CBCUnlocked, October 04, 2005
Stratford's 'play-in-progress' benefits actors, audience
By: Catherine Kustanczi-Johnson
It's probably one of the most unusual scenes ever staged at the Stratford Festival.
The Studio Theatre stage is crammed with a cast dressed in black, reading from music stands. As each line is delivered, the stands are raised and then lowered, to correspond with the actors rising or sitting, depending on their roles.
Despite the lack of costumes, set or even movement, the audience is spellbound.
At one point, there is a compelling verbal exchange between the historical figure of Elinor of Aquitaine and the mythical figure of Robin Hood.
Venerable Stratford actress Lally Cadeau, as Elinor, offers tantalizing hints to Robin, played (or rather, read) by Andy Velasquez, about his questionable lineage.
She suggests Robin may be a prince.
"A prince?" he asks her, stunned.
"Yes," she replies, "of thievery."
The audience collectively inhales, waiting to hear what comes next. But the actors shut their binders, bow and exit the stage. So ends the tale of Robyn Hode - for now.
The Stratford Festival's workshop of the play-in-progress received a good turnout, even if it left audience members on the edge of their seats with regards to the namesake's fate.
Robyn Hode, written by Festival actor Jonathan Goad, isn't yet complete, but is part of the ongoing Through the Workshop Window series, started in 2003 as a way of introducing the public to works-in-progress at the festival.
That North America's largest theatre repertory company - perhaps best-known for producing Shakespearean works - should be fostering new talent and putting their writing up to public scrutiny is noteworthy, not only for its bravery but for the vision and spirit of innovation behind it.
Andrey Tarasiuk, associate director and head of new play development with the Stratford Festival, says that at its inception, the series was a way to provide "ongoing commissioning and ongoing development ... [so] there would be a consistency in terms of development and ultimately production."
He says the value of commissioning and presenting new works is twofold. First, it's enormously helpful for playwrights to be in the creative mix that is the festival.
"There is a legacy and foundation on which playwrights write today and the more one understands the past, the stronger one is in one's ability and craft to shape that which represents us, today, for the future."
The other benefit in having a workshop series is that it attracts an audience "specifically keen on new works," hitting a demographic Stratford might not have otherwise succeeded in reaching, and expanding the festival's appeal beyond its traditional borders.
In addition, a creative fusion occurs in having such close proximity between actors and emerging playwrights.
"One works off the other," Tarasiuk explains, "and it becomes a very lively and current artistic sensibility, rather than a museum of works."
When the work is first presented to actors, Tarasiuk affirms that "it's a landmark moment in the process, to hear from others what you have imagined from your own place and position."
Goad says as a youngster he frequently imagined himself as the famous Sherwood Forest outlaw.
"He was probably one of the first heroes I ever played the character of - in my own ravine behind my house!"
Goad initially turned down the festival's invitation to work on the play about a year ago. With its extensive mythological roots, huge cast of characters, cultural and historical branches, and Erroll Flynn/Disney/Men-in-Tights associations, Goad thought it would be near impossible to stage.
"The more I researched, the more I became fascinated by it, but the harder it was to put pen to paper ... the possibilities are huge."
Goad began writing "as the first Robin Hood tale was written" - in ballad form. From there, he utilized a classical-style verse that borrowed from the language and style of both medieval plays and Shakespearean works. He also integrated his work with sources that originate from the time the Robin Hood tales were created.
Goad says the process of writing "takes patience and trust not to manipulate it - not unlike acting. I've always written, and it's something I love ... it was one of my first instincts as an artist."
Robyn Hode is set in the 12th century, a time of major political and social turmoil. It is peopled with characters of enormous historical, cultural, and mythological significance, such as Elinor of Aquitaine, Shakespeare's Oberon and Titania from Midsummer Night's Dream, an escaped Muslim slave, and Onorata Scarletti, the 14th-century Italian female painter.
He acknowledges that loading down the audience with too many characters and threads of mythology makes them "stop caring the way they should. Of course you want people to like you as an actor, you want people to like you as a writer - to like what you have to present - but at this point in the process, I had to prepare myelf for people walking out."
Having just completed his seventh season in Stratford with leading roles in Measure for Measure, The Brothers Karamazov, and Orpheus Descending, Goad says he learned a thing or two about the playwright's struggle in finishing and shaping a dramatic work, pointing particularly at Tennessee Williams' 17-year-odyssey in getting Orpheus from pen to stage.
Though Goad says his play won't take nearly that long to complete (he hopes to have a finished story by Christmas), he acknowledges that "things need to germinate."
Lest anyone think he, as an actor, might start getting a bit precious about his work, Goad bristles.
"There is nothing sacred about what I've written, and quite frankly, 80 per cent of it may go at the end of the day."
So audiences may ultimately see a very different Robyn Hode being workshopped next year, though they can derive some satisfaction from being what Tarasiuk calls "shareholders" in the play's future.
"[The audience is] on ground-level with this work. They start to take ownership of it, and when it's produced, they're there celebrating, having had an involvement and interest in the work from the very start."
Stratford's Through the Workshop Window series provides just that kind of opportunity, though judging by the applause at the end of the reading, it's easy to surmise this Robin is right on the mark.