Tova Kornfeld

A Dickens of a musical

Anthony Santiago, at front, plays Fagin in Gateway Theatre’s production of Oliver!, which runs until Jan. 4. (photo by David Cooper)

Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist in 1837. His eponymous main character, an 11-year-old orphan, has the audacity to ask for more when the workhouse daily gruel is handed out, leading to a series of events that change his life forever. And local audiences will be asking for more, more, more of Gateway Theatre’s offering of Oliver!, the musical “freely adapted” from Dickens’ novel by Lionel Bart, which plays until Jan. 4.

A beloved classic, the 1968 screen adaptation of Oliver! won the Academy Award for best picture of the year. A revival of Bart’s work is currently playing in London’s West End to widespread acclaim. I predict the same for this production.

The story revolves around Oliver’s journey through the gritty underworld streets of Victorian London, from being an impoverished orphan sold to apprentice a cruel undertaker, to his secondment to a gang of street urchins under the tutelage of Fagin “the Jew” and, finally, a reunion with his well-to-do family.

Community member Josh Epstein ably directs his 24-person cast, a superb mix of professional and amateur actors (including 11 children), as they enthusiastically sing, dance and cavort their way across Ryan Cormack’s handsome set.

On the dark side of the original story is Dickens’ portrayal of Fagin as a venal, sinister, petty criminal who runs a den of adolescent thieves, teaching them to pick the pockets of London’s elite. Dickens refers to Fagin as a Jew more than 250 times, mostly in a negative way. He defended his choice by stating that he was just reflecting the reality of the time – that London underworld criminals were almost invariably Jewish. Some say he based the character on Ikey Solomon, a notorious Jewish fence. Over the years, consistently called out by Jewish community members for antisemitism, Dickens eventually apologized and edited out the negative references. Bart, who is Jewish, downplayed any stereotypes of Fagin in his rewrite.

In Gateway’s production, you would not even know that Fagin, played by Anthony Santiago, is Jewish, although, in his one solo, “Reviewing the Situation,” the klezmer-inspired clarinet accompaniment hints at a connection. Even as Fagin salivates over his cache of jewels, overall, he comes across as a lovable rogue, not the sleaze Dickens originally described. On opening night, I asked Epstein about this characterization. “I did not want to make a Jewish caricature of him,” said Epstein. “I wanted the show to be something entertaining and deep without that aspect.”

While this is truly an ensemble production, a number of actors stand out. Many of the veterans take on multiple roles, gliding effortlessly from one to the other.

Miranda MacDougall, who can really belt out a song, does double duty as Nancy, one of Fagin’s accomplices, a kind-hearted strumpet, and Mrs. Sowerberry, the undertaker’s wife. She also carries off a pretty good Cockney accent.

Tanner Zerr plays Nancy’s churlish beau Bill Sykes, whose cruelty leads to murder and his ultimate demise. One wonders what Nancy sees in this violent partner and why she stays with him. The answer comes in her poignant rendition of “As Long As He Needs Me,” which brought tears to my eyes. Zerr also doubles as Mr. Sowerberry in a very funny funeral scene and chorus line dance, including a spry corpse – Kate Malcic.

Santiago is simply fantastic as Fagin. Lucas Gregory as the Artful Dodger, the leader of Fagin’s gang, has a very physical role, as he slides down poles and climbs up and down ladders. I hope he can make it through the three-week run without an injury.

Then, of course, there is Rickie Wang as Oliver. Wang gives a sublime performance and showed his singing talent with “Where is Love?”

More minor characters, Victor Hunter, as Mr. Bumble, the beadle, and Cecilly Day, as Widow Corney, delight in a raunchy two-hander that had the audience in stitches. Daniel Curalli plays Mr. Brownlow, who turns out to be Oliver’s uncle, with the appropriate gravitas, and Suani Rincon does a nice job as Bet,

Nancy’s friend. All the gang kids, from the tallest to the smallest, are great and perform with gusto.

A musical of this scope is nothing without the behind-the-scenes work of the creative team. In this production, they really deliver.

Cormack’s industrial two-storey wrought-iron set constantly revolves, morphing from a workhouse to Fagin’s hideout to a posh London salon to London Bridge. Frenetic activity accompanies each revolution with various cast members running to and fro.

