EODL Success and the Reformed Theatre Snob

It has been one busy fall/beginning of winter in the Ginley/Plante household. First off, between Tim and I we were working on 3 shows at one time at the end of October early November, as we prepped for the Eastern Ontario Drama League Festival in Perth ON with Tim’s original show Deliever’d From NoWhere, and the remount of The Soldier Dreams for Tototoo. As well, I cast and started directing my OLT show Drinking Alone by Norm Foster.

The EODL was very fruitful for both Tim and I on the November 14th weekend. We knew our show was strong and our actors lovely but our adjudicator, John Lazarus showed us proof in the pudding. Our show The Soldier Dreams won 3 awards and 2 of them being the most coveted of awards (sorry I have to toot the horn as the show was very good) Best Production and the People’s Choice Award for Best Production (voted by the audience). We shared the People’s Choice in a tie with another Daniel MacIvor play done by More Theatre. Obviously the masses like MacIvor as much as we do. And why wouldn’t they – he is freakin’ AWESOME!!!!!

What was great about this EODL experience though was seeing Tim’s play come alive. The actors we put together for this show worked really great together and really moved the play. I couldn’t have imagined a better Murray then what Sterling Lynch did. And I just adore watching Chris Ralph on stage. Together with Geoff Gruson’s direction not only with the boys on the stage but in shaping the script they came out with a Best Director award for Geoff and a nomination for Tim for Best Original Script. The adjudicator actually said Tim’s show was like “Waiting for Godot on Speed” and that Tim’s writing was reminiscent of Sam Shepard. Awesome!

But enough about that! The news of the day is that Drinking Alone is a hit! It is selling well, getting good reviews and buzz. This past weekend I got to meet the playwright Norm Foster. Now I’ll admit I was not a fan of Mr. Foster’s work. I guess you could say I am now a re-formed Theatre snob. I think a lot of theatre Purists would say his work is predictable and cliché. Maybe some of it is, but working on Drinking Alone I discovered the FUN in theatre again - well it started with directing Soldier Dreams, continued with Oreo and this just solidified it. I also came to realize why audiences flock to see his work and why do people go first and foremost to theatre? To be ENTERTAINED. That is one thing Norm does well. He creates recognizable characters in recognizable situations. With his plays, if done well with good actors, you can laugh one minute and cry the next. I found a comment Norm made Saturday night very interesting – someone had asked him about how to get more people to go to theatre and he said “they should talk to these people at the OLT because they are doing something right”.

The thing I found that I loved about meeting Norm is he’s so unpretentious. He doesn’t pretend that his work is anything that it is not. He is comfortable in his own skin and he keeps doing what he is doing because it makes him happy and he loves doing it. As well, and let’s be honest, he makes a shit load of money doing it. And honestly the man is great with modern dialogue that rings true (well not all the time but for the most part). He admits there are scripts of his that he’d love to burn (he actually admitted he hates his first play), and that he doesn’t read other playwrights work nor does he pretend to know other Canadian playwrights work. Nor does he rely on Grants to work. He has never applied for one in his life. He never studied theatre. And he knows his niche market and is happy with that. He feels the only people who see theatre as High art are theatre people – not audiences. Audiences just want to see a good play. If it teaches them something or makes them think great! If it doesn’t but merely is there to entertain, this as I mentioned above is why theatre the majority of the time is put on the stage, fantastic.

What do you think? Should theatre first and foremost entertain but also educate or probe – or can it just be there to entertain? What do you think most audiences want? From what I’ve seen in the last year at OLT – they want to be entertained – because house numbers and money rolling in NEVER LIES. (Throw in a Norm Foster and Agatha Christie in your season is GOLD for ticket sales)

We did some quick math on Sunday morning at breakfast– on January 1st of any given year, Norm wakes up with a salary of $50,000 to start with just his Royalties from his plays for productions set to go that year. But calculating quickly we figure he rakes in about $100,000 per year. Can any other playwright in Canada say that they take that in? What other playwright in Canada can boast that he/she has a translation of there play (Drinking Alone) being done at the famous Moscow Art Theatre running for 5 years in Rep? Or has plays that have been produced around the world?

I can be honest and say, I prefer plays by the likes of MacIvor, or ones that might make you think more or be able to be more visually represented – but that is my theatre side seeing the creative challenge, and what I just like to read. But working on this piece, hearing the crazy laughter from a full house and the vibe that that creates and hearing the wonderful comments from patrons coming out of the theatre, I see the benefits and draw of Norm’s works. We all want most times to be just entertained. We all want to leave our everyday selves for a few hours to laugh and cry and someone else’s fictional life. It doesn’t have to be rocket science; it just has to be good, committed, entertaining fun. SO - Here’s to another SOLD OUT weekend of Drinking Alone!