Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Tuesday, 12 April 2005

Unless, it's Cavendish

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - Tonight is the last night in this limited run, but it's worth checking out nonetheless, especially if you want to see the next instalment this summer. Last week, we took in Sex in Vancouver . . . Undressed, which ends tonight at the Roundhouse Community Centre (Davie and Pacific). Staged by the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, whose president Joyce Lam appeared on The Commentary's interview segment recently, it's an episodic theatre effort providing a necessary and entertaining look at single life through the eyes of Asian Canadians. Save for one, the cast is Asian, and the story reflects their diversity. Of course, Asians are as nuanced as anybody else, but the ugly stereotype in popular culture often relegates Asians to laundries or inane sidekick roles. The characters in Sex in Vancouver have a depth that'd shock Hop Sing. Though there are stereotypes enforced and destroyed, the show is entertaining enough. The cast is delightfully enthusiastic, eager, and doubtless destined for more credits to add to their burgeoning resumes. There's an effective use of multimedia-film and music-making it apt for non-theatrically inclined audiences. What value for $25.00 for both episodes, with a third coming this summer. Check out their website for more information, http://www.vact.ca, or just show up tonight at 8.00 pm at the Roundhouse.

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Now playing at the Arts Club's Stanley Theatre, or the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage as recently announced, is the adaptation of the Carol Shields novel, Unless, starring the indomitable Nicola Cavendish. On the surface, it's not a very provocative setting; some Canadian author living comfortably in rural Ontario has a daughter who decides to be beggar. At the play's start, the characters are often caricatures, more entertaining rather than dense thought-provoking protagonists. Cavendish is a commanding stage presence, yet she's is delightful. Vancouver audiences take to her, and that's obvious from her first appearance on stage. It's sort of an inside joke when she glances a certain way, sighs a certain way, or makes some gesture. That's perhaps a sign of how comfortable she is, as well as how comfortable audiences are with her. If there is a female version of the adjective 'avuncular,' it'd be apt for Cavendish. She's lovable in Unless, and in the role of the mother she's loving.

She's got three kids-all girls-and the eldest, Norah, has fled. She's at college, but she's fled her live-in boyfriend to sit on a corner panhandling in Downtown Toronto. Celine Stubel, who plays Norah is haunting, something seemingly difficult to pull off because she has little dialogue. She sits on stage most of the time, donning a cardboard sign that reads 'goodness.' She's quite effective, allowing for the cacophony of monologues, hackling, comedy and drama around her onstage to transpire, while sitting staring into the distance. So what does the 'goodness' sign mean? Why is she doing it? Such are the questions confounding Cavendish's character, Reta Winters, and the others in the cast-her husband played by Allan Morgan (who dons another role), and a gaggle of broads who coffee with Reta weekly, not to mention a silent mother-in-law played by Nicola Lipman, who eventually speaks in a tour-de-force dinner scene that's riotously funny.

While the drama in her life unfolds, Reta is busily writing a sequel to a first novel. The characters come alive on stage, as she composes them. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I didn't find the plot development of her novel effort linked to essence of the story-her daughter's exile into the world of panhandling and self-imposed poverty. Maybe it's a reflection of Reta's neglect that she's focusing on creating a completely different set of characters while seemingly wrestling with the characters in her life. Mind you, despite her familial conundrums, she still finds time for those coffee talks, as well as weekly sex with her hubby. I found the emergence of Reta's novel protagonists in humorous appearances in her mind's eye, and for us onstage or behind the three screens erected on stage, a distraction from the mother-daughter drama unfolding. Seeing Roman and Alicia, the characters in Reta's novel was funny, sure, but it did take away. The angst of Reta was no better evoked in the shocking and chilling scene where she visits her panhandling daughter, and in the midst of passer-by's and traffic on a busy Toronto intersection, she tries to grab her and take her home. Screaming and crying ensues of course. In scenes like this, and in the number of monologues Cavendish articulates throughout, you can see the anguish she's dramatising.

The set is very multimedia. There are a couple letters to various editors that author Reta verbalises during the show, and they are shown like a running crawl on the screens onstage. They're funny sure, but they are diversions to provide the show with comedic moments more than anything else. The use of screens to project words is ingenious, but should you sit in a less than central part of the house, you'll probably miss stuff. Same goes for the revolving stage. It makes scene and set changes fast, but the way some furniture is situated, you could miss some essential ambiance in some scenes.

If you liked the Carol Shields book, you'll probably want to check it out. However, if you're a purist about adaptations from book to stage, you might be horrified, considering that there's some that might have had to be sacrificed. But the draw definitely is Nicola Cavendish. You realise a few minutes after watching her, why she's one of the city's more prolific and popular performers.

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Unless by Carol Shields and Sara Cassidy is directed by Roy Surette, and stars Nicola Cavendish, Tara Hughes, Nicola Lipman, Matthew MacFadzean, Allan Morgan, Elizabeth Sauders, Michael Spencer-Davis, and Celine Stubel. It runs until 01 May 2005 at the Stanley Theatre at Granville and 12th. Top price for tickets is $49.50 and available by calling 604.280.3311. For more information hit up: http://www.artsclub.com.

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Thursday, we were at the UnReel Film Studios for their grand opening shindig. It's a film school with a studio set up that could be used for professional projects. There's a 10,000 square foot stage with green and blue screens with a 28-foot ceiling. I've never been on a Hollywood set, let alone a studio, so it was neat being walked through the facility and the production offices. They've got a 40-seat screening room too, and dressing rooms, audio rooms-Foley and ADR, whatever those are. Amidst the noshing and the singing and swinging of Dal Richards and his band, I had an interesting chat with Ty Haller, who was once program director of the Vancouver Film School, about the state of the film industry in the Lower Mainland. He's an instructor at UnReel, and was enthusiastic about the school and its concept. If you're interested, check out their website: http://www.unreelschool.com.

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