The Cultch Blog

By Sarah Marsh

When Toa Fraser began his first draft of No.2, he didn’t have to look very far for inspiration. While not autobiographical, the show draws upon various characters in his own life, and reveals a piece of the Fijian community in New Zealand, of which he is a part. Fraser wrote the original one-woman play in 1999, with the intention of one day turning it into a feature. He began the process of converting it into a screenplay in 2001, and spent the next several years crafting and shaping it. Fraser felt that the concept of a one-woman play would translate better into a screenplay. Just as a film does not have the distraction of set changes or actor exits and entrances, a one-woman show could just as easily jump between different scenes and characters.

However, the film sharply differs from its theatrical predecessor in that it contains an entire cast of individual characters. The cast of the film includes everyone from relatives of Fraser to the iconic African-American actress Ruby Dee, who takes on the role of the Fijian matriarch. The film was shot on location in New Zealand, in a suburb of Auckland called Mount Roskill. This is the same neighbourhood that Fraser’s Fijian family have resided in for the last few decades. Here they were also able to utilize the local film industry talent, which have become internationally recognized after the colossal success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also famously shot in the small country.

Fraser was wary of turning over such a personal story into the hands of strangers. From the beginning, he was adamant on directing both the original play and later the film himself, despite any directing experience. He was finally able to convince producers of his capability, and the resulting success story has no doubt been highly rewarding. The film version of No.2 debuted at the Sundance Festival in 2006, where it was awarded the World Dramatic Audience Award. Meanwhile, the story in its original form, the one-woman play, has toured steadily and successfully all over the world, to critical and audience acclaim.

Toa Fraser’s No. 2, performed by its long running talented star, Madeline Sami, runs January 31 – February 4, 2012. Tickets start at $16 and are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363 and in person at 1895 Venables Street.

By Sarah Marsh

For many people, gender identity is something that is taken for granted. Often enough, the bodies we are given and subsequent gender we associate with are in tandem with what is acceptable in society. For others, these socially constructed norms don’t fit quite as comfortably. Two different upcoming presentations at The Cultch, Paris is Burning and The Silicone Diaries, give a voice to such marginalized communities, and take the notion of gender as performance to a whole different level.

Paris is Burning is a 1990 documentary that chronicles the ‘Golden Age’ of drag balls in New York City. These balls act as a sort of fantasy fulfillment, in which marginalized members of society are celebrated and achieve a desired sense of recognition and fame. At these drag balls, the participants come together to compete in different categories, in which they are judged on ‘realness’. The competitors all belong to different houses, which act as both performance groups and surrogate families. Drag balls are also ripe with contradictions, as self expression is based on emulation, and ‘realness’ is really just a façade. The irony is not lost on the ball’s participants, many of whom describe their own struggles with identity and adversity.

The Silicone Diaries also touches on similar themes. Based on the real life experiences of Nina Arsenault, the show blurs the lines between what is real and what is artificial. Over eight years and sixty operations, Arsenault transformed herself from an awkward man into an extraordinary woman. Arsenault’s story represents the extent that some people will go to in order to feel comfortable in their own skin. The show challenges society’s accepted notion of beauty and its assumed preference for authenticity.

While The Silicone Diaries may reflect the extreme end of gender and sexual expression, Arsenault does not represent all people in her situation. Paris is Burning in particular dispels the misconception that the LGBTQ community is a homogenized group. There are just as many opinions about gender, sexual orientation, identity, and sex change operations within the group as there are outside of it. However, both shows also touch on the basic, connective human desire to just be accepted for exactly who you are. Both of these presentations demonstrate the ability of people to empower themselves in whatever way they can, and feel normal, whatever that may be.

The Silicone Diaries is running at The Cultch from February 14-25, 2012. Post-show talkbacks:
Feb 15, 16, 21, 22 . Tickets start at $21 and are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363 or in person at 1895 Venables Street.

By Jenna Livergant

A tree. A stone. Two men. That’s it.

The premise may seem sparse—but the play is anything but! (As if we’d expect anything less from one of “the most significant plays of the 20th century!”)

Rather, much of the complexity behind Beckett’s absurdist masterpiece rests in its apparent lack of complexity: it’s simple dialogue, repetitive nature, and (for some) nonsensical absence of plot. Indeed, so little seems to happen within or between the first and second acts that it comes as no surprise that Waiting for Godot has been famously described as the “play in which nothing happens, twice”.

But if Phoebe Gilman has taught us anything it’s that you CAN get something from nothing—especially when it comes to Beckett.

At the very least, the sparse setting and minimalist plot raise far more questions than provide answers: Who is Godot? And why are they waiting? Where are they waiting? And for how long? What about the tree sprouting leaves in Act II? And how do we explain the Pozzo and Lucky’s relationship? Even the play’s dark humour eludes simplicity…

With all of these uncertainties you may have found yourself back in Estragon’s boots, hopelessly sensing there’s “nothing to be done”. Rest assured, there’s beauty in the breakdown and we at The Cultch have provided a few interpretations we’re certain will have even the most skeptical viewers anxiously awaiting Waiting for Godot.

