Day Trip to Stratford

So, when I posted my 3-panel play summary of the Stratford Festival's 2015 season, I casually mentioned that I wasn't going to be seeing two of the plays and if anyone reading JUST HAPPENED to work for the Festival and JUST HAPPENED to be able to get me tickets to them, that would be great.

Well, their social media coordinator JUST HAPPENED to offer me tickets, which JUST HAPPENED to be awesome. I saw Anne Frank last month, but was then left with the dilemma of who would possibly be interested in accompanying me on what would be a one-day round trip to see Possible Worlds, a bizarre play about alternate realities and brains being stolen.

Fortunately I have an awesome co-worker who is gullible enough to be convinced to join me on my mad-cap theatrical adventures. Here is (more or less) how the day unfolded:

My co-worker is an enabler.

Actually, the border guard asked "What play are you seeing?" When I replied that we were seeing Possible Worlds, she said "Oh, that one." She waved us through before I could get a fuller report from her. 

Stratford has some great bookshops. If there wasn't so much great theatre going on, I would spend all my time there in the bookshops. We ended up going to The Book Stage, right across from the Studio Theatre.

Also, I should point out that my co-worker is a librarian and loves bookshops. I'm doing great violence to her character for the sake of comedy, but she's used to that. 

I had read up about Possible Worlds in order to write my 3-panel play summary of it, but the only thing I could find out about Stratford's current production was that it was going to be played with the stage flooded by two inches of water. 

I'll post a review of Possible Worlds next week, but I have to say that I actually really enjoyed the water. I was afraid it was going to be gimmicky and distracting, but it worked really well with the production's concept. 

Not pictured: my co-worker and I loudly singing show tunes as we drove to and from Stratford. I was actually more than a little hoarse by the time we returned home. 

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In other news, I have finally launched my online store, the Good Tickle Brain Shoppe! I'm currently offering the following t-shirts, as well comic book compilations of my 3-panel plays and my Sound of Hamlet parody. Check it out!

Many thanks to my magnificently-bearded buddy Eric for agreeing to help me model my shirts. (Beard not included in shirt orders.)

Review of "The Diary of Anne Frank" at the Stratford Festival

I wrap up part one of my Stratford Festival reviews today. (Part two has to wait until I see the rest of the season later this summer.) 

The Diary of Anne Frank is a very atypical play for me to go see, in that it is (a) contemporary, (b) based on real events, and (c) definitely not a comedy. I don't tend to enjoy contemporary drama that takes itself seriously (such as Miller or Williams) because, by and large, I really don't enjoy watching people with issues be terrible to each other. I enjoy Shakespeare plays about people with issues being terrible to each other because the distance of time and place and culture somehow dulls the edge.  But contemporary family dramas involving overwrought parent-child relationships? No. Not really my cup of tea. I'd rather, you know, have fun instead.

When my family couldn't fit Anne Frank into our annual Stratford binge, I  wasn't terribly sad about it, but something niggled at the back of my mind. "I really ought to see this," I thought. So when the Stratford Festival generously offered to provide me with a pair of tickets, I decided to take the plunge. (I hasten to note that my review is not influenced by the acceptance of said free tickets - if I didn't like the show I would have just never mentioned I had seen it in the first place.)

I really can't speak highly enough of director Jillian Keiley's decision to break the fourth wall right at the start by having the actors directly address the audience as themselves, not as their characters. As someone who is pathologically self-analytical in a theatrical situation, I tend to wall up when I feel a production is trying TOO HARD to elicit a particular emotion from me. By having the actors disarmingly introduce themselves and the characters they played, Keiley was very sneakily able to circumvent this tendency of mine.

You go into a production of Anne Frank expecting it to be sad, and it is invariably sad. It is to this cast's credit that this production was not uniformly colored with sadness and fear and poignancy, but instead had all the shades of emotion one would expect in a real teenaged girl's life: humor, laughter, frustration, brattiness, rebelliousness, annoyance, love, etc. 

Was this fun? No. But not everything has to be fun all the time, and I'm glad I saw it.

