Sarasvati

Fefu and her Friends - Sarasvati Productions @ Ralph Connor House

This enjoyable staging of Maria Irene Fornes' feminist classic Fefu and her Friends by director Hope McIntyre was presented promenade style in the historic Ralph Connor House. The audience began together in a basement room, where we were introduced to the characters, after which groups were split up to see 4 scenes occurring simultaneously. Each group saw the scenes in a differing order, which provided a slightly different colour to the remainder of the play. For example, my group saw the more pedestrian "every day" events first, then the stirring bedroom scene with Kelci Stephenson, leaving my impression to feel that this scene was somewhat disjointed from the rest of the play. In contrast, a friend saw that scene first, and then the less ominous scenes, and found that she heard the screams echo through the other scenes to great effect. This is, of course, one of the downfalls of this sort of production, as perspective can play such a crucial role in the experience.

I also found the promenade to be at once enjoyable, but also frustrating - the lovely volunteers who led us from room to room were helpful, however seeing the other groups move through the house all at once took away from the sense of voyeurism that we might have otherwise felt. The beautiful proximity to the characters' personal moments was broken once we began to move to the next space, encountering our fellow audience members eye to eye. I wonder whether cutting to 3 groups might have limited this somewhat and made for a more immersive experience.

These qualms aside, the cast put forward uniformly strong performances, and captured the period and its (still very relevant) ideas beautifully. On the whole it was an enjoyable production, and given audience enthusiasm for it I hope it will open doors to continued experimentation with the audience-actor relationship in Winnipeg theatre circles.

FemFest 2012 Begins!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Opening Cabaret for the 10th Annual FemFest. I've had a fairly lengthy history with FemFest - I first worked with the festival as Assistant to Director Hope McIntyre (AD of the Festival) for Ordinary Times in 2005. Since then, I've directed workshop productions of new plays (The Dance of Sara Weins, 2006), shared my own work-in-progress piece Lavinia in the 2009 Cabaret, directed scenes for the launch of their book of scenes for female actresses (Generation NeXXt, 2010) and now directing readings of short plays in the 2012 festival. As I sat in the audience, hearing host and festival supporter Susan Tymofychuk speak of the history of the festival, and the opportunity it has provided for emerging artists (particularly female ones) I reflected on these experiences. FemFest has provided me the opportunity to hone my skills as a director and creator of work, providing a safe environment for me to learn and help those around me explore new works of theatre. I don't know of many festivals anywhere in the world that provide this kind of environment, and I must say that my career has been enriched immeasurably due to my involvement with FemFest.

There are shows throughout this week at the Centre for Theatre & Film at the University of Winnipeg; ticket prices are very affordable, including many free readings and talks about creating theatre. I encourage you to try to spend at least an hour taking in a piece of the festival. The work presented touches on all aspects of human experience; from Food Bank usage to Immigrant families, re-imagined fairy tales to readings from esteemed playwrights. Judith Thompson is this year's guest artist. She is one of the most well-known Canadian playwrights, and certainly the most known female playwright from Canada, and her support and participation in the festival says a lot about the amazing work Sarasvati do.

Take some time and check it out this week!