Theatre and Society: Culture on the Road

by Patrick McDonagh

Once upon a time in Canada, all theatre was international. It was embodied by touring companies from Britain, Europe or the US, and the only homegrown theatre was of the amateur variety. Today, the term “international theatre” denotes something considerably more global, and its influence is critical for nourishing Canadian art.

Like adventurers of old, today’s travelling theatre producers scour the world’s festivals, returning home with tales of unusual practices and aesthetics, frequently with specimens in the form of touring companies to be presented before an eager and curious public. Most often, this public congregates at a Canadian international theatre festival, an important, albeit comparatively rare, cultural event. The Carrefour international de théâtre in Quebec City, the Festival de théâtre des Amériques in Montreal, and the World Stage at Harbourfront in Toronto are the country’s major festivals. Other festivals also include healthy doses of internationalism, notably the Six Stages Festival in Toronto, the High Performance Rodeo in Calgary and, most recently, the Push International Series in Vancouver.

“Eastern Europeans have different approaches to acting and directing,” says Don Shipley, Artistic Director of the World Stage Festival, when discussing whether or not it is possible to identify fairly specific theatrical traits in different parts of the world. An aspect of this difference can be seen in Teatr Rozmaitosci’s rendition of the Polish classic Magnetism of the Heart. Under Grzegorz Jarzyna’s direction, the comedy of manners is reproduced in a multi-disciplinary mélange of styles, a fusion of intellectual analysis, sculptural staging, and innovative choreography. While the young director is hardly representative of all Polish work — in fact theatre conservatives have taken issue with his disrespect for the classics — he does share with many of his compatriots an engagement with classical influences and a healthy blend of romanticism and intellectual analysis. These qualities are also evident in another Eastern European piece from Czech dance-theatre artists Kristyna Lhotáková and Ladislav Soukup, Venus with a Rubic’s Cube, which appeared at Six Stages, the High Performance Rodeo, and the Tangente dance series in Montreal. The effect was not lost on Canadian directors. “You could see the Eastern European influence in productions almost immediately,” says Shipley of the local impact.

This year, the World Stage is emphasizing South African theatre, bringing in several plays as well as hosting the Indaba showcase of South African arts. “It’s the first time we’ve focused on a country,” says Shipley. “It is extraordinary how South Africa has created a platform for emerging artists. There are a lot of new young voices, each very unique.” That said, some similarities can be identified: a concern with the recent history of South Africa, dealing with the fallout of the apartheid system, and an engagement with — and reworking of — European culture. The World Stage program includes Thembi Mtshali’s trans-generational, autobiographically based A Woman in Waiting, the exuberant musical Yiimimangaliso: the Mysteries (an African reconfiguration of medieval mystery plays), a new English translation of George Bizet’s opera Carmen, featuring Xhosa dialogue, and Pamela Gien’s solo tour de force, The Syringa Tree, a story about love, loss, dreams, and race relations.

Much of the international theatre coming through Canada is presented at alternative festivals such as Six Stages, the High Performance Rodeo, and Push International. These pieces are often experimental or multidisciplinary works. For example, this season all three festivals featured acclaimed Australian performer William Yang in their programs. Yang’s multidisciplinary storytelling theatre — Shadows, with its themes of dispossession and race relations, and incorporating photography by the performer — is a programming natural both in its experimental approach and in the fact that, as a solo performer with a minimalist set, he travels inexpensively.

Touring acts expose Canadian theatre professionals to what’s going on across the globe, and the influence is further distilled in the World Stage’s Director’s Workshop, in which international directors work with up to eighteen of their Canadian peers. Sherry Bie, Artistic Director of the NTS's English Section, participated in 1998. “You get a different aesthetic to reflect upon, as well as different cultural reference points,” she enthuses. “I still hear [Brazilian director] Bia Lessa’s ‘What you don’t understand is what makes you unique,’ or Katie Mitchell’s advice to ‘be curious why things fail’ — powerful drops of inspiration that continue to fuel my work.”

While it might be difficult to define a common aesthetic among the international acts, even those from the same country, the festival directors have several criteria in common. Stressing the importance of good scripts, production values, and acting and directing, Shipley concludes: “It’s like buying a gift for somebody. You get something you like yourself and hope they would like it too. I tend to chose things that move me to the edge of my seat” — as good a defining feature as any of the best the world can offer.

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