Interview Archives - James Hutchison

Interview with Actor Christopher Hunt: Waiting for Godot

Posted on April 22, 2019July 16, 2023 by James Hutchison

“It’s a play that changed the theatre landscape in the world, and makes you entertained in the moment, and lets you reflect on your own situation and the world that you’re in. And that’s the other kind of marker for this play is that existential, you know, absurdist world view of ‘There’s no God, there’s no religion, there’s nothing to believe in so why are we here? What’s the point of life? What’s the point of continuing on?’ This play swims in those waters too. All those kind of questions that sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night, or strike us at our most insecure moment.”

Christopher Hunt

Although we’re a long way in both time and distance from January 5, 1953 when Waiting for Godot premiered in Paris – and opened up new possibilities of expression for the stage – the play still resonates with a modern audience. ‘Before Beckett there was a naturalistic tradition. After him, scores of playwrights were encouraged to experiment with the underlying meaning of their work as well as with an absurdist style. As the Beckett scholar Ruby Cohn wrote: “After Godot, plots could be minimal; exposition, expendable; characters, contradictory; settings, unlocalized, and dialogue, unpredictable. Blatant farce could jostle tragedy.”

At it’s simplest, the play is about two longtime friends waiting on the side of a road near a tree to meet with Godot, but on a deeper level, Godot explores the existential nature of existence and the underlying perseverance of humanity. It’s also a play rich in comedy, and a thought-provoking piece of theatre. So, it seemed rather appropriate that on World Theatre Day I journeyed to The GRAND to meet up with Christopher Hunt, one of the founders of Black Radish Theatre, to talk with him about his acting career, Black Radish Theatre, and the ageless appeal of Waiting for Godot.

Christopher Hunt in Waiting for Godot — Christopher Hunt is Estragon in the Black Radish Theatre Production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Photo by Andy Curtis.

JAMES HUTCHISON

In a previous interview you talked about having inspirational teachers at the start of your career when you were getting interested in drama and acting. Who were some of those teachers and how were they inspiring for you?

CHRISTOPHER HUNT

The first play I ever did was Tom Sawyer in grade four, and Mrs. Allen was my teacher. I remember she had auditions and I thought Sam Crystal was going to be Tom Sawyer because he was so outgoing, and I was really surprised when I got the part of Tom. And we did the play – you know – whitewashing the fence and Aunt Polly and all that stuff, and I just have such vivid memories of the fun that that performance gave me.

And then a few years later in Junior High I had a teacher named Mrs. Palmer who taught drama as an option, and again she played these theatre games that I’d never experienced before, and it allowed this shy little farm boy to open up and try different things and be funny.

And then in High School, I had a teacher named Marlene Hansen – she directed us in one-act plays for festivals, and one year when I was in grade eleven a grade twelve student won a scholarship to the Drumheller Drama School, and this guy didn’t want to go by himself, so Mrs. Hansen scraped together some money so I could tag along too, because I was a young keener. And once I found the Drumheller Drama School, that was like finding my tribe. These were theatre nerds like me – I didn’t know there were so many! And that lead me to take the Drumheller Drama School the next year and the year after that, when I was out of high school.

Jan Alexandra Smith and Christopher Hunt in the Theatre Calgary production of An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. Photo by Trudie Lee.

JAMES

After that, you ended up going to the U of C, and I was interested to learn that you originally went into Education, and I was wondering why you chose Education and what made you switch to Drama?

CHRISTOPHER

I think it was because of those influential teachers that inspired me, and I thought that teaching would be great because I had so much fun with them when I was a student. I remember going to matinees as a student to Theatre Calgary in the old QR Centre and seeing The Importance of Being Earnest with Stephen Hair and Maureen Thomas, and I just thought that was amazing, but I never thought I could do that. I just loved the theatre and the fact that I was doing plays in high school was enough for me so I thought teaching drama would be a great thing to do. But when I got into university and I took some Drama courses and some Education courses – the Education courses were a bad fit, but the Drama courses were a good fit. So I talked it over with my parents who were helping me pay for university, and I said, “I think I’m going to switch.” My dad was a farmer all his life, and he was worried about me going into an industry that was even less reliable than farming. He wanted something a little more stable for the only one of his kids who went on to a university education. My brothers went to Olds College for agricultural studies, and my sister took some college courses. But then my parents did some plays in the amateur High River theatre group – Windmill Theatre Players – and once they saw what it was like, they could understand why I was so enamoured with it, and it became a little easier to get their support.

