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.
