensitive lighting by Leigh Ann Vardy, the actors blend seamlessly with the magic of a starry Coley's Point night, using the considerable stage space of the Michael Young Theatre to convey varying degrees of passion, anger, and fear.

Just when we think Jacob , exiting the front yard, suitcase in hand, might be gone for good, he re-appears, moments later, out of the dark, a spectral ghost from the Somme, perhaps, but also a symbol of a future that could be labelled 'potent' all on its own.

Indeed, the choice of David French's enchanting work, produced with such loving care, symbolizes not only where Soulpepper has come from since 1998, but what it is now: engaging, proud, courageous -and always creative.

Bravo.

Salt Water Moon runs at the Young Centre until January 31st; tickets can now be purchased online.

Go to www.soulpepper.ca or www.youngcentre.ca for more information.

eternal hydra

Lest you think mythology is some vague laborious thing you vaguely recall from grade 9, involving monsters and snakeheads an gods hurling thunderbolts from the sky... well, me too.

How many times did I go through the Greek and Roman pantheons, trying to keep the names, functions, and connections straight?

But the success of the recent film Beowulf proves that myths are eternally popular.

The tales of gods and goddesses, heroes, demons, maidens and monsters still have a power, and I've found, increase in meaning as the years pass.

As noted mythologian Joseph Campbell once wrote, "myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life."

Anton Piatigorsky understands this.

Soulpepper Theatre Company's current playwright-in-residence has chosen to name his play, Eternal Hydra, after the Greek mythological figure of the fearsome creature Hercules had to kill as part of his twelve tasks; for every head poor Herc chopped off, two grew back.

The play is being presented by Crow's Theatre November 26th to December 1st at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

"The story is about a novel that's been lost and then rediscovered," he explains, "and the novel is called Eternal Hydra. There's a myth in it paralleling the myth of Hercules killing the Hydra, but it's meant as a loose analogy for all of humanity."

Piatigorsky's fictional author, Carbunkle, uses the Hydra myth for his own purposes, but as a wider metaphor, he sees the work as "very much about appropriation. The act of Hercules cutting off and capturing the head is an analogy for what the writer does in the course of writing it. It becomes about the appropriation of voice and stealing stories."

Originally premiered at the Stratford Festival's Studio theatre, the play has since evolved into a two-act piece.

"It was initially commissioned as a one-act, and I wrote a version I was happy with, but in that process, I saw ways of expanding it into a full length show. Some of the things I wanted to say and explore couldn't be done in a one-act. It's taken a bunch of years, but now there is a real story that was missing in the Stratford production. It works much better as a narrative now."

Taking his cue from historical novels as well as his own upbringing in Washington, D.C., Piatigorsky says Eternal Hydra is "explicitely about issues of race."

"While I was growing up, everything was about race, in a way that here, there has always been a charged vibe of French and English tensions. In the States, everything's about race... there's that problem, that history, and it carries over into everything."

His work is also meta-dramatical in the sense of bringing awareness to an audience who themselves bring a variance of realities into the theatre.

"I think a lot of people in my generation really like those meta-theatrical stories... there's something true about the experience," he explains, "You can't live in a city like Toronto without being aware there are so many different kinds of people having such radically different experiences, and you can't talk about your experiences or what Toronto is in a meaningful way. The only way that you can really explore those things is by referencing other people's stories and layering them."

For all the rampant decapitation -physical and literal -contained in Eternal Hydra, Piatigorsky's biggest battle thus far has been bringing a sense of emotionality to the work.

"As a writer, that's been my biggest battle," he says with a knowing smile, "I came to it from not from ideas, because I always felt very emotional and hearty about it. But a lot of times what I imagined is the heart of the play makes sense in my head, but doesn't translate, so figuring out how to walk that line has been a long process for me."

So what will audiences take away from Eternal Hydra? Perhaps a burning urge to dig out their old Edith Hamilton volumes? Or rent Clash of the Titans?

"I hope it hinges on feeling several things at once... breaking open any sense of morality, of right and wrong."

He pauses.

"Ultimately, it's a very clear, very specific and very simple explanation of complexity. That's what it's about."

Sounds like a myth to me.

Eternal Hydra runs at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre November 26th to December 1st; for more information, go to www.crowstheatre.com.

spirits, sufis, soulpepper

When the last dervish quietly walked offstage at Roy Thomson Hall Friday night, a cool silence decended for a moment before the applause began.

The sema was over, the whirling had stopped, time to go back outside to mundane reality.

Beautiful as the Sufi religious ceremony was, my companion turned to me and wondered aloud if it wouldn't have been more spiritual of us to go see soul singer Jully Black, who had been singing at the Mod Club that same night.

I mean, does the Profound always have to be accompanied by such poe-faced joyless solemnity? Is the spiritual always so serious?

I turned this question around in my mind seeing Blithe Spirit lastnight.

