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Educating Rita to kick off Summer Fling at Arts Court
A little over a week ago, the wrought-iron fence surrounding Arts Court was a solid mass of posters promoting Ottawa Fringe Festival shows. Today, all that’s left are strands of packing tape flapping in the wind.
Despite appearances, however, evening theatre in the area is far from over for the summer.
John Koensgen and Sarah McVie as Frank and Rita on the set of Educating Rita. (Photo: Arts Court)
In Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, a classic comedy with a melancholy tinge, Director Kate Hurman puts veteran actor John Koensgen (fresh from his role in the well-received Great Canadian Theatre Company production of Heroes) opposite Sarah McVie (a Stratford Festival fixture and herself a veteran of GCTC productions Zadie’s Shoes, Swollen Tongues, and The Man from the Capital). The plot revolves around the developing interpersonal relationship between Rita (McVie), a young hairdresser from Liverpool who decides to take an Open University course, and her tutor, Frank (Koensgen), a jaded, embittered professor. This production, which opens on Wednesday evening, will kick off the Downtown Rideau Summer Fling—A Theatrical Affair, a festival initiative of the Ottawa Arts Court Foundation in partnership with the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Association.
When I walk in, Koensgen and McVie are in character and on set in the Arts Court Theatre. Watching the actors run through their two-minute scene three times for the television cameras, it becomes apparent that, although they have never shared a stage, the two have developed significant chemistry. It’s remarkable that they’ve only been in rehearsal for the equivalent of three full-time weeks. Koensgen already appears natural in the professorial tweed of Frank; McVie is stunningly accurate as an 80s lower-class Liverpudlian.
“I need more Scotch.” Koensgen calls for a refill of his prop bottle before doing another three runs of the scene for a latecomer.
I sat down on set to speak with Koensgen and McVie about their roles, the production, and the role the production has in re-establishing theatre as an entertainment option for the general public.
From the perspective of these two established, professional actors, Educating Rita, and the Summer Fling as a whole, are essential to the continued revitalization of theatre in the city. Koensgen states it simply: “Ottawa has too little in terms of theatre in the summer.” He pauses to reflect. ”Up until Summer Fling, it was Odyssey Theatre if you wanted summer work.” Performing with Odyssey requires rehearsing and performing outdoors. He chuckles in light self-mockery. “I’m too old to do it.”
McVie agrees, admitting, “This will be the only show I do this year… in my twelfth year as a professional actor.”
That sounds grim, but like every other business or career, acting has a cycle; according to Koensgen, “There are periods when we’re really busy. We both do other things.” They both teach (Koensgen at Ottawa University, and Algonquin and Laurentian Colleges, and McVie at Carleton University), and direct. Koensgen’s name carries a lot of weight locally; even so, he finds himself in, on average, only three productions a year. Some years he does only voice acting and film work.
McVie’s story is also familiar one; originally from Manotick, she went to Canterbury and eventually moved away from Ottawa to pursue an acting career, as did most of her contemporaries. ”It was the popular choice to go to Toronto.” But she’s come back. ”I have family here; I bought a home here three years ago.” Returning from Stratford, where she lived for five years, she knows firsthand that in order to make a living as an actor in an area, there needs to be a financially viable theatre scene. ”The community has got to get on board.”
It’s a common sentiment in any theatre community; the question, as always, is how to go about engaging the public. Their answer? “Just let them see it.” Both actors are confident that this production, and this festival, will play an important part in attracting the public to theatre.
McVie adds, “There’s not a lot of theatre in Ottawa for its size. There’s a lot of potential.”
After the actors posed in character for a series of still shots, Hurman and I retired to the dressing room to discuss the inspiration behind the production.
Hurman was in last year’s pilot production Sexy Laundry, directed by Linda Balduzzi. She speaks of the Summer Fling project that grew out of that pilot with fond enthusiasm and a glint in her eye.
She goes on to explain that she feels a summer offering allows a production to explore the dynamic of a more intimate relationship. Educating Rita is “light, but with meat on its bones.” Hurman notes that although it’s the 30th anniversary of the play, the underlying themes it addresses are still current; the progress of feminism, career changes in a recession economy, higher education as an escape from class struggle—even as the Province of Ontario announces an Open University program like the British one on which the plot depends.
Hurman is particularly proud of her cast. She remembers directing McVie in one of her first appearances at the GCTC, and has known her since she was 15 or 16, when she taught her at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. She has the utmost confidence and a clear sense of pride in McVie. For his part, Koensgen had taught Hurman stage combat at the National Theatre School in Montréal.
“I’ve never directed him before,” she says, her voice betraying both glee and pride, and then rhymes off a litany of roles they’ve played opposite each other—basically everything but mother and daughter.
In Koensgen, she found the easy, handsome charm demanded of the actor who would portray Frank; a bitter, alcoholic, aging academic who yet has gentle, charismatic sex appeal.
As a classic, established play, which has even been rendered on the silver screen with Michael Caine as the male lead, I was curious as to what artistic direction Hurman was planning to take with the play. From the synopsis, it could, depending on the direction, very easily come off as just another variant of Pygmalion or My Fair Lady. She agrees, however she’s confident that her staging of the play, and particularly the development of Rita, McVie’s character, will bring to the fore the underlying late second-wave feminist themes in the work.
After speaking with the director and cast, I anticipate that Educating Rita will be an entertaining production; with two polished, professional actors in roles that are practically tailor-made for them, a proven, accessible script, solid set and costume design, and a director that promises to put an interesting spin on the performance, it’s difficult to imagine otherwise.
Still, on another level, the odd couple on stage echo the unlikely pair that brought them together: Business and Theatre—but that’s best left for an article all its own.
Educating Rita runs from July 14 until August 1, 2010 in the Arts Court Theatre at 2 Daly Avenue. Evening performances begin at 8pm, Sunday matinées at 2pm. No performances on Mondays or Tuesdays. Tickets are available for $25 ($20 for students and seniors) and include a booklet of 2-for-1 Dinner and Show Passes valid at seven different restaurants in the downtown core. In addition, there will be a Pay-What-You-Can matinée Saturday, July 17 at 2pm. For more information, visit www.artscourt.ca or call the Arts Court Box Office at (613) 564-7240.
Andrew Snowdon is a theatre reviewer, concertgoer, and freelance writer. He lives either in Lowertown or Hintonburg, sandwiched between a MacBook and a typewriter.
Shining City by Conor McPherson – Opens at Arts Court Theatre
Shining City by Conor McPherson
Directed by John P Kelly
Featuring Richard Gélinas, Tom Charlebois, Nancy Kenny & Garrett Quirk
Arts Court Theatre – 2 Daly Avenue – Ottawa, ON
November 17 to 28, 2009 – 8 p.m.
Sat/Sun matinees – 2:30 p.m. (No show on Sunday & Monday night)
Tickets: $25 – $20 students/seniors/underemployed
Pay-What-You-Can Matinee on Sunday, November 22nd
Box Office: 613-564-7240
Keep the Halloween chills going with the perfect November play!
Set in present-day Dublin, Shining City takes place in the disheveled office of Ian, a former priest turned therapist. Ian’s latest patient, John, is in trouble. His wife has just died tragically… and he is visited more than once by her ghost. John is now terrified to return home, but Ian has his own troubles, including a new baby and a crumbling relationship.
“Literally lifted the hairs on my scalp.” – London’s Evening Standard
McPherson is “the finest dramatist of his generation…” – London’s Daily Telegraph