JAMES

As an actor you’ve said you’re open to using all sorts of different tools and techniques for creating a performance and I’m just curious how being able to draw on different techniques such as improvisation or method acting has been helpful in terms of hitting the stage, rehearsing plays, and developing characters.

CHRISTOPHER

I think as actors and as theatre people we get a chance to go into a whole bunch of different worlds and different stories and different kinds of telling stories and different buildings in which to tell those stories and different audiences to tell those stories to. And I’ve seen and worked with people who have a specific way of approaching the work. They always prepare this way. They always warm up this way. They always present themselves a certain way, and to me I admire that, but I think it can be limiting when you have all these variables in terms of types of stories, types of venues, types of characters, and because there’s so much variety, I think it’s better to embrace the variety than protecting a particular way of working. You have to be open, otherwise I think you’re limited in terms of the opportunities that might potentially come your way.

JAMES

Now, just before Christmas, you were at Vertigo Theatre in Dracula: The Bloody Truth. You were Van Helsing and that’s a play with multiple characters in it and you’ve done The 39 Steps which also has a lot of different characters and there seems to be a lot of that type of theatre happening now. Do you enjoy performing in that kind of show?

CHRISTOPHER

I do. It’s big bold choices – not subtle choices. But if I was just doing roles where I played a bunch of different characters in funny hats and voices and stuff like that I think it would get pretty tiring. That’s what I love about what I do. I can do that, and then I can do The Scarlet Letter or I can do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – all these different challenges.

JAMES

Last year you were the recipient of the 2018 Harry & Martha Cohen Award which is given to individuals who have made a significant and sustained contribution to theatre in Calgary. You were nominated for the award by Grant Reddick and Marilyn Potts and they said, “Season after season, Chris has given performances that are significant, technically assured, innovative, subtle, engaging, amusing and often deeply moving. He is a master of comedy, his energy and timing in farce are delightful, and he tackles serious drama with ease.”

CHRISTOPHER

That was very nice of them to say all those things.

JAMES

So, what was it like to win that award which has been given to some really talented people? That’s quite an honour.

CHRISTOPHER

Huge honour. Huge. And yeah, just the other night Denise Clarke was given that same honour for this year. It’s a beautiful club to be a part of and I don’t take it lightly. It’s nice to be recognized for the work we do, and for the longevity, and for the decision to stay in one place and to be a part of one community. People say, “Why didn’t you go to Toronto/Vancouver/L.A./New York?” or whatever, but you know, I can have a family here and a home here and a career here, and I get to work with people from all over. And sometimes I get to go all over, so it’s a pretty sweet gig. I’m certainly not in it for the money but I feel pretty fulfilled and rewarded for the work I do.

JAMES

So, you’ve assembled a group of people and you’re starting a new theatre company called Black Radish. Why this group of people? Who are they? What brought you guys together?

CHRISTOPHER

Well, we’re all Calgary-based actors. There’s four of us. And what brought us all together was this bucket list show of Waiting For Godot. I met Andy Curtis back in our university days. He was a Loose Moose improviser and a very funny and talented guy, and then we worked together years later at Quest Theatre and at Ghost River Theatre and One Yellow Rabbit, and we’ve been actors-for-hire and have crossed paths several times over the years. And at some point, maybe ten years ago, we talked about Waiting for Godot. And it was a play we both loved and wanted to do. And then maybe about five years ago – maybe even longer – we said, “Let’s get together and just read it for fun.” And I can’t even remember who the other people were who helped us out that first time, but over the years people came and went, and once or twice a year we would read it and talk about how great it would be to do this play. We’d say, “We should talk to the artistic directors and pitch it and see if anyone would want to do it!” And no one did but, we kept on talking about doing it. And Duval Lang was the next person to come on board, and he would have us over to his place to have coffee and read the play and talk about it. And then Tyrell Crews is the fourth member of Black Radish. He had worked at the Stratford Festival a few years ago and saw an awesome production there and he said, “Man, we could do a play like that easily in Calgary, with the talent here.” And for some reason he thought of me and Andy as the main two guys and we said, “It’s funny you should say that, because we’ve been reading this play for years!” And he went, “Seriously?” So he said, “I’m going to apply for the rights – let’s do it.”

Tyrell Crews is Lucky in The Black Radish Theatre Production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Photo by Andy Curtis.

JAMES

What is it about the play that you find so compelling?