Lighting designer Sophie Tang’s rich colours infuse the various sets, providing the mood for each scene.

The costumes of Donnie Tejani authentically reflect the Victorian era – the rustling petticoats of the ladies, the tattered frocks and knickers of the children’s gang, Fagin’s patchwork overcoat, and fancy waistcoats and trousers for the gentlemen.

Against the backdrop of all of these designs, choreographer Nicol Spinola gets her young charges hoofing away to musical director Sean Bayntun’s impressive six-piece orchestra. With iconic songs like “Food, Glorious Food,” “Consider Yourself One of the Family” and “Oom Pa Pa,” what’s not to like?

My only complaint is that the hidden orchestra often overpowers the actors (although they are all wearing microphones) so that many of the lyrics are lost. Hopefully, over the course of the run, this will be corrected.

In program notes Epstein remarks: “Directing Oliver! has been an incredible opportunity to reimagine a story that has resonated for generations. While it’s a tale of resilience and hope, it also confronts the harsh realities of poverty, abandonment, and the search for belonging. For this production, we’ve worked to see the story through Oliver’s eyes, capturing the vivid and fantastical way children remember moments.

“This isn’t a softened version of Oliver!, it’s raw, unflinching, and a true dark fairy tale. It’s a story about finding light in the darkest places and holding onto hope when it feels out of reach.”

I highly recommend this delightful musical, suitable for ages 10 and up. Tickets can be purchased at [email protected] or by calling 604-270-1812. Special performances include VocalEye audio description for guests with visual impairments (Dec. 28) and a relaxed performance (Dec. 21).

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Plays offer understanding, release

Dromio in The Comedy of Errors. Bard on the Beach runs into September. (photo by Tim Matheson)

Every day, we are bombarded with news about war, hate, crime, inflation, the list goes on. How to make sense of it all? Often, good theatre can provide deeper meaning and understanding of the world, or at least offer us a break from the world. Cue Shakespeare and his 400-year-old lens that is remarkably accurate in contemporary times…. And that takes us to Bard on the Beach.

Last issue, I reviewed Bard’s productions of Twelfth Night and Hamlet (jewishindependent.ca/bard-plays-with-tradition). This issue, I start with Measure for Measure, then move to The Comedy of Errors.

In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the Duke of Vienna has enacted laws outlawing sex between unmarried couples. He then leaves the city in the control of puritanical Angelo and disguises himself as a friar to observe what happens. A young man, Claudio, is prosecuted for the crime of impregnating his girlfriend and is sentenced to death. When the condemned man’s virginal sister, Isabella, a novitiate in a local nunnery, comes to plead for his life, Angelo is smitten. He offers to save Claudio’s life if Isabella will sleep with him. What a great platform to explore the male hierarchy, corruption, sexual predators, coercion and authoritarian control.

photo - Tal Shulman as Abhorson in Measure for Measure — Tal Shulman as Abhorson in Measure for Measure. *(photo by Tim Matheson)*

In the Bard production, director Jivesh Parasram has taken the story and, in an absurdist twist, made premarital dancing the offence punishable by death. The setting: the disco-crazed 1970s and ’80s, in the glitzy Club Europa. Act 1 opens with hooded monks frenetically dancing on a neon-lit dance floor replete with a disco ball, presided over by a silver-clad, fox-head-wearing DJ (Jewish community member Tal Shulman, who later does duty as the black-hooded executioner, Abhorson). The Duke (a superb Scott Bellis) rips off his monk robes to reveal a sparkly suit as he dances his way over to Angelo (a staid, suspendered Craig Erickson) and hands him authority over the city. The edict is given – tansen verboten (dancing forbidden) – but that does not stop an erotic pas de deux between Claudio (Jeremy Lewis) and Julietta (Tess Degenstein), leading to Claudio’s arrest and imprisonment.

When Isabella (Meaghan Chenosky) is told of her brother’s fate by Lucio (Karthik Kadam), she rushes to Angelo’s office. At first, she is rebuffed but then Angelo offers her Claudio’s life in return for a dance. She grapples with the request, wanting to save her brother’s life, but refuses, threatening to expose Angelo’s hypocrisy. His response: no one will believe her. Sound familiar?