Review of "Hamlet" at the Stratford Festival

Last week I reviewed Pericles, the first Shakespeare play of my Stratford Festival season. Today I'm turning my attention towards their production of Hamlet. 

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a particularly critical person and am not always good at analyzing or articulating my reaction to a show. At the intermission of Hamlet I was wondering vaguely what was wrong with me, as the show I had seen was doing everything right (as far as I could tell) and yet somehow was not pulling me in. I still don't know why that was, but I do know that the second act redeemed all that.

Confession: I've had an actor-crush on Jonathan Goad ever since I saw him as Hotspur in Henry IV, part 1 at the Stratford Festival many years ago. Like all Hotspurs, he had a manic energy and dangerous edge, but he also had the charisma and competency that many Hotspurs seem to lack - all qualities that he also brought to his Hamlet.

Again, as is usual at Stratford, the supporting cast members were all uniformly excellent. I particularly enjoyed Geraint Wyn Davies's Claudius, whose brief moments of villainous plotting were all the more alarming for how charming and reasonable he seemed most of the time, and for Adrienne Gould's mad scene as Ophelia, which definitely ranks as one of the more unsettling ones that I've seen.

When you inject this much energy into a production, it is sometimes possible for things to get lost in the hustle and bustle. It is to director Antoni Cimolino's credit that this Hamlet, despite being physically lively and fast-paced, is also accessible, comprehensible, and, most importantly, entertaining.

Review of "Pericles" at the Stratford Festival

OK, I'm trying something a bit different today... a review! I love going to the theatre, but I've never written actual reviews of the productions I've seen. Mostly this is because I am a terrible reviewer. I'm fairly easy to please and without any of the critical discretion of more seasoned reviewers. I'm also very soft-hearted, so if I didn't enjoy a production I am more likely to pretend I never saw it in the first place rather than say anything negative about it. But let's give it a try! The guinea pig I have selected is the first show that I saw at the Stratford Festival this season.... Pericles!

Now, the gentleman I was sitting next to might just be overly full of joie de vivre, but to have someone who, at the beginning of the show asked me "is the language in this play the sort of Shakespeare language you have to translate constantly in your head?", turn around at the end and say "That was terrific, everyone should see this!" is quite a positive testimonial. Especially because this was Pericles. And, let's face it, Pericles is nowhere near one of Shakespeare's more accessible plays. 

The only other time I've seen Pericles was again at the Stratford Festival, about twelve years ago. That was a decent production too, but this one was definitely cleaner, much easier to follow, and more stylistically cohesive. As I always say, I'm fairly frivolous and can get quite impatient with directorial Concepts (with a capital C) but in this case the Victorian concept definitely served the play, as opposed to being imposed upon it. I particularly enjoyed the double-casting (which I enjoy anyways, but which actively enriched the production in this case.)

I really don't need to say that the acting and the language-speaking were superb, because that's almost always the case at Stratford. Special mention to Deborah Hay, whose gigantic brimming limpid eyes in the already emotionally-fraught reunion scene managed to sneak through the chinks in my fairly robust emotional armor. 

Pericles isn't performed all that often, so, if you can, take an opportunity to see this production. (If you're on the other side of the continent, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is also mounting a production this season, and so you should totally see that one and then tell me how it is.)

Kids Read Comics Convention

I've been plastering this all over social media, but forgot to re-mention it here! This week, June 20-21, is the Kids Read Comics Convention in Michigan! Specifically, it's at the Ann Arbor District Library. I will be there both Saturday and Sunday, from 12pm to 6:00pm, selling a variety of Good Tickle Brain merchandise, including t-shirts! Here's a sneak peek and some of the stuff I'll be presenting:

If you're in the Southeastern Michigan area, stop by and say hello! I'm a very nice person and would love to chat with you, so don't be shy. If you're NOT in the Southeastern Michigan area, don't worry! In a couple weeks (hopefully, tech gods and my own limited intellect permitting) I will be launching my online store and you'll be able to order shirts and other merchandise there.

Hope to see some of you there!

The Stratford Festival 2015 Season... in 3 Panels!