CHRISTOPHER

When I read it in high school I didn’t get it, but I liked the simpleness of it but also the complexity of it. And then the summer before I started at U of C, I saw a production of Waiting for Godot at the Pumphouse that Loose Moose did. Keith Johnstone directed it. John Gilchrist the restaurant reviewer was Pozzo. Dennis Cahill and Mel Tonkin were the main two guys. Frank Totino was Lucky and I believe Keith Johnstone’s wife at the time, Ingrid, played The Boy. And that production blew my head off, and I just went, “This is astounding.” It was so simple. It was so funny. It was so moving. It was a perfect little jewel of a production. And a lot of people loved that production. And I’ve since found out that Keith Johnstone had a huge history with Samuel Beckett. He saw the original English language production in 1955 and loved it. And changed his career to become a theatre guy. And a year later he was the playwright in residence at the Royal Court Theatre, and Samuel Beckett came to London with his next play. And Keith Johnstone met him and they became friends. Keith was one of the first people he allowed in to watch his rehearsals. And Keith’s directed the play maybe eight times since then, including the one that I saw. So Tyrell and I went and chatted with Keith last month and got some of his thoughts on the play and Beckett and that world, How many guys are there in the world who knew Samuel Beckett that are still around? And he’s here in Calgary!

JAMES

Let’s talk a little bit about Godot and that world. How are you approaching it? What do you think of it? I’m curious – what are your thoughts?

CHRISTOPHER

Well, to me, it’s a good play because it’s open to interpretation both for the artists doing it and for the audience watching it. I think what I love about it is its open-endedness, and its ability to speak to whomever. That was one of the nuggets that Keith said. He said, “When I was twenty and I watched this play I went, ‘This play is about me.’ Now, when I read it, this play is about me now as an old man as opposed to a young artist.” And it’s been famously done in Sarajevo and South Africa and prisons, and so it speaks to people everywhere, especially if it’s a good production. And it spoke to me when I saw it and it speaks to me now. It’s deliciously vague and malleable and thought-provoking and funny. And it’s easy I think to veer off and to make it too sombre, or to make it too silly and funny. It’s a tricky balancing act. And that’s what I loved about that Keith Johnstone Loose Moose production because it was moving, funny, and thought-provoking. It was all those things good theatre should be.

Duval Lang is Pozzo in the Black Radish Theatre Production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Photo by Andy Curtis.

JAMES

How would you describe Vladimir and Estragon’s relationship in the play? You’re playing Estragon and Andy Curtis is playing Vladimir, correct?

CHRISTOPHER

Yeah. You know, it took me a long time to start to see any real difference between the two. They’re two kind of clown-like tramp-like figures that are down on their luck and have health concerns and personal concerns and frustrations with each other, but also a long history with each other. And I think as I read more about them and read what other people thought of them I started to figure out that Vladimir is more of the thinker. He’s more looking to the sky, and he’s more thoughtful and intellectual and in his head. And Estragon is more rooted to the ground and hungry and tired and forgetful. And so he’s more earthbound and Vladimir is more outward bound. And they know how to push each other’s buttons, and they know how to support each other. And then there are moments of, “I honestly can’t go on. I don’t think I can do this anymore.” Or, “I think it would be better if we parted,” and those kind of moments hit you like a ton of bricks, because who hasn’t thought about that?

Andy Curtis is Vladimir in the Black Radish Theatre production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Photo by Andy Curtis.

JAMES

What are you hoping to discover in the rehearsal process for the play?

CHRISTOPHER

Well, we’re all really excited to be working with Denise Clarke as our director and our design team because they’re all super talented and have a lot of intellectual rigour and theatrical knowledge to help bring this story alive. Denise has talked about wanting to honour the text and the history of the play, but also to give people something unexpected. We want to shake things up a bit. And Denise, with her work as a choreographer and a writer and a performer, has a lot of ideas around how to be in a space, especially in the Grand which is a beautiful space to be in.

Andy Curtis as Vladimir and Tyrell Crews as Lucky in the Black Radish Theatre production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

JAMES

You know what’s really interesting to me about the text is that it doesn’t really give you much of a clue about the world outside of this tree and rock and road. We don’t know the truth of the world outside although we do know there’s the Eiffel Tower, but this bleak landscape might be more normal than the exception.

CHRISTOPHER

Yup, that’s true and it’s a field day for designers too, because how do you include those elements? How do you make those elements? What kind of a tree is it? What kind of a rock is it? Some people ignore that, and put it inside of a concrete bunker, and some people ignore the stage directions and have them dress totally different. So it’s what you pick and choose, and what you focus on and what you share that makes your version come alive or not.

JAMES

And your designer is Terry Gunvordahl.

CHRISTOPHER

Yes. Set and lighting designer.

JAMES

The last thing I saw on stage that was Beckett was about eight years ago when he did Krapp’s Last Tape. He was acting in it and Anton deGroot was at Lunchbox at that time doing the RBC Emerging Director’s program and that was the play he had chosen to present. And I went to see it and it was a really good production and Terry was really good in it.