To save Claudio’s life and retain Isabella’s chastity, a plan is hatched to switch Mariana (Leslie Dos Remdios), Angelo’s previous lover, to dance with the cad. A huge panda bear head is part of the subterfuge.

Meanwhile, there is a side story of two “dance hall workers,” who are worried about the morality laws and the impact they will have on their “business.” The pair become involved in the plot to free Claudio. For how it all ends, you’ll have to see the play.

Throughout the production, the foxy DJ pops up to play the hit tunes as the cast busts out into various, often raunchy, dance moves. Kadam also plays Master Kevin Bacon and performs some impressive footwork to the theme song from the movie Footloose.

The set is fab (thanks to designer Ryan Cormack), the costumes hip (credit to Alaia Hamer), the dancing energetic (kudos to choreographer Krystal Kiran) and the oldies but goodies nostalgia-inducing. If the opening night audience reaction is any measure of its success, Bard’s take on Shakespeare’s “problem play” is destined to be the hit of the season. It certainly will bring in a younger crowd.

***

Playing on alternate nights with Measure for Measure (and with the same cast) is Shakespeare’s shortest work, The Comedy of Errors, about two sets of identical twins separated at birth in a shipwreck. Egeon (Bellis), a merchant from Syracuse and father of one of the sets of twins, has been arrested and sentenced to death in Ephesus for breaking a law that prevents people from traveling between the two cities. Seeking leniency, he tells the Duke (Degenstein) why he is there. Many years before, he had a wife and identical twin sons (both named Antipholus), who had identical twin servants (both named Dromio). During the shipwreck, he saved one son and his servant while his wife and the other son and servant were washed away. His Syracusean son, Antipholous, has taken Dromio to look for his lost brother. Now Egeon is looking for both his sons. A 24-hour reprieve is granted. Conveniently and unbeknownst to anyone, both sets of identical twins are in Ephesus. Of course, that sets the scene for confusion, mistaken identities, slapstick humour and hilarious miscues. There even is a goofy exorcism.

Director Rebecca Northan (who helmed last year’s Goblin Macbeth) has set the play in its proper period, ancient Greece. Once in the tent, you feel like you are in an open Mediterranean market with colourfully decked out vendors hawking their wares – silks, carpets, gold – mingling with the audience as they take their seats.

Northan has chosen to have one actor play both twins in a set, which can be confusing and will keep you on your toes. Lanky Antipholus (Lewis) wears a red and blue shoulder sash. When the red side is showing, he is from Syracuse; the blue, Ephesus. Meanwhile, diminutive Dromio (Shulman) also uses red/blue swatches to signal his identity. Shulman is very funny and his talent is evident as he frantically races around the stage, and in and out of the tent.

The main confusion surrounds the purchase of a gold chain that has yet to be paid for although money has been tendered. Where is the necklace? Who has the money? Who paid for what?

The second area of confusion is the relationship between Ariana (Chenosky), the wife the Ephesian Antipholus and her husband, who likes to “go out with the boys.” When she sends her servant to fetch him home and finds that he does not recognize her (wrong twin) and that he has fallen for her sister, Luciana (Cynthia Yusuf), she explodes. In all of this, Kadam, playing both a coquettish courtesan and an Urdu-speaking merchant, steals the show. I wish he had been on stage more.

As usual in any Bard comedy, all’s well that ends well and all becomes clear. Tying everything together is great behind-the-scenes work: the set (Cormack), costuming (Christine Reimer), sound design (Ben Elliott) and lighting design (Hina Nisihoka). My only complaint is that, as the actors did not have microphones, some of the dialogue is lost. And some of the shtick works and some does not, but it is in the name after all – a comedy of errors. Come early to take advantage of the artisan market set outside the performance venue.

For tickets to any of the four Bard productions, visit bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Bard plays with tradition

Nathan Kay as Sir Andrew in Bard on the Beach’s production of Twelfth Night. (photo by Tim Matheson)

Summer is here again and with it comes that perennial favourite, Bard on the Beach. This year, the BMO Main Stage hosts Twelfth Night and Hamlet, well into September.

