The Art of Choosing the Public Exercises: High Performance

by Patrick McDonagh

Last May, the 2003 graduating class took the Ludger-Duvernay stage in the Monument-National to perform John Gay’s 18^th century ballad opera, The Beggar’s Opera. “This class was a very musical group,” says Sherry Bie, Artistic Director of the School’s English Section, “so we chose this play as a celebration at the end of their final year.” Bie’s observation underscores an important point: the four plays presented as public exercises serve first and foremost as a training ground where students can call upon the techniques and lessons they have learned since their arrival at the School.

The Journal sat down with Sherry Bie last June to get a better understanding of the complex process of putting into place the various elements of a multifaceted system that can serve various training needs while providing a unique and lasting artistic adventure for all involved.

A Two-Way Street

While the students are learning about theatre in their first two years, Bie and the other program directors and teachers are learning about their students. This helps them determine the capabilities and needs of each individual and the particular dynamics of the class. The play-list is chosen according to pedagogical objectives above all else. “I look for plays and directors that can offer the most stimulating challenges for the students,” explains Bie. “I’m more interested in the creative process than the final result even though these two phenomena are relatively inseparable. Within an arts school, the journey is more important than the final destination. Of course, there are some pragmatic decisions. For example, the number of women and men in a class make a difference in terms of what plays we can perform”

“The students need to take roles that may not be typical of what they will do after they graduate,” she continues. “Van Gogh talked about painting a canvas; you may paint it red, then white, then green, and purple, and finally black — and all of those other colors resonate on the final canvas. Even when young actors play older characters, they learn something that will be reflected the next time they play younger roles.”

Furthermore, it’s not only the actors who are put through their paces: there are also set, costume, lighting, and sound designers who leave the confines of their classes to conjure up an ephemeral world on a real stage rigged with all the equipment necessary to create illusion. There are production students who will organize and drive the show according to professional standards. Budding playwrights will hear their words brought to life on stage for the first time, and directing students will face the many requirements and unwritten rules that need to be mastered for the theatrical experience to emerge and develop.

Working with the Pros

Guest directors play a critical role in the learning process as they confront the students with a range of approaches. “All of our students, no matter what program they are in, need the experience of working with a diversity of directors,” Bie stresses. This year, the crew of guest directors includes Sarah Stanley, Canadian theatre legend Martha Henry (Acting, 1962), and Chris Abraham (Directing, 1996); others will be approached to direct scripts produced by the two graduating playwriting students.

“The ideal director in the context of the School is a true artist, passionate about training other artists who are just discovering their own voice. Directors are both an example and a guide for students. They must be paragons of patience and solicitude while instilling discipline and a performance ethic that will further the students’ training. This is very demanding. Furthermore, recruiting these directors is quite difficult because they are often so busy with their own careers. I had to wait two years before Martha Henry was available.”

The Upcoming Season

Plays are often selected through collaboration with guest directors. Originally, Bie had planned to start the 2003-2004 season with a Chekhov play. “That choice would fit the actors in terms of style and period, but they did a Chekhov piece in the scene study at the end of second year and couldn’t have had a richer experience.” Sarah Stanley, who taught the 2004 graduating acting class in their first year, proposed Shaw’s Heartbreak House, which the students will now mount as their first play this fall. “She told me that for her it’s a dream come true,” says Bie, “and it is a gift for the students to work with a director who is that passionate about a project.” The play, a period piece, includes characters and dialects that will stretch the actors. Shaw’s notoriously complex set descriptions will give the design students enough challenges to keep them busy; and technical production students will be thoroughly engaged with the problem of how to produce the play in the smaller studio space rather than in the proscenium environment for which the play was written.

While Bie does not have a set list of the types of plays the students should perform in their final year, she does consider certain priorities: plays from the Canadian classical canon, Shakespeare, and Greek drama are all high in the rankings, although, obviously, not all get done every year. As well, she notes, the plays must place a range of demands on technical production and design students — luckily, an Elizabethan romance and a modernist drama have considerably different design and production requirements. “I don’t choose scripts thinking ‘this suits our audience,’” she notes, “but I really believe our audiences are interested in witnessing challenging work by young people who are serious, committed practitioners.” In the end, the audiences probably share Bie’s assessment. “I love the experience of student shows,” she emphasizes, “because their work is raw and touched with a glimpse of possibility and joy.”

Top of article