The final play of Soulpepper's 2007 season, it positively brims with laughter and joy. Believe me, your face will start to hurt from smiling -and that's a good kind of hurt, particularly these days.

Noel Coward has always been thought of as a souffle-light sort of playwright -the guy with the velvet robe and cigarette holder, martini in hand, writing witty plays about smartly-dressed people who natter away about nothing in particular.

And yet, I thought, it takes a deft hand to take an essentially unpleasant situation (intrusions of the past on present situations) and make it... funny.

CBC Radio's Mary Hynes explored the idea of God having a sense of humour in an interview with Rumi interpreter Coleman Barks earlier this year. Barks had said that laughter was how God expressed his humour, that through the joyful, shared expression of laughing, God expresses delight with his creation.

In light of this, it's fascinating to see a company like Soulpepper -who, in nearing a decade old, have been more noted for producing tragedies than comedies -choose to end their ninth season with Noel Coward, and flavour much of their tenth with comedy too.

Says something about the power of laughter, I'd wager.

Morris Panych's brilliant production has definitely kept the laughs of Blithe Spirit intact, but has wisely chosen not to soften the nasty edges either.

Coward's play centers around the mayhem created in the lives of Charles and Ruth Condomine, when the ghost of Charles' first wife, Elvira, is inadvertently summoned by Madame Arcati during a seance designed to provide writing material for Charles' latest novel.

Issues of jealousy, possessiveness, trust, deceit, identity and responsibility are all cleverly woven into the text, and Panych has no problems in bringing out these themes through deft timing, pitch-perfect performances, and a brilliantly gorgeous design scheme.

While the world of the Condomines is staid in shades of black, white, and grey, Elvira enters from the spirit world as some kind of blazing she-demon, complete with fiery red bob & glammy orange-red outfit to match. It's clear that, while ethereal, she aims to set Charles' thin veneer of marital bliss alight with her wicked observations & hot temper.

Fiona Reid, who I remember being so lovable onstage in Hay Fever years ago, here delivers a perfect performance that seamlessly blends elements of pathos and comedy; her Ruth is both cloyingly conventional and yet endearingly sympathetic.

As her rival, Brenda Robins delivers a deliciously bitchy performance that has elements of imperious haughtiness & saucy sensuality; she might be behind some awful actions (both in life and death), but you can't help but like her. Mannered and yet modern at the same time, her Elvira is the sort of woman you want to swap cocktail recipes and dish on men with.

As Charles, Joseph Ziegler moves from obedient to dithering to cruel to sympathetic, all the while alternating between outrage and embarassment over his apparent willing emasculation at the hands of what he sees as two Gorgons (both redheads, no less) out to turn him to stone. And he makes it funny all the while. Wow.

Nancy Palk's Madame Arcati is all bulgy-eyed drama & flailing limbs; in a role that could easily be mugged and mannered, Palk is all sincere dedication and passion. When she flips out a leg at awakening, or skips across the stage to turn on the record player, it fits with the character, and is believable, in every sense.

So, too, the perfect marriage of physical and mental is perfectly realized in Melody A. Johnson's hilarious performance as Edith, the maid with the spider walk who is weaving more than polite manners.

Amidst the laughs, however, it wasn't hard to see the sharp nasty edges of marital woe which Panych has wisely allowed to sit in a sort of uncomfortable, if insightful, juxtaposition with the more comedic elements. He trusts his actors, and the text, to let the moments speak for themselves. And speak they do.

This production of Blithe Spirit underlines the notion that whatever you don't deal with in your past will always come back to haunt you, manifest itself in different ways, and keep reappearing, until you deal with it. Talk about your karmic whirling.

The problem -and the comedy, Coward suggests -is that people being people, keep perpetuating their own cow poop by running away from the responsibility, drowning themselves with drink, movies, art, affairs, the occult, politics... take your pick.

It's ridiculous, it's hilarious, and it's true.

Like dervishes whirling in their circles, the power of comedy suggests the comedy of the cyclical, divine in its own right -and whether it's Dante and his rings of hell, Wilde's witty repartee, or Coward's making the past the present and the present the past, there is a divine force at work that brings people together under the umbrella of human experience.

As Rumi wrote, "the core of the seen and unseen universe smiles, but... smiles come best from those who weep."

Blithe Spirit runs at The Young Centre until December 15.
For more information, go to www.soulpepper.ca

a spicy soulpepper season to come

There aren’t many Canadian companies that would have the balls to mix the likes of Neil Simon, William Shakespeare, and Caryl Churchill, all within one season.

Even fewer who would add Chekhov, Congreve, Anouilh, and Stoppard.

Cries of "it'll scare people off", and "it's too weird", comments like "there's no consistency" and "there's nothing to keep my interest" would be the norm. Particularly in Toronto, where the tall poppies are frequently clipped down.

The first word that came to my mind, reading over the list of planned works is, eclectic.
Second word, awesome.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m an unabashed Soulpepper fan.