First up, Twelfth Night, from Shakespeare’s later period, was written to provide light entertainment for the close of the 12 days of Christmas. Director Diana Donnelly’s adaptation for this comedy is to set it in a carnival-like atmosphere in Illyria, to take advantage of the chaotic shenanigans served up in the narrative (including a fight scene using table tennis paddles). As stated in the show notes, “Illyria is peopled with a bizarre mix of characters: a ringmaster, strongman, rocketman, clowns, pirates and several fortune tellers.”

In Twelfth Night, twins Viola (Kate Besworth) and Sebastian (Charlie Gallant) are separated after a shipwreck. Viola washes up on the shores of Illyria into the midst of the circus. Thinking that her brother has perished, she disguises herself as a man (Cesario) to work for magician Count Orsino (Aidan Correia). Meanwhile, the Count is trying to woo circus star Countess Olivia (Olivia Hutt) and sends Cesario out to do the deed. However, Olivia is not interested in the Count, being preoccupied with other tragic events in her life, and falls for the messenger while the messenger falls for the Count, making for an interesting love triangle.

Add to the mix Olivia’s drunk-but-well-meaning uncle Sir Toby Belch (Marcus Youssef) and his foolish sidekick Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Nathan Kay), cunning maid Maria (Evelyn Chew), the Fool (Anton Lipovetsky, doing double duty as musical director) and, in a gender reversal, the Countess’s puritanical, let-there-be-no-fun manager Malvolia (Dawn Petten), who secretly pines for the Countess, and the mayhem takes off. Amid all this, Sebastian reappears on the Illyrian scene, leading to comical mistaken identity scenarios.

You might as well call this Bard iteration Twelfth Night: The Musical, as cast members often burst into song – terrific original ones by local composer Veda Hille – giving credence to a famous line in the play, “If music be the food of love, play on.” While I found the first act somewhat disjointed and confusing, trying to figure out what was going on when and with whom, the second act saved the day and the enthusiastic cast/music made up for any shortcomings in this adaptation.

To that end, kudos to understudy Besworth, who got the call a day before opening night to step into the shoes of Camille Legg and, without the benefit of rehearsal, gave a sublime performance. Hutt is charming as the Countess, Youssef is as good-humoured as you can get and Gallant does able double duty for the musical bits with guitar and drum work. Bard veteran Andrew Wheeler is the Ringmaster and controls the pace of the circus (when he can). Petten is a standout and takes the concept of emoting to new heights in a sparkly yellow cat suit when she is spun around on the “Wheel of Misfortune,” while being punished by Belch and his cronies for her kill-joy attitude. Very much an ensemble cast, special mention has to be made of the two Jewish community cast members, Kay and Lipovetsky, whose comedic timing and antics will keep you in stitches.

Costumer Mara Gottler has scored a home run with costumes that can only be described as fabulous – particularly Hutt’s colourful sequined frock and a flowing, white, asymmetrically hemmed wedding dress (I want this dress!) complemented with black suede stiletto boots. All the costumes are suggestive of a carnival and set designer Pam Johnson gives the audience a multi-hued circus with colourful games, ladders, balls and banners.

Purists may wince at the liberties taken with the original script but this production will be a hit with those in the summer crowd who are looking for a Shakespeare Lite experience.

For something completely different, there’s Hamlet. I loved, loved, loved it! I have seen many productions of Hamlet but this one is by far the one that gave me the most clarity in understanding the story. This is Shakespeare at his finest.

Stephen Drover, adapter and director, in a brilliant twist of chronology, starts the play off with Hamlet on stage orating the suicide soliloquy (usually in the third act). Right away, we see the angst of the prince as he grapples with life and death (“to be or not to be”). His life is a mess – his uncle Claudius kills his father, the king of Denmark, and takes the throne; his mother, Queen Gertrude, marries Claudius; his best friends from university, uildenstern and Rosencrantz, betray him; and his girlfriend, Ophelia, kills herself. What’s left to live for? It is the dread of what might come after death that “makes cowards of us all” and so Hamlet chooses life on this “mortal coil.”

photo - Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab as the title character in Bard’s Hamlet — Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab as the title character in Bard’s Hamlet. *(photo by Tim Matheson)*

Hamlet is set on his fateful path by an eerie visit from the ghost of his father, who describes his murder most foul and importunes his son to avenge his death. Feigning madness, Hamlet sets off to right what is rotten in Denmark amid the wealth and power of the royal court.