CHRISTOPHER

I’m sorry I missed that. Terry is a big Beckett fan and he’s done this play before – an amazingly well-remembered production in Kamloops years ago with some great actors in it including Jonathan Young from The Electric Company and Betroffenheit which was a big hit all across the world actually. So, Terry knows this play well and he’s really pumped to do it again here at the Grand especially because he used to design shows here when Theatre Junction was more active producing their own work.

Anton Matsigura is The Boy in the Black Radish Theatre production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Photo by Andy Curtis.

JAMES

So, why should people come and see the show?

CHRISTOPHER

It’s a new company to support, and it’s in a space that’s revitalized and welcoming again. It’s a play that changed the theatre landscape in the world, and makes you entertained in the moment, and lets you reflect on your own situation and the world that you’re in. And that’s the other kind of marker for this play is that existential, you know, absurdist world view of “There’s no God, there’s no religion, there’s nothing to believe in so why are we here? What’s the point of life? What’s the point of continuing on?” This play swims in those waters too. All those kind of questions that sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night or strike us at our most insecure moment.

Waiting for Godot
a tragicomedy in two acts
By Samuel Beckett

Cast

Estragon: Christopher Hunt
Vladimir: Andy Curtis
Pozzo: Duval Lang
Lucky: Tyrell Crews
The Boy: Anton Matsigura

Production

Director: Denise Clarke – Assistant Director: Sarah Wheeldon – Set & Lighting Designer: Terry Gunvordahl – Costume Designer: Ralamy Kneeshaw – Sound Design & Composition: Peter Moller – Stage Manager: Meredith Johnson – Photography and Graphic Design: Hugh Short – Web Site: Keith Watson

BLACK RADISH THEATRE is a new Calgary-based theatre company, founded by Duval Lang, Andy Curtis, Tyrell Crews and Christopher Hunt, and is committed to revisiting relevant theatre classics. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is their first bucket list show and is being performed at The GRAND – Calgary’s theatre since 1912.

Black Radish Theatre presents Waiting for Godot – a tragicomedy in two acts – by Samuel Beckett. April 25th to May 12th at The GRAND. Evening performances Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. Tickets are just $46.00 for adults and $30.00 for Students and Seniors. Tickets are available online at www.blackradishtheatre.ca

Interview Natascha Girgis – A Foray into Silly

Posted on March 6, 2019July 15, 2023 by James Hutchison

“I like farce. I like the challenge of farce. I like the pace of farce. The fast thinking. I like the door slam timing. The mechanics of it. I like the hard math of a good farce. I love Shakespeare. Your mouth feels good just saying those incredible words and negotiating those fantastic ideas and the colourful language and the use of metaphor from such a rich writer.”

Stage West is serving up a healthy dose of farce with a talented cast in their current production Drinking Habits 2 Caught in the Act. This is a sequel to the hugely popular Drinking Habits that Stage West produced a couple of years ago and features most of the original cast from that production.

In the first play the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing were trying to save their convent this time around they’re trying to raise $5,000 to save an orphanage and according to Sister Augusta, played by Natascha Girgis, and Sister Philamena, played by Esther Purvis-Smith, the best way to do that is to secretly produce a batch of their much in demand wine. In addition, to the wine, Mother Superior played by Elinor Holt and Father Chenille played by Robert Klein decide to raise the necessary funds by putting on a play which of course doesn’t go smoothly. And as a farce there are plenty of other plots in the works and secrets to be revealed as the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing try to do God’s Holy work.

I sat down with Natascha Girgis to chat with her about the production and her approach to comedy.

Esther Purves-Smith as Sister Philamena & Natascha Girgis as Sister Augusta in the Stage West Production of Drinking Habits 2 Caught in the Act by Tom Smith. Directed by J. Sean Elliott

JAMES HUTCHISON

Natascha, is there a different approach you take when performing comedy as opposed to drama?

NATASCHA GIRGIS

I don’t think so. How I prepare depends on the piece. If there’s a historical precedent or if it’s an individual who has existed in the past then there’s research to be done. If it’s The Bard then obviously there’s a lot of book work. For comedies I find the work happens in the room. If it’s a prop-heavy show or a prop-heavy role where I need to manipulate a lot then the sooner I can get off book and have my hands available and be an active listener the better. That lets me react in the moment in the room to the other actor or to the circumstances without thinking, “Oh, what’s my next line?”

JAMES

Are there any famous comic actors that you admire that you kind of pattern yourself after? Or have been a great influence.

