Coral Andrews - Independent Media Professional
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A Silent Bravo .....

5/3/2013

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Actors Goldie Semple, Domini Blythe, and Peter Donaldson

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have interviewed many great Canadian actors over the seasons.
 I have always enjoyed talking to actors in depth about character analysis and particularly recall chats with actor Colm Feore about the fact that Hamlet did not have an Oedipus complex, and actor Fiona Reid who loves to muse on character complexities of Hedda Gabler.
But Canadian theatre has suffered some devestating blows in the last five years and these losses include three actors I have spoken with through my career in arts coverage.
In 2009, the theatre world suffered a great blow with the untimely passing of actor Goldie Semple. In 2010, actor Domini Blythe known for her stage and screen roles also passed away, and in 2011 Canadian theatre has lost the incomparable Peter Donaldson.

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Goldie Semple
I first saw Goldie Semple when she was the sexy courtesan opposite a young Colm Feore in Boys from Syracuse. In seasons to follow, Semple and Feore found an undeniable chemistry in the Bard’s leading roles from Kate and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew  to Leontes and Hermione in The Winter’s Tale. The last time I saw Semple was the in Shaw’s Festival’s 1999 production of Easy Virtue   as Larita - sheer panache!  I could kick myself for missing Goldie's star turn as Desiree Armfeldt in Shaw's A Little Night Music…. Isn’t that rich?


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Peter Donaldson
I had been watching Peter Donaldson for many seasons on stage.
I loved Edward Albee and what Donaldson called the “vicious wit” in Virginia Woolf. During our chat, Donaldson, was funny and very down to earth. And I learned a lot about the "musicality" of Edward Albee’s text. I think besides Woolf’s George, another one of my favourite Donaldson roles was his portrayal of Atticus Finch in the Stratford 2007 production of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Donaldson took this role, that so many associate with the black and white 1962 film, and icon Gregory Peck, who played Atticus Finch, and he made Atticus his own, like Donaldson did with every stage role. I think like many others, that Donaldson was just coming to the acting prime of his career. Likely he would have done more of the Bard – maybe Macbeth, maybe Shylock, and certainly more modern classics. Maybe Albee’s Delicate Balance, perchance?



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Domini Blythe
I love monodramas (one person shows) and when Domini Blythe agreed to speak to me about Peter Hinton’s Fanny Kemble, I was thrilled and a little in awe. Blythe, who had been in Stratford for many seasons, was once married to Stratford’s Artistic Director the late Richard Monette, and had worked in theatre across the country, in addition to England’s Royal Shakespeare Company. From Blythe's  conversation I could tell that she loved every minute of doing Fanny Kemble, not only researching this piece about a Victorian actress turned activist, but also working with director Peter Hinton. For film buffs Blythe recently played the role of headmistress Mrs Danvers in 2009 comedy The Trotsky with Jay Baruchel, Colm Feore, and Jessica Pare.


So this season when I am sitting in the aisles at either
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival or The Shaw Festival I’ll say a silent Bravo to three actors who left a magnificent theatre legacy, and always took the time to chat.....    

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An Annual Tradition

3/27/2013

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Hah Hah! It’s Easter. And time for me to honor my annual ritual of watching 1979 Monty Python comedy classic Life of Brian. 

I have been working at indee video rental store  Far Out Flicks for just over ten years, with pals Boss Rolf and Manager Ray. And now with the recent addition of Kara and Sunday volunteer Tobi - we are like The FOF Five.  
Rolf and I who share a deep affection for British comedy, watch Life of Brian at the video store every Easter.
We love our annual Life of Brian redux and can recite almost every silly line of this comedy gem, from Mr Cheeky to Biggus Dickus.
And whenever someone comes in to rent Life of Brian or any Python film, it's hard for me to shut up about my unique insight into All Things MP!

It's always fun for me fun to revisit Life of Brian, because its reminds me of the late '80s, when Graham Chapman came to Canada for several speaking tours.
During his visits to Canada, Chapman and I had two wide-ranging discussions and a chin wag via telephone chatting about British schools of comedy, his take on the solo film projects of the other Pythons, and Python this side of the pond. And having been weaned on Brit Com, from The Goon Show  and Beyond the Fringe to The Frost Report, (where Chapman got his first writing gig), I had Great Comedy History Advantage.

In 1988, I was writing for long defunct national pop culture zine Graffiti, and had the chance to spend time with the tall, gay, non-spotty, soft spoken, cigar-smoking Wittyman.
Because a year after the interview, Chapman snuffed it on Oct 4 1989. 

 How did Monty Python end up in North America?
 Graham Chapman: “We were pleased, but surprised. In fact, we never thought the television series could be shown here in our lifetimes perhaps because of the problems of sponsorship and the commercial aspects of television, particularly in the States. We didn’t know about PBS then, and so we refused, when asked by people like ABC, CBS, and so on, for the Python tapes.   
“We refused to say yes, because we knew they would be cut up and messed about, and we didn’t want that. We were purists at the time, may even still be. But then eventually a PBS station in Dallas, a guy called Ron DeVillier, was shown a couple of programs on tape by a lady who used to act as a kind of agent for us in New York, or wanted to at that stage. We had no presence in the States, and the guy immediately wanted to see all the programs we have done, and decided to screen them on his PBS station, and it spread out from Dallas of all places.”
 Okay, I have to ask about this. Why Spam??? I know people ate this during the war….
 Graham Chapman: “Well, that’s it. It isn’t around very much anymore. (laughing) There’s not an easy answer to that question, why spam? It could have been pork luncheon meat, I suppose, or something else. It’s a good word Spam, though, isn’t it?” 
 And now it has gone down in comedy history…and speaking of that, what’s the best and the worst thing about working with Python?
 Graham Chapman: “Ah well…. I can illustrate them both by talking about  (1983’s) The Meaning of Life which is a fairly recent experience for us all. Now that was not a good experience to write. We began writing that without really having much of a clue as to exactly what kind of movie we were aiming at.
"We all thought we were writing different stories. Some people thought we were writing about the Third World War. Some people thought it was about the first one. Some people thought it wasn’t about a war at all, it was about a school. Other people thought it was about The Raj in India.  
“I mean, we all went off and starting writing in different directions and it gradually assembled material and a lot of it fortunately was good enough. But we never had a kind any semblance of a plot, whereas Life of Brian almost wrote itself and was a joy to work on throughout."




