THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED
Written by Keith Bunin. Directed by Skye Brandon. Starring Holly Turner, Trevor Schmidt, Farren Timoteo. The Third Space (11516-103 St). Sept 14-30. Tickets available by calling 471-1586, or through TIX on the Square (420-1757).
"I don’t mean to sound flaky," says Trevor Schmidt, "but I do find that at certain times, plays do seek me out."
The artistic director of Northern Light Theatre is talking about the lineup of plays he’s selected for his company’s 2007/2008 season, which begins this weekend with Keith Bunin’s The Busy World Is Hushed. Also on tap: 3 Different Heavens by local playwright Nathan Cuckow, and Cherish, a custody-battle drama by New Zealand writer Ken Duncum. The same themes recur throughout the season–faith, homosexuality, motherhood–and Schmidt says that in that sense, it’s probably the most cohesive season he’s ever programmed for NLT. "It’s also my most traditional season," he says. "It’s not controversial in style or overtly controversial in content, but I think the issues these plays raise are extremely timely and topical, and will be of great interest to people."
You can’t deny that Schmidt has done a tremendous job of getting people interested in NLT again. His choice of material is always unpredictable–it’s hard to imagine any other company in town doing shows as obscure or experimental or challenging as Language of Angels or Silence or Water’s Daughter or Summit Conference. And while he has a showman’s knack for turning controversy to his advantage (as with 2005’s The Credeaux Canvas, whose abundant onstage nudity was undoubtedly a major selling point), you don’t get the sense that there’s anything cynical about his choices.
"I often get applauded for picking obscure plays," he says, "but it often feels to me like a backhanded compliment. I get, ‘What a bold choice... but it didn’t work.’ ‘What a bold choice... but I wouldn’t have done it.’"
We’ll see how people greet The Busy World Is Hushed, a three-hander by Keith Bunin, the American playwright who also wrote The Credeaux Canvas. I suspect they’ll like it. It’s the story of Brandt, who’s hired by Hannah, an Episcopal minister, to write her latest book, a scholarly examination of a recently discovered gospel. He becomes romantically entangled with Hannah’s son Thomas, a drifter whose vagabond lifestyle is a great source of frustration and anger for her.
It may not have the obvious "hooks" of The Credeaux Canvas (nudity, the suspenseful art-hoax plot), but it’s an even richer piece of writing–its message cutting surprisingly deep. After reading Bunin’s script, I wasn’t surprised that Schmidt felt so passionate about making a rare NLT acting appearance to play Brandt.
But convincing Schmidt to give me a copy of the script to read was a struggle–and when I finally sat down to talk with him earlier this week, that was the subject of my first question to him. As you can see, it sent us off on quite a tangent before we got around to discussing the play.
SEE Magazine: I know you were very reluctant to let reporters read this play beforehand, and I was wondering what your reasoning was behind that?
Trevor Schmidt: Behind not letting you read it, you mean?
SEE: Hold on–is it me in particular you don’t want reading scripts?
TS: Absolutely! Don’t take this personally, but I find that your previews and your reviews sometimes lead into dramaturgy. I find that you neglect the actual performances or the production, and if you found fault with the third act or whatever [in your reading], you focus on that and aren’t actually thinking about what aspects of the show the director and the design team have focused on. You’ll decide on a reading of the play and get on that track, and I feel I can never get you off that track and win you over to my vision of the show. And if I may be so bold, I know I’m not the only person who feels that way.
SEE: Is there a particular play you’ve got in mind here, or is it something I’m doing all the time?
TS: Yes! All the time! [Laughs.] I mean, I’ve chosen flawed plays. I know that. I understand dramatic structure. I know when a play has a failing in the third act or an extraneous character. But I can’t change that. I can only focus on what drew me to the play in the first place.
SEE: Okay–now, I’ve heard you say that before, and I guess I’ve never quite understood why you’re surprised when people go ahead and point out in the review that a play has this flaw in it that gets in the way of their enjoyment of it.
TS: When people point out a flaw in the play, that’s fine. But when people point out the flaw as if it’s my fault, that bothers me. And when they point out the flaw for three paragraphs without mentioning the actors, the set designers, the lighting design, to me that denigrates the work that’s being done here over three weeks of rehearsal and two weeks of run. I’m not surprised when people don’t 100 per cent like what I do, but I often think that when people don’t like what I do, it’s because they want me to do something else. For instance, when I did Water’s Daughter, the Vue reviewer [Leah Collins] said, "It’s not really a musical–no one sings for the first 10 minutes." And I thought, "You didn’t come to see what I did. You came to see a traditional musical, and you’re not understanding what we’re doing here."