NATASCHA

My body is tattooed with Buster Keaton.

JAMES

When did you discover Buster Keaton?

NATASCHA

I might have been eighteen or something like that and it was purely by accident. I was working at the Plaza Theatre in Kensington and we had access to whatever movies we wanted to go see. I meant to see a Danish film, but it didn’t come in because of shipping so they put their Buster Keaton festival on early and I thought, “A silent film, really?” So, I stayed and saw Pale Face which was one of his shorts and my head exploded and I thought who are you? And I went every day after that to every one of the festival dates and have followed up ever since.

Buster Keaton – American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer.

JAMES

What is it about Keaton’s performance that you find so mesmerizing?

NATASCHA

He lives, eats, breathes his medium. His work was everything. It defined who he was. He’d been working since he was an infant on vaudeville with his parents. He never went to school. His training was in the theatre. It was on the boards. It was a very rough knockabout physical act. His physical facility is incomparable, and he dates well because in his films – he’s man against the machine – he’s man against the world. His stuff is still funny and the risks that he took were astonishing. I own virtually every film and virtually every book that’s ever been written on him and I’m a member of both the British Society and the American Society of Keaton fans.

JAMES

So, what plays do you like? What makes you laugh?

NATASCHA

I like farce. I like the challenge of farce. I like the pace of farce. The fast thinking. I like the door slam timing. The mechanics of it. I like the hard math of a good farce. I love Shakespeare. Your mouth feels good just saying those incredible words and negotiating those fantastic ideas and the colourful language and the use of metaphor from such a rich writer.

JAMES

I’m interested in how you approach physical comedy yourself and use that aspect in your performance.

NATASCHA

Very technically. I’ll throw an idea out there. I’ll think about the gag and how to physically orchestrate it and how to tell the story with your body and if there’s a fall or some sort of mechanical element required. And then I just clean it and clean it and clean it and try to make it very specific and very precise. And a Keatonism that I try to apply is think slow act fast. So, let the audience catch up with you but not get ahead of you and then surprise them if you can. And my approach is to give one hundred percent. Don’t mark it. If you mark it your body learns nothing. You have to give one hundred percent the entire time you’re in rehearsal.

JAMES

What do you mean by mark it?

NATASCHA

It’s often applied to dancers – sometimes they’ll go full out and sometimes they’ll just mark it – where they’re not doing it full out. I find you train your body if you do it full out every single time. It helps train your body for what is necessary in that moment.

JAMES

Let’s talk a little bit about the show you’re in now. What’s the play about?

NATASCHA

It’s about the sisters of perpetual sewing trying to raise some money to help save an orphanage. And everybody’s doing their best to assist with that because the most important thing is saving the orphanage, but everybody has a different idea about how to do that and so there’s a little bit more subterfuge involved in getting all that done.

JAMES

You’re working with a lot of the same cast from the first play what’s that like?

NATASCHA

Many of which are my really good friends in life, and they approach the work the same way I do. There’s always another laugh to be mined, or if something is starting to go a little awry and you’re not getting the same laugh you used to you can talk about it. They never stop working because every show means something. Every show is important because you have a paying audience who deserve the same performance that you gave at the beginning of the run. And hopefully, it’s more informed. Hopefully, there’s more gags. You always keep working. And they approach it the same way I do which is why I like working with them.

JAMES

It’s interesting to me to hear you say the comedy continues to develop and mature. How does new material work its way in over the course of a run?

NATASCHA

You still need to be consistent but if there’s room for it and you’ve been given license by the director that within a certain set of parameters you can add something there might be a gag that can be mined. You’ll try something and it’s small and you’ll hear some laughter about it, but you watch to make sure that you’re not stepping on someone else’s moment. The more experience you have hopefully the more aware you are of everything that’s going on and when you can add something and when you shouldn’t because you don’t want the focus to suddenly shift to you when it shouldn’t be on you, to begin with. That’s just being responsible. That’s being considerate.

JAMES

The nice thing about this play is that there are several roles for women and so I’m just wondering with the length of time you’ve been in the theatre performing different things are you starting to see a move towards better parts and more parts for women?

NATASCHA

There seems to be a growing awareness from producing bodies to include more female writers and to mentor more female writers not that women are the only ones writing parts for women but there seems to be a better inclusion of women where possible. Elinor Holt said it very succinctly the other day that sometimes in a play it’s just an occupation, but we always presume it has to be played by a man. Like you’ll have a judge, or you’ll have a police officer and for our now day sensibility our audience would buy it if you say – okay here we have the judo master and the judo master is a woman.

