Stoppardfest comes to town
Theatre Festival starts January 18
KERRI WOLOSZYN STAFF
W hen the two titular antiheroes of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are watching Hamlet’s too-close-to-home play about his father’s murder, they become upset and begin having an argument with the players. They argue about what a play should be and Rosencrantz says, “I want a good story with a beginning, middle and end.” Stoppard’s plays, unfortunately for Rosencrantz, have always been much more than just good stories with beginnings, middles and ends.
This year MTC is presenting StoppardFest, a theatre festival devoted to a single playwright (last year was O’NeillFest) that showcases plenty of local talent. This year’s festival seems to be a tonal departure from the rather heavy festivals of past years that have come in the bleak winter months. The festival runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 4 and boasts 11 shows, many of which can be seen one after the other on the same night.
Stoppard’s canon is vast and includes such noteworthy plays as the above, as well as Arcadia, The Real Inspector Hound and Transvestites, which won a Tony award in 1976. This year’s offerings include Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (as performed by the Black Hole Theatre Company), The Real Thing and The Real Inspector Hound. The festival also includes a rather exciting and unorthodox offering from Westwood Collegiate. A sixperson cast is performing Stoppard’s Fifteen Minute Hamlet in front of the patrons of The Real Thing in the lobby of the MTC Warehouse Theatre. This two-for-one deal will take place three nights only, on Jan. 24, 25 and 26.
Sandy White, the drama teacher at Westwood Collegiate, explained that the tradition to put on a show in these festivals was started with BrechtFest in 2002. “You are sticking your neck out on the line. You could have a great show or you could have a lousy show,” said White. “This is above and beyond any course requirements. They do it because they want to do it.”
White explained that the decision to do the show in a theatre lobby was partially due to location. “Most of the festival is downtown, we’re way the heck out here,” he said. “I thought if we do a 15-minute piece we can piggy-back onto MTC.”
Tomasz Maciejewski, a grade 11 student who plays Shakespeare, Claudius and Polonius in the production, said that he was eager to perform the show in front of a mixed audience. Maciejewski explained that the cast recently performed in front of a crowd in one of Westwood’s hallways. “There’s boos coming from the jocks, the artsy kids laughing and the people in the office are just like, ‘What the hell is going on?’”
Not to be outdone by the live performances, Cinematheque is showing some of Stoppard’s work in film form. Director Terry Gilliam’s classic Brazil was partially written by Stoppard as was Steven Speilberg’s Empire of the Sun. Cinematheque is also screening the 1990 film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.
There is also chance to catch discussions about Stoppard and his works at a series of lectures and panels. The lectures promise to help the Stoppard-novice get better acquainted with his work and witticisms in order to be more prepared for the plethora of theatre that awaits them at the festival. The lecture series is free and each lecture takes place at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20, Saturday, Jan. 27 and Sunday, Jan. 28.
Single tickets for theatre productions range in price from $6 to $41. StoppardFest passes are $59 and will get you into all of the shows. Passes are on sale at the MTC Box Office. For more information about passes call 942-6537 or check the StoppardFest website www.stoppardfest.com for full festival details and show times.