SEE: But if one of the devices of the show is that the characters will occasionally break into song–I mean, even if it’s not Gypsy or whatever, isn’t it a fair criticism to say that you should establish that convention a little earlier than you did?
TS: No. It’s ridiculous. I think that means you’re just doing formula theatre that never changes. I think that means you’re always giving the audience exactly what they expect and never changing the structure. We’d never invent anything new. If it’s something that you’ve never seen before, how can you say it’s wrong? There is no wrong. It’s unfortunate to me when people come to the alternative theatre in town, which is what we’ve become known as, and don’t want an alternative.
SEE: It’s interesting, because what struck me about this play, The Busy World Is Hushed, is that compared to several other NLT shows, its form is pretty traditional. So what drew you to the material? What made it seem like an NLT show?
TS: Well, I love Keith Bunin, who we had such a success with on Credeaux Canvas. And I knew immediately upon reading this one that I wanted to do it. The characters in this one are a little older than in Credeaux; it’s about love and commitment but from an older place. And there are huge issues of faith and spirituality, which spoke to me a great deal–I’m definitely at a place in my life where I want to understand why I’m here and what I’m supposed to be getting out of it and when it’s supposed to happen for me.
SEE: Does the play resonate with your sense of faith? Are you a spiritual person?
TS: I haven’t told anyone else this, but I was raised in an extremely liberal religious home. I was raised in a hippie church called Church of the Way. It was baptism, speaking in tongues, Holy Spirit, lots of dancing. Tambourines. Very Jonestown. And as I got older, my church life, my religious life became more subdued and conservative until I left the church entirely. I don’t go to church anymore. I find churches are like high school–the social life gets a little oppressive. But I’m not a very political or socially conscious person; what spoke to me more in this play were the interpersonal relationships. That’s always how I approach things as a director: when a play moves me emotionally, that’s when I’m interested in doing it. And I must say, the character I play speaks words that are so apropos of where I am right now, it’s painful to have to say them.
SEE: You don’t act in NLT shows very often–was this role something you had to be coaxed into doing?
TS: No, I insisted that I do it. And Erin Newell, who was our general manager at the time said, "Okay, who’ll direct it then?" And I suggested Skye Brandon, who I’ve directed in The Credeaux Canvas and was assistant director on Silence and who is like my theatre soulmate. He’s a little more conservative than me, he’s straight, he’s married, he’s into sports–we’re definitely coming from opposite ends, but we meet in the middle when it comes to the artistic vision. I know that when he was offered this play, it was not a play he would have chosen on his own, but now I think he really loves it.
SEE: Honestly, if I were directing my first big-time show, I think I would balk at directing you. I’d be a little intimidated–you’re a very strong personality and you don’t hesitate to voice your opinion.
TS: Well, maybe I’m a strong personality, but if I’m on your side... I mean, God, isn’t that great? I’ll have your back and your front! People are always afraid of me, but if you ask 98 per cent of the people who’ve worked with me, they’d say it was a great experience and they’d do it again. I can think of only two people in town who wouldn’t, and that’s fine, because I wouldn’t work with them! [Laughs.]
SEE: Have there been other plays you’ve considered staging that had juicy parts in them you were tempted to play?
TS: Not really. Truly, I love hiring people. I love introducing as many new faces to our community as possible. I feel that’s my responsibility: to encourage new and developing talent, and surprise people. Holly Turner, who plays Hannah, is just astounding! So gracious and simple and loving, and an excellent actress that no one in town has heard of. And Farren Timoteo, who plays Thomas, who says he’s just so excited to be in a show that’s not a musical.
SEE: I have to admit, I wouldn’t have thought of Farren for this part, if only because I always think of him as this happy-go-lucky musical guy.
TS: Honestly? When Skye suggested Farren, I balked too. I was concerned that he was a lot younger than me and it would look creepy. But then I decided that his looking young was the costume designer’s problem–which is also me, but anyway. It was ego on my part–I didn’t want to look fat or bald or old next to Farren. And he’s been just great. You know, when the three of us got together last winter for the photo shoot for the poster, I said, "We’re really going to have to take care of each other with this show. We’re really going to have to look out for each other." And I feel like we have. The play is very painful–boy, these characters really hurt each other–but we’re in a very safe environment here. |