JAMES

So, why should somebody come and see your show? What would be your sales pitch?

NATASCHA

Don’t be afraid of the sequel if you haven’t seen the first one. You’re going to get a fast-paced broad comedy with a lot of experienced performers who enjoy working with one another and hopefully that makes the comedy infectious. It’s a great night out. It’s not Strindberg on Ice. It’s not a long piece of theatre. It’s a short little foray into silly.

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Drinking Habits 2 Caught in the Act by Tom Smith and directed by J. Sean Elliott runs until April 14th. The show stars Natascha Girgis, Charlie Gould, Elinor Holt, Robert Klein, Jeremy LaPalme, Kate Madden, Esther Purves-Smith and Luc Trottier. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 403.243.6642 or online at www.stagewestcalgary.com

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Additional Media

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Deathtrap at Vertigo Theatre: An Interview with director Jamie Dunsdon and actors Mark Bellamy and Tyrell Crews

Posted on January 30, 2019July 13, 2023 by James Hutchison

Tyrell Crews and Mark Bellamy in the Vertigo Theatre Production of Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Directed by Jamie Dunsdon, costumes by Hanne Loosen, set by David Fraser, Photo by Diane + Mike Photography

Mark Bellamy, former artistic director of Vertigo Theatre, returns to the stage to take on the role of Sidney Bruhl in Ira Levin’s intensely entertaining thriller Deathtrap. Joining him on stage is Tyrell Crews as aspiring playwright Clifford Anderson, Barbara Gates Wilson as Bruhl’s wife Myra Bruhl, Karen Johnson-Diamond as psychic Helga Ten Dorp, and Kevin Corey as attorney Porter Milgram. The production is being directed by Jamie Dunsdon.

Deathtrap is one of the longest running mystery thrillers to ever hit Broadway and even though the play premiered more than forty years ago it’s as fresh and funny and thrilling today as it was the day it opened. The only problem is that because the play is filled with so many twists and turns and surprises you have to talk about the play without talking about the play. The only thing I can tell you, without revealing any spoilers, is how the play begins.

Sidney Bruhl, once a successful Broadway murder mystery playwright, has fallen on hard times after numerous flops, so when he receives a brilliant murder mystery play in the mail from a former student, Sidney begins to contemplate murderous thoughts about how he might steal the play for himself. I sat down with director Jamie Dunsdon and actors Mark Bellamy and Tyrell Crews to talk about weapons of choice and Vertigo Theatre’s production of Deathtrap.

Barbara Gates Wilson as Myra Bruhl and Mark Bellamy as Sidney Bruhl in the Vertigo Theatre Production of Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Directed by Jamie Dunsdon, costumes by Hanna Loosen, set by David Fraser, Photo by Citrus Photo.

JAMES HUTCHISON

I’m going to start off with a hypothetical question. If you had to commit a murder – not saying that you would – what would be your weapon of choice?

MARK BELLAMY (Without hesitation)

Poison.

JAMES

Poison?

MARK

I have mine all planned out.

JAMES

Who’s the victim?

MARK

Oh, I can’t tell you that.

TYRELL CREWS

You’re looking at him.

JAMIE DUNSDON

It’s been a rough week. (Everyone laughs)

MARK

After running this company for ten years, you just amass so much knowledge that I actually figured out how I would do it. There’s a plant. I’m not going to say what the plant is, but you can grow it. It’s very common and there are different varieties of it. You can grow it in your garden and if you take the root and you soak it in vodka it makes it a tasteless, odourless, and almost untraceable poison that mimics a heart attack.

JAMES

It’s kind of disturbing that you’ve given this so much thought.

MARK

There’s even more. I figured out how I was going to use that poison.

TYRELL

I’m suddenly second-guessing our post-show martinis.

MARK

No, no, no – just never accept a cup of coffee from me – that’s the deal!

JAMES

Tyrell?

TYRELL

You know I haven’t given it as much thought as Mark.

MARK

Who has a detailed plan.

TYRELL

Well, like you said you lived in this building. I don’t know how I’d do it but what I will tell you is that last night I dreamt that I actually killed somebody with my bare hands – strangling – which was not even the major part of the dream. The major part of the dream was covering it up. There was a cell phone involved and I had to destroy the cell phone and the sim card itself and make sure the sim card was absolutely disintegrated because that’s the only thing that would have traced that individual to me.

MARK

This is exactly our characters.

JAMES

Good casting.

TYRELL

The violent one.

MARK

And the plotty one.

JAMES

Jamie, do you have a weapon of choice?

JAMIE

I do, but it’s for a very specific person. I would use peanuts.