It's that infuriating time of year when shows at the Stratford Festival in Canada (which I have been patronizing since the extremely early age of three) start opening. I say "infuriating" because I'm not going to be able to see any of these shows until my family vacation in August, and so for the next few months I have to enduring tantalizing hints on social media as to how cool these shows are going to be. It's like giving a starving man a plate of wax fruit.

(If anyone from the Festival reads this and feels like giving me free tickets to come up earlier, I should state that my schedule is extremely flexible and I have my own transportation. I also wasn't able to fit Anne Frank and Possible Worlds into our August trip, so if you have any spare tickets lying around for those shows in particular, that would be... I'm sounding a bit desperate, aren't I... sorry... sorry... carry on...)

Anyways... here is the line-up for the Stratford Festival's current season, with the theme of "Discovery: That Eureka Moment".

Things that Hamlet discovers: (a) his uncle killed his father, (b) plotting revenge is more complicated than he thought, (c) don't stab random curtains.

Things that Maria discovers: (a) seven is a lot of children, (b) curtains make great play-clothes, (c) most of life's problems can be solved if you just sing a lot.

Oh Carousel... You're so problematic... So very problematic...

Things that Billy discovers: (a) armed robbery is not a career opportunity, (b) killing yourself doesn't actually make things easier for your family, (c) you can steal stars, which hitherto we had thought were giant balls of flaming gas, but are actually cute little sparkly things symbolizing hope and reconciliation and stuff like that.

Things that Anne discovers: (a) even in the darkest times, the human spirit remains indomitable and free, (b) it's not always easy living in very close proximity with people for two years. 

Oh Taming of the Shrew... You're so problematic... So very problematic...

Things that Petruchio discovers: (a) ... I can't actually write anything here because, depending on directorial interpretation, he could either discover that that his grubbing pursuit of money has, in fact, led him to discover true happiness with a soulmate who is his intellectual and emotional equal, or he could discover that marrying a woman for her dowry and then emotionally and physically abusing her is a great way to get rich quick. Or anything in between those two. 

Things that Kate discovers: (a) upper-class English men are idiots.

....sorry, I've never seen this play before, that's all I've got. 

Things that Mobius discovers: (a) when you're hiding out in an insane asylum, you shouldn't be surprised if things get a little bit crazy.

I've never seen this play either. There are some fun plot developments in it that I've tried not to spoil. (SPOILER: HIS UNCLE KILLED HIS FATH-- no wait, wrong play.)

Things that Face and Subtle discover: (a) people are essentially gullible idiots, (b) when people stop being gullible idiots, you had better run for it.

This will be only the second Ben Jonson play I have ever seen! I am so very excited. 

Things that the boys discover: (a) don't make impetuous vows of celibacy, (b) don't write incriminating letters proving that you're planning to break your impetuous vows of celibacy, (c) don't try to fool the girls, because they are much smarter than you.

I've seen a lot of Love's Labour's Losts recently and am becoming very fond of it. Looking forward to this production.

Things that Oedipus discovers: (a) he murdered his father, (b) he married his mother.

End of story.

Things that George discovers: (a) that he's actually [SPOILER]

I haven't seen this one either. I'm digging its Star Trek vibe, though. 

OK, this is a TOTALLY NEW PLAY that will be making its debut at the Festival this season, so I obviously haven't seen it or read it or even been able to look up its summary on Wikipedia. It appears to be a contemporary account of Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII. So I have no idea what Kate discovers. 

Things that Pericles discovers: (a) he shouldn't throw people overboard without making sure that they're dead, (b) he shouldn't leave his daughter with dubious babysitters and then never go back to pick her up.

Come on, Pericles. Get your act together.

So anyways, that's my round-up of the Stratford Festival's upcoming season. If you've followed my stuff for a while, you'll know that I'm very fond of the Festival, and that they reliably put on very high quality productions of both classical and contemporary plays, so if you're anywhere near Ontario you really should make an effort to stop by and see a couple shows. 

(I should note that the Stratford Festival is not bribing me to shamelessly promote their season. I genuinely think they're awesome and super-fun.)

