Treena Stubel as Agnes B

Credit: Miles Lowry

The Evolution of Theatre

Spark strikes new Canadian drama

That first spark that ignites the creative process can come from the most unlikely source. In David Ferguson’s case, it was on a balcony at Ireland’s Tyrone Guthrie Centre, where he was on an artistic retreat in 1996—a balcony he shared with an aging Agnes Bernelle, an actress, singer and German-Jewish refugee credited with bringing cabaret to Ireland.

“She was translating her memoirs into German at the time and I was writing and dancing,” recalls Ferguson. “We would meet each morning on the balcony and she would tell me a story of her life. Then I would go back in and she would go back in and we would work and then we’d meet again on our smoke break on the balcony and she would tell me something else.”

Three years later, Bernelle passed away—and, finally, 11 years after her death, Ferguson and Suddenly Dance Theatre are unveiling their latest creation, Agnes B, as part of the Belfry Theatre’s Spark Festival, which runs March 8-21 and also includes three other productions, free mini-plays, the Belfry 101 Live performance, a visual art show and several readings, workshops and parties. Inspired by Bernelle’s life—and using Suddenly’s blend of theatre, dance, music and multimedia—Agnes B begins with her escape from Germany and follows much of her life. Ferguson, who wrote and directed the piece, even cast three different performers—Ingrid Hansen, Treena Stubel and Lynda Raino—to play Bernelle.

“We have the three main female leads playing one character at young, middle and old age, basically,” says Ferguson. “They interact in the conceit of the piece.”

While Agnes B has been an idea that’s been on the backburner for years, it took the Belfry’s Incubator program—which helps Island artists develop new work—and the Spark Festival—which focuses on bringing new Canadian plays to the stage—to finally make the piece a reality.

“We have a lot of pressure as a dance company to fulfill some of that more dance-based stuff, like the Romp! festival or Uno[danz], they take a lot of resources,” says Ferguson. “Incubator and the Spark Festival, it gave us that foundation that we could go, ‘Yeah, we can build this exploration, get deeper.’ We have to have new plays in terms of coming up, in terms of the evolution of theatre.”

While Agnes B is an example of a homegrown production Spark has helped bring to the stage, the Belfry is also bringing in talent from Canada’s east coast; Halifax’s award-winning 2b Theatre Company, who was here in 2008 with Revisited as part of Intrepid Theatre’s Presenting Series, will be mounting their production of Hannah Moscovitch’s The Russian Play in week two of Spark.

“2b is normally an original creation company, so doing a script that has been previously produced or pre-exists us is the exception rather than the rule,” 2b artistic co-director Christian Barry, who is handling direction, sound and lighting for The Russian Play, says—but it’s a welcomed exception. “Hannah is a really unique writer in that she writes plays that have a lot of room for directors. She writes plays that invite design and image to be equal partners in the storytelling. She really understands how plays exist in three dimensions, not just on the page.”

Barry says the Belfry’s artistic director Michael Shamata invited 2b to bring their production of The Russian Play to Spark after he got in touch with Moscovitch to find out if anyone was producing her script.

“I think because Michael knew the script and because he knew 2b and because he knew [lead actress] Colombe [Demers], I think he felt it was an obvious one for him to bring in,” says Barry, adding that they were invited to Spark before the show had even premiered in 2008. “[Shamata] had already asked us to bring our production out after having talked to me a bit about it.”

In addition to the four stage productions—the other two being Tiny Apocalypse by Vancouver’s Rough House Theatre and The Drowning Girls by Edmonton’s Bent Out of Shape Productions—Spark is also bringing back its free mini-plays, which were a huge success at last year’s festival. Curated by Shamata and the Belfry’s artistic associate Erin Macklem, who are taking over for Theatre SKAM’s Matthew Payne, the two have invited seven groups to produce 10-minute plays in various spaces in and around the Belfry.

For Macklem, the challenge was trying to find a mixture of last year’s participants and fresh blood. “They all worked really well, so it was difficult to try and find a balance,” she says. “We wanted to include some other groups as well but also have some of the ones from last year for a little bit of continuity or to find a good mix of the style of work that’s being done.”

This year’s lineup sees musical theatre group Gotta Getta Gimmick returning (“It’s not often you get to see a 10-minute musical,” says Macklem) as well as Macklem herself (she’ll be participating in a semi-autobiographical play about her long friendship with SKAM managing producer Allison Bottomley). The other plays include a sound installation by Brian Linds, David Radford and Christina Pattersen’s LaunchPad company, Rob Hunter’s Pisiskiwak’s Wish and Spectrum . . . A Cast of Colours, featuring students from the Mosaic Learning Society, which provides programming for children with autism.

“We had such fun with Haircuts by Children last year, getting into the community and working that way, that without having an event like that programmed in the festival this year, this seemed like a good way to keep that great energy,” Macklem says of Spectrum.

Speaking of energy, it’s safe to say there was a bit in the hostile range at last year’s mini-plays, as some over-enthusiastic audience members got a bit pushy.

“It was amazing how creative people could be with cramming themselves into the space and a could of times it got a bit nasty,” says Macklem. “So we’ve made a few changes to how people are assured their place in the play. If you aren’t holding an object, you’re not getting in. So there might be a brief moment where everybody reaches for the object at the same time, but hopefully nobody will be grabbing them out of each others’ hands and pushing them to the floor.”

Hopefully! M

Spark Festival
March 8-21
Belfry Theatre,
1291 Gladstone
Various times and prices
250-385-6815
belfry.bc.ca/spark