MARK – TYRELL – JAMES

Ahhhh.

JAMIE

Yeah, I’d take them for a walk out in the mountains. Somewhere far away from their EpiPen and then I’d throw some trail mix their way. I would make it really pedestrian. Very every day.

Mark Bellamy as Sidney Bruhl, Barbara Gates Wilson as Myra Bruhl, and Tyrell Crews as Clifford Anderson in the Vertigo Theatre Production of Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Directed by Jamie Dunsdon, costumes by Hanne Loosen, set by David Fraser, Photo by Citrus Photo

JAMES

So, then let’s talk about the play. Deathtrap is one part thriller, one part comedy, and one part mystery and I’m wondering how do you balance all those elements so that we’re laughing where we’re supposed to and we’re screaming where we’re supposed to?

JAMIE

I think the script does most of it for us. The script is very well constructed, and it’s tried and tested. The playwright doesn’t drop in laughs except to break the tension and I think we just follow that lead for the most part. As far as the mystery and the thriller aspects go that’s more of a balancing act and we’re still working on that in rehearsal. It’s all about who knows what and when and then when do we want the audience to know what and when? So that’s the work – the final stage of rehearsal – we know what we’re doing but now we’re shaping the experience for the audience.

JAMES

And making sure you don’t telegraph to the audience at the wrong time what’s going on.

MARK

That’s the hardest part, I think.

TYRELL

Yeah, I think, it’s about playing these moments honestly and what’s on the page in that specific situation. I think Jamie’s done an amazing job in knowing when those secrets or the scheming are supposed to bubble up to the surface and peak through.

JAMIE

That’s right, it’s entirely volume control because we know this play so well now that – once you’re inside it – it’s hard to get back outside.

MARK

It’s super hard from the inside.

JAMES

Because you know everything.

MARK

I know everything and I think the previews will be really neat because I’m sure there’s going to be one night where we go way too far one way and then way too far the other. It’s about finding where the sweet spot is. And it’s really finite, isn’t it? It’s really particular.

JAMIE

There’s a narrow band that we need to live within and so that’s the work we’ve been doing the last couple of days and it’s a little bit subjective, right? It’s a little bit here’s how much I think we need to turn it up but I’m kind of the audience surrogate so I do my best to gage that but we could have audience members who are smarter than me and pick up on things earlier.

JAMES

And you’ve got a great cast you’re working with on this show.

JAMIE

We have a room that already understands the mystery genre because everybody in this show has worked with Vertigo multiple times which is fantastic. I’m leaning on their expertise as well, so for example, Mark caught something in rehearsal the other day that was very forensic. So, we have a room full of experts and fantastic people at the top of their craft and they’re also funny which is nice.

TYRELL

I think any hall that I have found success in is one where there’s the willingness to collaborate. It’s knowing that we’re all on the same playing field. Of course, Jamie has the final say but it’s the willingness to play and experiment which is supremely helpful for this type of play – auditioning every choice and volume level that we can.

JAMES

Now, Mark, you directed Deathtrap previously, haven’t you?

MARK

A long time ago. Sixteen or seventeen years ago. It was in 2002, I think.

JAMES

So, I’m kind of curious – you were the director and now you get to be the actor in it. Does having directed a show and now having had the chance to have aged into a part give you any additional insights?

MARK (Laughs)

It certainly gave me a familiarity with it. And when I directed it Stephen Hair was in it and Stephen was the former Artistic Director of the Pleiades.

JAMIE

And he had also directed it.

MARK

He had directed it! So there’s this weird little legacy.

JAMES

So, Jamie does that mean you’re going to be doing a female version of Deathtrap at some point?

JAMIE (Laughs)

Yes, I’m the next Sidney Bruhl.

JAMES

Mark, when you were directing it did you imagine that’s a part I want to play in twenty years?

MARK

I probably did. I fell in love with this play when I was in University. I saw the movie first and I’ve always been a fan of Deathtrap, but I don’t think back then my twenty-year-old self imagined my fifty-five-year-old self being Sidney Bruhl. I think I probably saw myself as a Clifford at some point when I was young, but that never happened.

JAMES

Tyrell, are there any particular parts that you want to play one day?

TYRELL

Hamlet is one of them. I’m a big Shakespeare guy so playing Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing with the Shakespeare Company last year was another one.

JAMES

Is Sidney in your future?

TYRELL

Ahhh, I love this play. I love this part, but it will be a very very long time before I get Mark Bellamy out of my head.

MARK

Oh dear. Oh dear. I’ve affected you.

TYRELL

In a good way.

