[rds]

I have recently returned from a two week trip to Ontario, Canada where I attended two festivals. The first week was spent at Niagara on the Lake, an unbelievably beautifull town on the very tip of Ontario on Lake Ontario and just across from the USA.

The Shaw festival, as it name suggests produces Shaw plays. Usually at least two of his plays each season along with other classics, not Shakespeare, they leave that to Stratfrod ON, and a couple of musicals.

This year amongst the Shaw plays was a very fine production of St Joan starring Tara Rosling, making this her fourth season at the Shaw. I had seen the magnificent performance by Anne Marie Duff only a few weeks previously at the National (NT) but I have to say that Miss Rosling topped that for me. She captured the youthfull zeal of Joan, and the blithe innocence that took her to the fire so completely that one almost could here the voices, and the final moments of despair were so palpable that one would have to be made of stone not to have been moved by it. ****

Jackie Maxwell, the artistic director, directed this production with flair and intellegence. It was our last show at The Shaw this season and what a production to go out on.

Other productions were as follows:

Mack & Mabel.

Starring Benedict Campbell and Glynis Ranney was the best production I am likely to see of this show for a long time to come. Mr Campbell gave an exhilarating performance as the irrepressible Mack Sennet, and Ms Ranney was heartbreaking as Mabel Normand, particularly with her stunning rendition of "Time Heals Everthing". The ensemble and staging were first rate. Another four stars to Molly Smith, the director, for this superb production. ****

The Philanderer.

The other Shaw play starred the "veteran" performer par excellence - Ben Carlson. I say veteran this is his 12 season at Shaw, but he can only be in his thirties. He is a consummate performer and a brilliant speaker of the huge parts Shaw is inclined to give his characters. But in Mr Carlsons capable mouth it is wonderfull. He ought to be asked to come over here to the NT and give the British public an opportunity to appreciate his talent.

He was ably supported by the delighfull Nicole Underhay as Julia and other veterans of the Shaw amongst them Norman Browning as Mr Jospeh Cuthbertson and Peter Hutt as Colonel Craven who helped the play zing along. Nobody does Shaw better than the Shaw, so if you are a fan Niagara on the Lake should be in your diary. ****

This season had a production of The Cassilis Engagement by St John Hankin and I was left afterwards thinking why, in all the years I have been going to the NT, I never seen this play before - why? The Mercury Theatre in Colchester did it in 1976, but that seems to be about it, and so long ago.

It was an excellent production of an intriguing story. Did it influence Shaw with Pygmalion, who knew Hankin and his work? Or perhaps later on Noel Coward possibly? I still had to go all the way to Canada, and to a little town on the edge of a Lake, to see it -come on NT! ****

A Month in the Country was well acted in the most part and stylishly directed. Fiona Byrne as Natatlia, Marla Mclean as Vera stood out for me. But overall I was not too impressed by it - hence **

I shall pass over the other musical Tristan. Believe it ot not it has been adapted from Thomas Mann's story "Tristan". Mmmhh! by Paul Sportelli and Jay Turvey. Here are just some of the titles of the numbers:
The Embroidery Song, Part I, The Embroidery Song, Part II, The Embroidery Song, Part III, The (f**king) Embroidery Song, Part IV. !! I kid you not - the f**king is mine! But it was when Glynis Ranney, as Gabrielle, twirled around on a piano stool in front of an illuminated perspex piano waving her arms in the air to Wagner's Lieberstod from Tristan & Isolda that it got too much for me! Enough! I thought. This is definitely a work in, I'd like to say progress, ...?? and I am surprised that the Shaw gave it the light of day? *

Summer and Smoke, by Tennessee Williams seemed too clinical a production and did nothing for me. **

A stylish production of the Circle, by Somerset Maughan seemed so modern that I wondered if they had tweaked the text but they hadn't. ***

Nothing quite prepared me for Hotel Peccadillo adapted from Feydeau by Morris Panych. It romped around the main Festival stage with such gusto and precision I felt almost as breathless as the cast. Particular credit must go to the delightfull Patrick Galligan as Dr Pinglet who's transformation into an air hotess (it was an adaptation) was so complete that a gasp went up from some of the audience when they, even after he'd been running around the stage for a while in drag, realised it was in fact him! Benedict Campbell was back in great form as the cuckolded husband, Paillardin. Lorne Kennedy, who has perhaps the finest speaking voice in the company, pranced around the stage as Georges Feydeau, back from the dead, and now running the Hotel Peccadillo. His french accent alone would have been enough, but the way he moved was so wonderfull, with his hair seemingly to have exploded from his head, he stole the show for me.

Again superb support from the rest of the company, Jeff Irving as Maxime, Pinglet's geeky son and the object of Victoire's affections, Trish Lindstrom as the hilariously abrupt Victoire, Pinglet's secretary and pursuer of Maxime, Charlotte Gowdy as Mme Paillardin the adulturous wife and finally if you aren't too confused already Goldie Semple was terrific as the Elaine Stritch type wife of Pinglet, and getting it off like all the rest of them. With requisite doors set in an Alice in Wonderland corridor of diminishing height which played havoc with the perspective and made the cast appear to grow or shrink depending upon which way they moved up or down stage.

Just one other person who must be mentioned - Laurie Paton, Ludmilla the lesbian chaperone of a group of Russian air hostesses, don't ask!. She gave Lorne Kennedy and Patrick Galligan a good run for their money
****

Finally two short plays by Lady Agusta Gregory and directed with great skill by Micheline Chevrier . The second of the two and the longer one "Spreading The News" has Tara Rosling this time playing Mrs Fallon the wife of the unfortunate Bartley Fallon, played by Guy Bannerman, who has been wrongly accused of murder after rumours, started about him by the deaf old apple woman Mrs Tarpey, Mary Haney, lead all and sundry to the inevitable conclusion in this very Irish farce. ***


In "The Rising of the Moon" the sergeant, Douglas E Hughes, has his loyalties challenged when confronted by the ragged man, Patrick McManus who also sings the moving and haunting ballad at the begining and from which the play's title comes. Should the sergeant help him escape or should he arrest him and collect a substantial reward? The song which the ragged man sings to him touches his very soul. The sergeant knows the song from his childhood and sings it together with the ragged man. It reminds him of "the living past", and what he must do now. This overtly nationalist play is set on the quays at Galway which are inspiringly conjured up from a large circular back drop making the moon of the title and a large barrel, the only other prop - that's it! Brilliant. ****

Yet again, the Shaw ensemble of actors directors, designers and stage hands have proved what a world class theatre company they, are and anyone wanting a trip to Canada should put Niagara on the lake at the top of their list. But, remember, a lot of tickets go on subscription, many visit from the USA to see the plays, so booking online and as early as possible is a must. www.shawfest.com


I continue this review of The Ontario Festivals of Canada 2007 at: Topic Description: Stratford Festival 2007