Return to Stratford

I realize I've been harping on about the Stratford Festival a lot recently. I'd apologize, but I'm not actually that sorry about it, as it is such a major part of my theatre-going life. This time I managed to "convince" my conveniently pliable co-worker and her sister to accompany me to see A Midsummer Night's Dream and Crazy for You one last time before the end of the season. I recount the saga here:

I'm just going to go ahead and own my half-crazed theatre junkie tag. It's me. I don't deny it.

That's my co-worker. She was actually much more enthusiastic about the prospect of going to Stratford than I give her credit for here. Although my half of the conversation is pretty spot-on....

True story: When I drove up to Stratford by myself for the first time, the border guard was extremely dubious about me going to the theatre all by myself. I invited my co-worker and her sister along mostly to stop the border guards from further prying into my apparent lack-of-life. It worked.

The set changeover tour was fascinating, by the way. It also ended early enough for me to squeeze in dinner before the evening show. So you can have your cake and eat it too.

After they got their coffee, my co-worker and her sister agreed that it was a lot of fun. I'm always right about things like this. 

This. This is the definition of tragedy.

Anyways, thanks again to all the fantastic actors who took the time to chat with me! As always, it is such a pleasure to meet the people behind the performances that I have enjoyed so much over the years. (Not pictured: my awesome co-worker and her sister, in case they wish to remain semi-anonymous and not associate themselves with my incurable theatre obsession.)

Also, that Shakespeare statue has really creepy eyes. It's great.

One Year Old

First of all, apologies for this comic being a bit late. I had a busy and eventful weekend... but more on that later. First of all, I want to thank you! Yes, YOU. Because you're wonderful. 

As Sondheim said, "A vision's just a vision if it's only in your head. If no one gets to see it, it's as good as dead." So thank you for seeing my comic, and for enjoying it, and for sharing it. I wouldn't be doing this without your readership and your support. I'm looking forward to another year of Shakespearean shenanigans to share with you!

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Anyways, the reason this comic is late is that I went up to the Stratford Festival again this weekend to see Christina, the Girl King (the one show I had missed on my last trip). I also ended up seeing Mother Courage and King John again. This was one of the most uniformly excellent Stratford seasons I can remember, and was made even more special by so many of the actors who took the time to chat with my when I stalked them at the stage door. It turns out actors are warm, lovely, and generous human beings. Who knew?

Anyways, here's a snapshot of my Stratford trips. I'm the unkempt-looking one with glasses.

So, along with all of you lovely readers, I want to thank the Stratford Festival for inspiring a love of theatre in me at an early age that had compelled me to devote (almost) every free waking hour I have to drawing theatre-related stick figure comics. You've totally ruined my social life, Stratford. I hope you're happy.

The 2014 Stratford Festival: The Musicals

I was intending to have the rest of my Stratford Festival season reviews done by today, but I only had time to do the musicals. Let's start with Man of La Mancha, a musical based on the life of Miguel de Cervantes and his famous novel, Don Quixote. At the end of the show, the leading lady, Aldonza, who has basically spent most of the last two hours being angry, ground into the dirt, and angry that she is being ground into the dirt, finally embraces the new identity that Don Quixote has given her. It's quite a powerful moment, and when I saw it at Stratford, this happened:

Now, I've seen Man of La Mancha several times before, and, as a cynical and inherently frivolous person, I must confess that it's not my favorite musical. However, it is very effectively designed to push people's emotion buttons, and one can't argue with an entire theatre of people who have clearly been profoundly moved by it, especially the gentlemen behind me who felt the need to audibly praise Aldonza's moment of self-actualization at the end. 

Crazy For You, a musical written around some of Geroge and Ira Gershwin's best songs, is much more my style - totally frivolous with a ludicrous plot, lots of catchy songs and fantastic dance numbers. Stratford does this sort of thing very well, especially with director/choreographer Donna Feore at the helm. If any show rivaled the sheer, unbridled joy of A Midsummer Night's Dream, it was this one. The definition of a toe-tapper. 

I will be back on Monday, although Monday's comic might be a bit late as I am embarking on a weekend road trip to go rock climbing with some friends. I might be posting sporadic updates on Twitter, if you feel like cyber-stalking me. If not, I'll see you on Monday! Have a simply lovely weekend.