MARK

Well, there are two moments in the show where I channel Stephen Hair. I’m not going to say where they are. I don’t channel. I homage. I homage – like I remember what Stephen did. There’s only two though.

JAMES

So, murder mysteries look at the darker side of humanity and there’s always an element of desperation to the characters contemplating murder – why do you think audiences enjoy watching desperate characters making morally questionable decisions?

JAMIE

Probably because we do it in real life. We don’t go as far down that path so, it’s delightful to see someone have that impulse and actually follow it through. There’s something a little bit cathartic in that.

TYRELL

And they’re relatable. You like these people and you’re invited into their home and you meet them and they’re very charming and you kind of fall in love with them.

MARK

And they’re funny.

TYRELL

And I think the way the plays mapped out you can see the decision making that goes into the escalation and so you can understand that decision making.

JAMIE

It’s a character-driven thriller – which you can probably speak to that more Mark because I’m not sure how common those are. This is a thriller that’s plot-heavy and it’s plot driven but the characters are all grounded.

MARK

What characterizes a thriller as opposed to a who done it is the thriller is more about the people and what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it and not what they’ve done. A who done it is for us to figure out. A thriller is more like what are they going to do now?

JAMES

So, we’re telling people about this wonderful play and if somebody were to ask you what you’re in and you say you’re in Deathtrap – and they say well why should come I see that? What would your sales pitch be?

MARK

Directed by Jamie Dunsdon

JAMES

That’s a good reason.

JAMIE

Stars Mark Bellamy.

MARK (Laughs)

I would say that it is probably the epitome of the American thriller. Deathtrap, to me, is the American thriller version of what the Mouse Trap is to the who done it. And it’s fun. It’s funny. It will scare you. You’ll jump out of your seat and if you can stay ahead of these characters then you’re a genius.

JAMIE

I always tell people the same thing I have written in my director’s notes for the show. I was working for Craig, the artistic director of Vertigo Theatre, a couple of years ago and he had me look through something like fifty plays from the genre in a matter of months and there was some great stuff there but there was also some not so great stuff and when I read Deathtrap in the first hour of reading it I was already gasping and doing little ahahs with my cats and so if you can get that out of a read then think how good it would be on stage.

JAMES

And because you are directing this Jamie, I was wondering how significant and important do you feel getting a chance to stage Deathtrap at Vertigo is in terms of your career development?

JAMIE

It’s huge for me, but that’s half my battle right now is to not get too worried about that. I just have to applaud Craig because there’s not a lot of artistic directors who give young female directors a chance and he did and so I’m so grateful for that opportunity and really grateful for him as a mentor in my life and I’m just now trying to focus on the work and not on the monumental career step in it for me.

JAMES

Well speaking of next steps what have you got coming up?

JAMIE

Nothing I can talk about. I’m in workshops for things that are coming up at Verb and I’m in the early stages of some stuff…like early design phase of some things that haven’t been announced yet so I can’t talk about them.

JAMES

Tyrell, you’re part of a new theatre company called Black Radish and I see you’ve got a production of Waiting for Godot coming up in April. Tell me a little bit about the creation of the company and the production.

TYRELL

It’s a passion project. A huge passion project for us all. Myself, Duval Lang, Chris Hunt and Andy Curtis have been meeting and reading and discussing the play for the last three maybe four years. We shopped it around a little bit but it wasn’t a good fit with any existing company in the city so we decided to bite the bullet and give it a crack ourselves and now Denise Clarke is directing it so we have a chance to work in the Flanagan Theatre at The Grand and they want to open their doors and invite the community in and have a fresh start and that’s a big push for me as an artist and an individual with our little company.

JAMES

Mark, you’ve got a show coming up later in the year at Stage West?

MARK

I’m directing A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. It’s a Broadway musical that won the Tony Award in 2014. It’s very funny and it’s based on the film Kind Hearts and Coronets with Alec Guinness and it’s about a guy who thinks he is very poor but he discovers that he is actually the ninth in line to become Earl of Highhurst so he goes about murdering all of his relatives who are ahead of him and the great conceit in the show is that all of his family – all of the eight relatives – are played by one actor. It’s superbly funny and has really great music.

***

Deathtrap by Ira Levin and directed by Jamie Dunsdon and starring Mark Bellamy, Tyrell Crews, Barabara Gates Wilson, Karen Johnson-Diamond and Kevin Corey runs at the Vertigo Mystery Theatre from January 26th to February 24th. Tickets start at just $29.00 and are available online at Vertigo Theatre or from the box office by calling (403) 221-3708.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Last edited on August 29, 2019.

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