Friday morning, Sept, 12, 2008
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario -
This morning I rolled over in my very comfortable room at the Prince of Wales, looked at the rain pattering down, and went right back to sleep -- which is amazing, because I was missing my tee-time at the NOTL Golf Club. In yesterday's gorgeous weather I'd assured myself it would take more than a little rain to keep me off the nice little 9-hole course along Lake Ontario, but when push came to shove I failed the test.
Of course I was coming off a very long day. The third show yesterday was Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession," on the big Festival Theatre stage, and it was a work-out. I've seen it several times before, but it's never before felt so close to tragedy. One of Shaw's earliest plays in his Ibsensite mode -- one of his "Plays Unpleasant," as he called them -- it couldn't even be produced for many years, because, of course, Mrs. Warren's profession is prostitution. She is manager and part owner of a string of brothels in foreign cities, and the play is all about the revelation of this to her intellectual middle-class daughter, just graduated from university, who has been protected from any knowledge of the source of her mother's money.
In fact, the daughter doesn't know much about her mother in any way, since she's mainly been raised by others. The play turns on two great scenes: first, the revelation, when the daughter comes to understand the struggle her mother has had in the world and to appreciate her for the first time, and then, after the further revelation that Mrs. Warren is still actively involved in the business, when the daughter rejects all her support, setting out on her own.
As you can imagine, the subject gives Shaw plenty of occasion to rail about the inequities faced by women, such that you are almost ready to cheer for Mrs. Warren's success. The hypocrisies of the male world that condemns her entrepreneurship but patronizes her services are made clear enough. But Shaw focuses on the ugly alternatives lower-class women face, leaving the business side of the story abstract, avoiding the cruel exploitation it involves. He doesn't really address prostition itself, at all.
The social/moral content is pungent enough, stirring ambivalent response. But the heart of the play is the mother-daighter relationship. I've seen it several times, but I've always seen the title character played with a confident elegance, which sharpens the shock of her revelation but cushions it, too. At the Shaw, though, Mrs. Warren is played by Mary Haney as a tough survivor of the streets. She comes from an entirely different world than her daughter, making their eventual rupture even more painful. In this production, the personal tragedy overwhelms the bracing debate about societal hypocrisy.
After the play the PG tour group returned to a private dining room at the Prince to share a drink and discuss what we'd seen so far. At these gatherings it's up to me to present my first thoughts about the plays, but what I really look forward to is hearing the responses of the group. Inevitably they cite aspects of the plays I haven't considered or even specific details I didn't notice. Every critic should have the advantage of such a focus group!
It was invigorating enough that when we broke up about midnight I was ready for more, so I went back to the Angel, and there I ran into Nicole Underhay, in town for her band's appearance the next day (tonight). She has plenty of friends here, having been a member of the Shaw company for several seasons. She took off this year to try some other things, which is why she was free to do "Salome" at PICT, and I think she may take off another year, since this one has sped by with plenty of options left unexplored.
Surprisingly, Nicole asked me about Lewis Norden, aka Buddy, the fine novelist who's long taught in the Pitt English Dept. She's been a fan of his for several years, having picked up one of his novels back home in Newfoundland and having sought out his books since. She even found one in an English-laguage bookstore in Korea. Or maybe I've got that backwards. Anyway, it was only after leaving Pittsburgh that she noticed in one of the books that he taught at Pitt. She particularly wants to know if his "Sharpshooter Blues" has been optioned for the movies -- the implication being that movies are one of the areas she wants to explore. So now I need to call Buddy and tell him his fans include a dimpled Canadian actress who feels a spiritual affinity for his work.
Nicole introduced me to a good friend, Nicola Correia-Damude -- Nicole and Nicola, blond and brunette -- who had been in the Stratford company before the Shaw. We talked about last summer's arms race, when Stratford, in its final year under Richard Monette, had appointed a successor triumvirate which began to make plans for 2008, offering actors contracts well ahead of the usual schedule. As a result, a few long-time Shaw actors ended up in Stratford, and the Shaw had to speed up its planning, too.
I gather things have quieted down a bit this year. But the Shaw's Jackie Maxwell has finalized her 2009 season and is negotiating with actors. That season will be announced this week or next. I'm still in this season, though. Today we see "A Little Night Music," which I love, so I'm excited and trepidatious, and "The Stepmother," about which I know nothing.
Posted
Sep 16 2008, 12:53 PM
by
Christopher Rawson