Mind Picking: The Play's the Thing

           

Back in November, as Kennedy and I were waiting for the band Kansas to begin their performance, we began discussing an ad we had seen for a one-person show of Hamlet — performed by the incredible comedian Suzy (the former Eddie; she promises this is not dead naming) Izzard — that was soon coming to Toronto. And realising that Mal also was keen to see it, I pulled the trigger as we sat in those box seats to buy a block of box seats to Hamlet as well. And what a fortunate decision that was.

Suzy began by walking to the front of the stage, explaining that although she is known as a comedian, this would not be some madcap one-woman sendup of Hamlet, but rather, a serious treatment in which she would play every role. (But did make this speech funny as with reference to the fact that actors in Shakepeare's day never went to acting school, and neither had she.)

I was mesmerised throughout the first half — Izzard definitely moved fluidly through the cast of characters, capturing every nuance of gender and age — and with that wonderful Welsh accent, and a precise understanding of (and ability to convey meaning through) the Shakespearean language, I was thoroughly captivated. I was, however, wondering if the one-person show concept was too tricksy for my theatre-studying family, but at the intermission, all they could do was gush at the virtuoso performance.

When it was just me and Kennedy, I asked what she thought the point of doing it as a one-person show was. And when she didn't really have an answer, I proposed that it may have had something to do with proving not just gender fluidity but also identity fluidity; that we all contain multitudes and are diminished when the outside world demands of us to stick to fixed roles. I shared this thought again with Dave and Mal when they got back, and I got some affirmative chatter in return. (Wouldn't there need to be a point beyond proving that one could pull it off?)

The second half was just as powerful. Dave declared this his favourite performance of the gone-mad Ophelia, his second favourite of Hamlet himself, and we were all impressed and entertained by the play-within-the-play, the clever scenes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the final sword fight. Simply stellar, beginning to end.

And when Suzy came out to thunderous applause and a standing ovation, she took a moment to thank the audience and explain that she would next be embarking on the farthest-flung stops of her world tour of the show, saying, "With everything going on in the world right now, it just might be the perfect moment for a trans woman to tour Hamlet." And the audience exploded into more applause, and maybe that was simply the point after all.

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I want to take a moment and reflect on how grateful I am to have these kids who — even at 27 and 30 — want to hang out with us and share with us their ideas and the things they love from pop culture. I wouldn't have known who Suzy Izzard even was if Kennedy and Mal hadn't introduced me to some of Izzard's stand-up specials some years ago (which then prompted me to read her memoir Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, reviewed here.)

We were home early enough from this matinee performance (and a dinner of vegan sushi at the wonderful Planta) that we watched the new Chris Fleming: Live at the Palace comedy special on TV. I knew that Kennedy and Mal had twice seen Fleming live in Toronto together, but Dave and I had never even seen a clip of him before. And while I don't know if his actual jokes are hilarious, I was thoroughly amused by Fleming's physicality and was happy to have watched this special with the whole family.

And then on Sunday, Mal said we show go see Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, and the three of us did (Kennedy and Mal having gone to see it together the week before, Kennedy needing to finally go home as Zach was returning from a business trip). Now, I famously don't really like Hollywood movies, but this indie Canadian comedy hit both my aesthetic sensibilities and my funny bone hard. Blending candid camera moments into madcap scenes, and using actual decades-old footage of themselves to pull off a time machine subplot, this was just so clever and funny and kind of an antidote to the Hollywood plotlines where I feel like I've seen everything before. It doesn't hurt that it was set in Toronto and the familiar just made it funnier.

Which leads me back to the fact that on Mal's suggestion, we watched the Blackberry film together when Dave was in Japan a couple of weeks ago. Directed, co-written by, and co-starring Matt Johnson of Nirvanna the Band, there's nothing madcap about the story of Blackberry, but this film was so good. Set even more locally to us (that opening scene that includes driving past the Kitchener-Waterloo water tower almost made us cheer), even the subject matter hit personally to someone like me who had followed the fortunes of Blackberry and Research in Motion (and not least of all because Dave had loved his Blackberry) as they unfolded. And if there's any accuracy to this story, what a wasted potential for what was once called the best mobile phone in the world.

All this to say: I love that our adult children still like hanging out with us and I acknowledge that I would be even more culturally out-of-touch than I am if they weren't sharing with us the things that make them laugh (not to mention politically, the things that make them mad). We are so much better for having them in our lives and I am beyond grateful for this little family.

Mind Picking : A Diamond Jubilee

 

Mum and Dad's 60th anniversary was last week, and although all of us kids and grandkids went down to visit them in Nova Scotia for their 50th ten years ago, it was somehow difficult to convince my brothers that we needed to celebrate them again this year. In the end, just the three of us ended up going to visit and Ken and Kyler insisted that our presence was present enough; no physical gifts. The best I could do was to have a "Milestones" announcement on their local news station (which Mum and Dad didn't see until I sent them a link to the Milestones website because they don't watch the news live anymore? Side note: Kyler said he loves this [the only picture from their elopement wedding day] "Because they look like movie stars.") I also asked my brothers to take pictures of their families with anniversary greetings that I could upload to Mum and Dad's digital frame, and that also seemed like asking a lot. To be fair: Ken is dealing with terminal cancer and Kyler has (presumably) chronic lyme (so hard to get a proper diagnosis when the medical establishment denies its existence; private doctors don't mind taking his money for treatment though) and neither of them is in top shape. But still, it was their 60th.