Along with a series of psychological interpretations that range from Freudian analyses to a Jungian approach, Waiting for Godot has often been read as a religious allegory. Indeed, Beckett’s inclusion of the story of the two thieves from Luke 23:39-43 and the ensuing discussion of repentance carries explicitly Christian overtones, while the play’s singular tree has been seen as representative of the Christian cross and the Biblical tree of life. And, despite his insistence otherwise, many have questioned whether “Godot” is in fact an allusion to God.

Political interpretations also abound, with many comparing the relationship between Pozzo and Lucky to that of a capitalist to his labourer. A Marxist reading of the second act commonly presents Pozzo as “blind to what is happening around him” and Lucky as “mute to protest his treatment”. Alternatively, the play has been read as an allegory for French resistance to Germany.

The absence of women or allusions to women in Waiting for Godot has led some to focus on the play’s homoerotic elements. Contributing further to this interpretation was Beckett’s infamous objection to several women’s acting companies staging the play during the 1980s.

From a philosophical perspective, Waiting for Godot is often scrutinized for its ethical implications and is most commonly mined for its existentialist focus on questions of death, the meaning of human existence, and the role (or absence) of God in that existence. Not surprisingly, much of Beckett’s work—especially Waiting for Godot—is seen as part of the movement of the Theatre of Absurd, a form of theatre that suggests that while inherent meaning might exist in the universe, humans’ mental/philosophical limitations ultimately prevent them finding it.

The irony of our efforts, of course: Beckett’s 1955 remark, “why people have to complicate a thing so simple I can’t make out”.

Waiting for Godot is running at The Cultch from Dec 27, 2011 – Jan 21, 2012. Jan 1, 8, 15: 2PM matinees. Tickets start at $16 and are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363 or in person at1895 Venables Street.

By Sarah Marsh

Imagine a world where the monetary system has collapsed, banks have closed, a deadly flu pandemic is spreading, Iceland has submerged, and three million kangaroos are on a rampant killing spree. The imaginative world of Penny Plain may be marred with the trappings of an apocalyptic nightmare, but the amusing tales of its remaining inhabitants keep the story wonderfully light. From an overstuffed chair in her dilapidated boarding house, the blind, elderly Penny Plain keeps informed about the state of the world from an eccentric collection of boarders and passerby’s. Since opening to a full house on November 17, critics and audiences alike have raved about Ronnie Burkett’s apocalyptic masterpiece, Penny Plain.

The story of Penny Plain touches on a lot of dark, gloomy themes. However, Burkett manages to maintain a sense of innocence throughout, “By sticking to an almost childlike approach to weighty matters, Burkett can make big statements come from puppets without either sounding silly or talking down to the crowd” (Vancouver Sun). Burkett also does not shy away from the more provocative material for which he has become known, “with his insistence on always flavouring a stew of ideas with some raunchy sexual asides, and never flinching from the exposure of raw wounds on or in his characters, our host is very much a puppeteer steering toward profundity” (Vancouver Sun).

The elegant simplicity of the set allows the eccentric characters to remain the focus of the show. As in all his plays, the backdrop “is again a marvel of clever construction— who can forget the carousel of Tinka’s New Dress, or the “art nouveau meets Gustav Klimt” of Provenance?” (Vancouver Sun). For this latest show, Burkett has built a metallic walkway where he stands above the scene in the shadows, “[keeping] even more focus on the puppets and not their manipulator” (Vancouver Sun). Penny Plain and her many visitors sway silently on hooks behind him, waiting for their turn in the spotlight. The marionettes uncharacteristically long strings keep Burkett farther from the action, with the exception of a few appropriately small asides which he keeps closer at hand.

Despite the fact that they are made of wood, Burkett’s marionettes are able to convey even the slightest of emotions. As in all his shows, we witness Burkett’s “superb skills at creating characters the height of a cereal box whose tiny, perfect gestures can convey any emotion” (Vancouver Sun). In one particularly touching scene, “Penny drops to her knees, raises one arm, and in the subtlest of gestures slowly strokes the empty space where her beloved pet would once have lain. It’s a sweet, poignant, profoundly human moment” (The Province).

Ronnie Burkett was inspired to write Penny Plain after hearing one of his idols, David Suzuki, proclaim that ‘the world may survive, but we may not’. The resulting apocalyptic comedy is more than just a simple end of the world drama, but a moving story full of “intelligence, creativity, poetry and artistry here of the highest caliber. Burkett is, quite plainly, a Canadian treasure” (The Courier). The accolades for Burkett continue, as Penny Plain “features 33 of Burkett’s remarkable puppets brought to beautifully textured life, and given individual character, costume and voice, by him alone. His skill as a puppeteer is unmatched, but his writing and acting are equally impressive” (The Province). In a particularly reflexive scene of Penny Plain, one marionette announces to the character Geppetto that “You’re not God, you’re just a puppeteer.” This may be true, but for some of his most loyal fans and critics, Ronnie Burkett sure comes pretty close.

Penny Plain is running November 17 to December 17 at The Cultch. Tickets start at $45 and are available online at tickets.thecultch.com, by phone at 604.251.1363 or in person at 1895 Venables Street.