The action includes a foray into a graveyard where actor Lipovetsky injects some moments of lightness into an otherwise dark tale with his comedic take on the gravedigger. We also are privy to the funeral of Ophelia and, in the finale, an epic fencing duel culminates in multiple deaths, including a poignant farewell for Hamlet. Kudos to fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis for his choreography of this sequence. Choreographer Lisa Goebels also provides some stunning freeze frame dance moments showcasing some fancy footwork by the older royals.

In another interesting staging twist, the original play-within-a-play device, which mimics the king’s death (poison in his ear), becomes a song from traveling performers, played by Christine Quintana and Lipovetsky.

Pam Johnson’s set is a cavernous library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and secret doors that allow the actors to enter and exit the stage seamlessly. A huge crown hangs from the ceiling and plays a critical role in the final scene. Being set in the present time allows for contemporary costumes – tattered jeans, T-shirts for the young, fitted dresses and pant suits for Gertrude and double-breasted suits for the older gents, courtesy of costume designer Barbara Clayden.

While this is Hamlet’s story, it really is only made possible through the teamwork of a very skilled cast. Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab is the quintessential Hamlet, with his physical presence and determination palpable as he undertakes his filial task of revenge. (Starting Sept. 2, Hamlet will be played by Chirag Naik.) Besworth is an ethereal Ophelia who sees no option but to take her life when both her brother, Laertes (Kay), and her father, Polonius (Wheeler), forbid her to have anything to do with Hamlet. Munish Sharma plays Claudius; Jennifer Clement, Gertrude; Ivy Charles and Aidan Correia, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz; and Youssef, the Ghost.

For tickets to any of the Bard productions, visit bardonthebeach.org or 604-739-0559. Comedy of Errors and Measure for Measure run on the smaller Howard Family Stage.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

The birth of a classic movie

David Wallace, J.D. Dueckman, Matt Ramer and Rachel Craft in Metro Theatre’s Moonlight & Magnolias, which runs to May 18. (photo by Emma Chan)

Gone With the Wind (GWTW) is my all-time favourite movie and, if adjusted for inflation, the highest ranking movie of all time. To think that the screenplay for Margaret Mitchell’s 1037-page tome was hashed out in a five-day marathon by two Jews and a WASP holed up in producer David O. Selznick’s Hollywood office beggars belief. And yet, that is what happened – and Moonlight and Magnolias, currently playing at Metro Theatre, is Ron Hutchinson’s hilarious take on what went on in that office.

It is 1939, Selznick is producing both GWTW and The Wizard of Oz (TWO). He has just sacked director George Cukor three weeks into production (due to a run-in with Clark Gable) and pulled Victor Fleming off the set of TWO (he allegedly slapped Judy Garland) to direct. There are only five days until production resumes. Selznick’s reputation with his father-in-law, studio head Louis B. Mayer, is at stake. He needs a hit. Enter Ben Hecht, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, to the rescue. However, Hecht has not read the book and is not crazy about the job – as he says, “No Civil War movie has ever made a dime.” But he succumbs to Selznick’s relentless pressure, sacrificing his artistic standards for financial security.

Selznick gives strict instructions to his assistant, Miss Poppenghul, to hold all calls and let no one in or out of his office. He orders up a diet of peanuts and bananas (apparently brain food) for the triumvirate’s sustenance.

As Hecht pecks away at his typewriter, Selznick and Fleming reenact various scenes from the book in zany physical comedy fashion, giving life to the iconic characters Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler, Melanie and Ashley Wilkes and even Prissy, the maid.

In Metro’s production, J.D. Dueckman is sublime as the neurotic Selznick. Kudos to him for mastering his dialogue-intense role and for his parodies of various GWTW cast. From his first approach to Fleming, played by Matt Ramer – “How do you feel about being locked up in a room with two crazy Jews?” – to his eureka moment for Clark Gable’s famous last line where yes, my dear, he frankly did give a damn, you can feel the passion behind the independent producer’s quest for his holy grail.

In counterpoint, David Wallace as Ben Hecht plays his role in a much more subdued manner. The audience gets that he is torn between writing the screenplay as Selznick envisions it and his own activist leanings to not glorify the Antebellum South but, rather, “make America look its ugly mug in the face” – its racism and antisemitism (sound familiar?). He astutely points out to Selznick that, no matter what his successes are, he will never be allowed to join the country clubs of the WASP elite or buy a house in certain parts of Beverly Hills and that the handful of Jews who created Hollywood are always worried about being shipped back to a Polish shtetl.