As I wrote in December, Mum had a large part of her colon removed last fall, and at the time, she wistfully spoke about "lasting" until February and her diamond anniversary. And even in the three months between my last two visits, she has become much more frail, and perhaps even more worrisome, she's struggling to find words while talking (which she is very aware of, it's not quite like my late mother-in-law's dementia — where Bev would hit a mental block and freeze or ignore it — for Mum, she kept stopping, struggling and thinking hard, and then saying with a rueful smile, "I'm having trouble talking now.")

So it was kind of a big deal that Dad agreed we could take them out for dinner; something we haven't done as a family for many, many years. We made a reservation at a local restaurant — not wanting the strain of driving too far to get to an actually nice place — and the food and atmosphere was all good enough. Dad tends to like to make remarks at such times, and this is what he had loaded for us:

As you know, your mother loved having babies, and I asked her the other day what she had looked forward to most about becoming a mother. And she said, "I was just so excited to see what they would look like."

So I asked what she thought when she first saw Kenneth and she said, "I thought, well that's a little man. That's just what a little man looks like." (Mum is smiling and nodding along to this.)

So then I asked what she thought when she first saw Krista and she said, "Well I thought, what a sweet bundle of joy. She was always smiling, never cried, just a bundle of joy."

And finally I asked what she thought when she first saw Kyler and she said, "I remember asking the nurse if babies are supposed to have noses that big."

 

And we all laughed, with Kyler saying, "I was waiting. I knew I'd be the punchline." And in the end, between the laughs and storytelling, there was something kind of special about it just being the five of us.

Although we had all flown in on the Saturday, Kyler had to leave on the Monday morning after this dinner (he really is so busy), and as Kyler's property on the lake is Ken's favourite place on Earth, we spent most of the next fews days out there, with a couple more quick visits into town to visit with Mum and Dad. Ultimately, it didn't really seem like enough to me, but I feel the need to defer to my brothers (and especially Ken) right now. A few days later, Dad sent us this email:

we want to let each of you know how we feel about the wonderful experiences you provided last week. there was abundant love and joy and it will not be forgotten. we are not always able to respond in kind any more having reached our best before dates. your kindness will always be remembered.

love mom and dad

So maybe it was enough in the end? Looking at how frail Mum looks in that picture, maybe it was all either of them could handle. Sixty years: that ain't nothing. Here's hoping Mum makes it to her 80th birthday in May, and that everyone can — and will want to — go out for another visit.

Mind Picking: The Woman with the Outrageous Laugh

 

Kennedy and Mal have been fans of James Acaster forever, and after sharing comedy specials and his series on Taskmaster with me, they made me a fan, too. I immediately loved Acaster's dry, wry, sardonic sense of humour, as displayed in the "cabbage prank" story he shared on Would I Lie to You:

So with Dave off on yet another business trip, and Zach able to make it into Toronto with us, we four had a side-splitting time seeing Acaster perform in Toronto on Wednesday night.

Using the conceit that he was actually a James Acaster impersonator, the comedian was able to make ironic fun of himself in meta-level layers. And as this was the first stop in his tour beyond the UK, it was interesting to see Acaster making audible notes to himself along the lines of, "Ah good, you understand Strictly Ballroom references" or "Unbelievable you'd react negatively to a joke about the Catholic Church. That got huge laughs all throughout Britain but I guess you polite Canadians draw the line at mocking pedo priests." 

And speaking of so-called "polite" Canadians: When Acaster first mentioned the world tour and accidentally said, "This is my first stop in America...er...I mean Canada..." he got actual boos from the audience, and that caused him to react. "I thought you were supposed to be the polite and humble ones." But then he seemed to stop and think and said more carefully and confidentially, "Ah yes, I see. You've got those stirrings on your southern border. You need to be ready. You know that, right?" That's all that needed to be said about that, and it was appreciated.

But back to James Acaster, or rather, Craig Simons (the UK's #1 James Acaster Tribute Act): I guess some level of audience heckling (or at least talk back) is expected at his shows, and it seemed to become a smooth part of his act when someone shouted out during the set up of one of his stories, Acaster reacted, began the story again, and when several people shouted out at the same point (getting big laughs), he noted, "Aha, and now the jester's dilemma. One interruption got a laugh, a second, louder, interruption got a bigger laugh, and now you need to wonder: will interrupting the set up for a third time get an even bigger laugh or just make me look like a prat? Let's see what he'll decide, shall we?" And starting the set up for yet a third time saw (mostly) noone try to interrupt. Funny but smoothly moving on.

So when Acaster began the set up for another joke some time later, Kennedy saw the punchline coming before anyone else and barked out her biggest laugh into the quiet of Massey Hall. And Acaster stopped and turned towards Kennedy on the side balconey and said, "I think you're ahead of everyone else here." And laughing even bigger now, Kennedy yelled back, "Sorry!" Acaster replied, "Oh, don't be sorry. You paid your money, laugh when you like. But now I have to wonder." Scanning the rest of the audience, he said, "Are people going to think it would funny to interrupt my set up to this joke by mimicking the woman with the outrageous laugh at the appropriate moment? Or will me talking about it make that seem less funny? Let's see, shall we?" Acaster took another run at the joke and a couple of people tried to copy Kennedy's big laugh, leaving Acaster to shake his head sadly and say, "None of you quite got it, did you?" Kennedy laughed big at that and Acaster turned again to her and said, "No, that's not quite what you did before." And Kennedy was losing it as the show moved on. (This was not the first time Kennedy stopped a comedian's show with her big laugh; it apparently happened last summer, too, when Kennedy and Mal went to see another of their favourite comedians, Chris Fleming, live in Toronto.)

The routine went on to bigger and more outrageous stories, but interacting with Kennedy was definitely my favourite part. Awesome show, especially for us.