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March 04th, 2013

3/14/2013

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This is one of my favourite interviews of all time.
In the years 1987/1988 BC, I spent a severe amount of time with Monty Python's incomparable witticist/screenwrite Graham Chapman as he wandered about the Ontario campus touring circuit twixt Waterloo and The Big Smoke. I had two interviews with Graham during two different visits to Canada. This chat is taken from an interview circa 1988  Toronto's Sutton Place Hotel into the wee hours... 

The Life of Graham


Spam spam spam lovely Graham. Monty Python’s tall thin and not spotty but still dead Graham Chapman, talks about the Life of Brian.

Monty Python online gospel,The Daily Llama reports that Britain's Channel Four hails Monty Python's Life of Brian the greatest film comedy of all time. Seems the character of Brian Cohen was born in Paris...

Graham Chapman: "Initially after the Holy Grail, I suppose we were all thinking, well, where next? Perhaps they find it, (the Grail) or whatever, what happens? We were thinking this kind of thought while actually doing some promotional work in Paris for Holy Grail in a Chinese restaurant I think, and Eric Idle suggested a ridiculous title which we all laughed at but were outraged by at the same time, for our next movie as being called Jesus Christ, Lust for Glory. We thought no, we can't possibly do that. Shut up, Eric. But then we thought, wait a minute! Something set in those times would be rather good so originally it was going to be about a character Brian who was the 13th apostle basically, so it was going to be the gospel according to Saint Brian. He was always late turning up for miracles and that sort of thing and we began to write that script. We were looking forward to it, because it was a fascinating era.

"We came to a point where we had to write a nativity scene and thought it ought to be Brian in it and if Brian was going to be the Apostle, he ought to see something he didn't know about. It fell to John and myself to write that particular scene and we couldn't quite see how to do it because you've obviously got to have Himself there with the big H. Then we hit on the idea of the three wise men going to the wrong manger, the one next door, and thereby going to see Brian and then we thought,well,we'll follow Brian, so that's how the whole idea came about. It wasn't to offend. Rather more, it was to enlighten I think. Cohen was a good Jewish name. I mean Jesus was a bit Semitic, after all.

"We are interested obviously in Brian querying whether people are believing things in the right way, whether they've got hold of the right aspect or not. To us in all this Christianity business, love your neighbour is the important thing, not dressing up and belonging to a club, and not allowing other people to belong to it. It doesn't seem to particularly Christian, does it?"

The Life of Spam.....

Once upon a time I asked two friends for an unusual favour.
I bade my playwright friend Kenneth Emberly and his then lady wife Therese bring me two specific presents from the land of England – Spam, and Soil.

Kenneth and Therese had planned to travel to Kent, the home of Monty Python’s now deceased Graham Chapman who once lived in a rambling abode called The Old Hermitage.

I was recently watching Monty Python’s Personal Best – Graham Chapman on PBS, and laughed uproariously when the other Python lads mentioned that Graham made a lot of ‘instant friends.’ on the road, which in my case, was very true.

When Chapman was touring Canada in the late 80’s, we spent the night together – not what YOU wankers think – we stayed up all night talking about comedy, and Python’s pithy forefathers. I had written a piece for now defunct pop-culture gospel Graffiti Magazine called Life After Python and we simply continued our discussion from the first meeting.

For Graffiti, I had Graham comment on various Python solo projects from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and John Cleese’s Clockwise, to Terry Jones’ Personal Services and Michael Palin’s The Missionary. I felt quite comfortable further discussing the various genres of Brit wit – yes there is a difference between Oxford and Cambridge comedy schools of thought.

So when Kenneth and Therese said they were going to Kent I concocted my madcap Spam and Soil scheme. The Emberlys and good pal driver Derek who recently joined Graham in his heavenly domain, drove off to find Barming, Kent. Kenneth told me when they reached the town, the word Barming on the sign had been crossed out and replaced by 'Barmy. '

They couldn’t find the Old Hermitage but did, manage to bring me some Barming soil and -selfish me- I didn’t even stop to think of the mad cow disease risk! Oh Barmy..my lionheart...

My Spam wish also came true with great panache. I received the classic square tin from life during wartime complimented by the modernized round can model.To the curiosity of many friends, I proudly displayed the Spams in my kitchen window, and sadly with time, the labels faded and the tins rusted.
If opened, the Spams would explode, the stench of rotting luncheon meat spewing everywhere as if five million volts had been pumped through it.

Kenneth and Therese think I am Barmy. I know Derek, to whom I dedicate this blog, had a delicious sense of humour, and called me Red, thought I was.

And Tosh, I did ask the Mighty Graham - why Spam?

He took a long drawn out puff on his pipe, and quietly replied ...“there’s not an easy answer to that question…"







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