Soulpepper is the artist-founded theatre company out of Toronto. Over the years, they've produced a delicious cornucopia of theatrical delights, including Mirandolina, Don Carlos, Hamlet, The Real Thing, King Lear and my favourite production, Waiting for Godot.

Even when their work was comci-comca, I always admired their ideals –that is, to provide, as they put it, “the world’s greatest stories in vital Canadian interpretations”.

Man, I love that.

Why?

I’d waited so, so long for a classical theatre company in this city –I was sick of driving out of town to face summer crowds, limited runs, and simplistic, unchallenging productions.

I wanted a company that would present the classics I loved in new, fresh ways –one that would be relevant, daring, challenging, and most of all, yeah, Canadian.

Cause that matters –a lot.

Soulpepper has made a commitment to promoting and fostering Canadian talent. In other words, they’ve put their money where their ideals are. They provide training in the form of an academy, and also participate in youth and community access programs. They have a roster of amazing Canadian artists, and aren’t afraid to toot the horn when it comes to homegrown talent.

At the same time, they’re wise enough to incorporate a myriad of international influences –notably their work with amazing Hungarian director Laszlo Marton.

As I looked through the offerings for next year, I couldn't help but smile.

The season begins with the incredible David French play Salt-Water Moon (January 5-31). French is one of our greatest playwrights, and it’s entirely fitting Soulpepper opens with the prequel to his breakthrough play, Leaving Home. This past season’s production, directed by Ted Dykstra, was by turns moving, smart, sad, and funny. It’s good to see French’s work getting the attention it rightly deserves, and equally good to see Dykstra at the helm again in January.

Then there's Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (February 9-April 19), featuring Soulpepper stalwarts Albert Schultz & Diego Matamoros.

I can hear the theatre purists griping now: "that's not classical theatre!"

Oh shut UP.

The casting alone is worth the price of admission. Schultz & Matamoros are both gifted comedic actors with incredible timing, rhythm and a great sense of one another's nuances.
I can’t wait.

Speaking of comedy, the Restoration comedy The Way of the World is set to be produced July 2nd to August 2nd, with a stellar cast of Mike Shara, William Webster and Nancy Palk. It'll be directed by Peter Hinton, the artistic director of English Theatre at The National Arts Centre in Ottawa. In fact, it's a co-production with the NAC –thus reinforcing Soulpepper’s mandate to provide and promote great Canadian interpretations by and for Canadians. Hinton himself has a reputation for being not only a flag-waver, but an artistically innovative and daring director; witness his all-Canadian programming of the NAC, his partnership with the RSC (for The Penelopiad), and his production of The Odyssey last season at Stratford. He did an audacious job with Homer; I can hardly wait to see what he'll do with William Congreve.

Representing the epitome of the classical theatre ideal is As You Like It, running February 26th to April 19th. Featuring members of the Soulpepper Academy, I'll be curious to see how a production I've never fully felt satisfied with (having seen it several times) plays out under Schultz's direction.

Spring also brings the drama of 'Night Mother (May 13-June 21), with Megan Follows, and her real-life mother, actor Dawn Greenhalgh. A wrenching piece of theatre that examines the ever-difficult mother-daughter relationship, I imagine this could well be Soulpepper's acting Tour de Force of the season -unless of course you count the solo Under Milk Wood production with Kenneth Welsh, running July 11th to August 2nd.

Soulpepper has wisely chosen to re-mount the hugely popular one-man (with music) production after its incredible success at last June's Luminato festival. Yippee!

Being a huge Dylan Thomas fan, and knowing how complex his work can be to perform, I was in awe -and not just over Welsh's transformation through over 30 different characters, either.

The marriage of Thomas' poetic language, Welsh’s accents and gestures, and the sound of live music and foley effects was a magical experience that reminded me (and I am sure everyone in the audience) of the transformative power of theatre at its very finest. No fancy effects, no tricks, no preciousness or gimmicky. Just great acting, powerful storytelling, and good design, all in one compact package. Who could ask for anything more?

More is what Toronto theatre lovers get, though, with remounts of the Marton-directed Uncle Vanya (June 4-21), Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (October 25-November 22), and A Christmas Carol (December 2-27).

I’ll be curious to see the remount of Vanya, since I absolutely loved what he did with another Chekhov favourite, Three Sisters, with playwright Nicolas Billon this past season.

Other awesomeness?

Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound and Peter Schaeffer’s Black Comedy, in a double-bill (August 20-September 20), Lorraine Hansbury’s A Raisin in the Sun (October 19-November 19), and Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon (August 23-Septemnber 20).

Ambitious, eclectic… holy smokes.

I know, I'm gushing. I can't help it.

But, to quote a friend of mine, "I just want to like stuff now. I'm sick of not liking stuff."

Those words have stuck with me for a long time.

So after decades of criticism, sneering, cynicism and sarcasm directed at the hard work of many, I can safely say, no more.

Soulpepper is one poppy I am not cutting down.