Obligatory Year End Post

by Phil RickabyEnd of Year blather, Theatre, WritingPosted on No Comments

Now is the time of year, where everywhere you turn, you’ll find some yahoo with a blog providing a year-in-review post, or a top ten list, or something like that. And who am I to buck tradition? So, let’s get to it:

This past year has been pretty performance focused. I did the New Ideas Festival, made my directing debut, performed in a BYOV at the Toronto Fringe Festival, and finally turned a four year project into a theatrical reality with The Belle of Winnipeg. That’s more theatre than I’ve done in the last few years combined. This is good. I loved every second of it. After all, it’s what I trained to do. What I love to do.

I’m trying to negotiate the waters with my day job, to see what I will be able to do next year, theatre-wise. I’m taking on a bit more responsibility, but I need to make sure that I’ll still be able to pursue some theatre. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m also starting to concentrate more on writing. Progress on the next draft of the one-man play continues. I’m getting some feedback from some trusted sources, and then I’ll see where to take it next. I’m researching a historical drama, which I should be able to start writing within the next month to two months, and I’m going to be writing some short stories in the next little while.

I guess that’s the goal for this year. I want to keep acting going, but writing seems to be where the focus is right now, so that’s what I’m planning to be doing for the next little while. I’m talking to D.J. Sylvis about starting up a playwriting group, because (quite frankly) I tend to need the encouragement of others to keep the writing going. When it’s all over, I’d like to have at least 2 plays completed, and a few short stories.

Let’s review this next year at this time, shall we?

Belle of Winnipeg experience

by Phil RickabyBelle of Winnipeg, TheatrePosted on No Comments

I’ve been staring at this blank entry screen for a while now. It took four years to bring the Belle of Winnipeg to the stage. Four years from the day that Dana Fradkin had lunch with Richard Beaune and they first discussed the concept of bringing a silent film to the live stage. Four years since a team of actors was first assembled, and began trying to figure out how we could possibly do this thing. We watched silent films, got a sense of their style and found archetypes and ideas that stood out. We experimented with clown techniques, with laban, played with stage combat, and movement and improv. We played. We created a number of characters, we built scenes, and we started to play with various stories. After a while we added some more actors to the group, finding that we needed to round out the cast with more men. We added four very talented guys to the group, and continued to play and create and build scenes. And we added David Atkinson as our music director/piano player. How lucky we were as a group to find such a talented musician, who could take a scene that was just created and add what sounded like music he’d spent weeks composing. His music, brought the scenes to life. He was not just musical accompaniment, he was a part of the cast, his music was a character in the play.

Then we needed to get to work, and so we had to switch our focus from play to work, as we began to focus on putting together our stories and characters into a narrative, which we would present to an invited group as a workshop performance. Presenting this was a great learning experience. We learned how easy it was to confuse and audience, and that for the style of play we were attempting to create, simplicity was best. And so a script was built by Richard Beaune and our dramaturg Jordan Hall, and once that was done, we set to work.

A script for a silent film play is, when compared with the script for a traditional play, a slip of a thing. More of an outline of the scenes and story, giving the major points, and then the actors, in rehearsal take the story, put the characters into the scenes and see what happens. The scenes are honed to find the balance between moments that are amusing and moments that drive the story forward. And then, after a lot of hard work: you have a play.

Before we opened, I was nervous. Here we had a play that was something that none of us had ever seen before. We thought it was funny, but we didn’t know if other people would like it. Fortunately, they did. Audiences laughed, applauded and cheered. And we, the actors, enjoyed performing it every night. More than that, we enjoyed watching it. Every night, the actors were watching the scenes they were not in, taking in the scenes as they played out onstage, seeing what was working and what new things were happening. And we were enjoying David’s music that played as a part of the scenes.

And now, the play is over. We ran our two weeks, and consider the play a success. But I think we all agree that the play needs more. It would be so simple to tour the show. It could go anywhere and play to any audience, with a simple adjustment of the title cards, it could play in any language. I hope that this is not the end of the Belle of Winnipeg, and that in time, we find a way to keep the show alive and to keep performing it for audiences who will continue to enjoy it.

Its been a great trip, and one that I hope is not over yet.

Belle of Winnipeg Reviewed: Toronto Stage

by Phil RickabyBelle of Winnipeg, TheatrePosted on No Comments

Today the first review of The Belle of Winnipeg was postedby TorontoStage.com, providing some great praise for the show.

It’s almost as if the company set out to prove that actions speak louder than words with a low budget, motion infused farce that boasts high end innovation due to smart composition and fluid scene transitions.

[…]

only once in a long spell does a creation come along capable of snubbing conventional theatre. Hurray for grassroots art, Keystone Theatre knows how to seed the foundation.

Full review below

There are still five performances left!  Buy tickets at TOTIX.ca or at the door.

 

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