Ramer captures Fleming’s broody persona and does a wonderful job portraying Melanie during her childbirth scene. All three men have great chemistry together.

Rachel Craft brings a feminine presence to the testosterone-fueled stage as the ever-suffering and sleep-deprived Selznick assistant.

As the writing marathon continues, the order of the office disintegrates into paper- and peanut-shell-strewn chaos as the three amigos stumble around the office in a disheveled and bleary-eyed stupor. As they finish the project, the men realize that, indeed, “tomorrow is another day.” Cue the melodramatic theme song to close out the show.

Francesca Albertazzi’s set is what you would expect of a Hollywood mogul’s office – a polished mahogany desk, a crushed velvet couch, leather-bound armchairs and elegant light sconces. In a subtle nod to detail, the office window is framed in the iconic green velvet drop curtains fringed with gold tassels (that Scarlett used to fashion the gown she wore to visit Rhett in jail to ask for money to save her beloved Tara). The glorious reds, oranges and golds of the film are reproduced throughout the play by lighting director Les Erskine.

Director Catherine Morrison has ably helmed the production with her talented crew in this hidden gem of a funky theatre. You don’t have to be a GWTW fan to appreciate the show. Just go and see it. It will give you a nice escape from these troubled times.

Tickets can be purchased at metrotheatre.com or from the box office, 604-266-7191.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Parade’s story remains relevant

Josh Epstein stars as Leo Frank in Raincity Theatre’s production of Parade, which runs until April 13. (photo by Nicol Spinola)

Raincity Theatre’s production of the musical Parade opened March 21 at 191 Alexander St., a heritage venue in Gastown. It runs until April 13.

The story of Leo Frank, who was kidnapped from the Georgia State Penitentiary by members of the Ku Klux Klan on Aug. 17, 1915, and lynched, might not seem the stuff of musicals. However, playwright Alfred Uhry and Broadway producer Hal Prince saw the potential of reaching new audiences with this important story that had already been told in novels, plays, film and television. With a book by Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, the Prince-produced show opened on Broadway in 1998 – it won two Tony Awards. In 2023, Parade had a Broadway revival, again winning two Tonys.

Frank’s alleged crime was the rape and murder of a 13-year-old factory worker, Mary Phagan, but his real crime was being Jewish in the American South, which was, at the time, still feeling humiliation and anger over losing the Civil War.

Mary was last seen alive when she came to pick up her wages on the morning of April 26, 1913. Her body was found in the factory basement later that day. Frank was arrested and charged with the crime.

Several factors prevented a just trial, including a district attorney wanting a conviction to support his bid for governor, the antisemitism of a right-wing newspaper publisher, sloppy police work, the withholding of evidence, witness tampering, perjured testimony, and an all-white jury. This was America’s version of France’s Dreyfus Affair.

Frank’s wife, Lucille, lobbied everyone she could to intervene, and prominent newspapermen and others campaigned on Frank’s behalf. Finally, after two years in jail, Frank’s death sentence was reduced to life in prison, but the news was not welcomed by everyone. Mobs stormed the governor’s mansion and the National Guard was called out; martial law was declared. Frank was transferred into protective custody but the lynch mob – some of whom had been jurors in his trial – managed to kidnap and murder him.

“Our production will plunge our guests into the depths of human emotion, amidst the backdrop of a true historical event that still resonates today,” writes director Chris Adams in Raincity Theatre’s press material. “The passion and the tragedy of Leo and Lucille Frank’s story, enveloped in the haunting beauty of Jason Robert Brown’s score, will be simply unforgettable and I hope the undeniable resilience of the human spirit will deeply move audiences.”

Many Jewish community members are part of the show’s creative team, both on stage and off. Josh Epstein plays Frank. Warren Kimmel, Richard Newman, Stephen Aberle and Erin Aberle-Palm play various roles. Itai Erdal is the lighting designer, Michael Groberman the researcher and Kat Palmer, one of the producers. Rabbi Kylynn Cohen and Cantor Shani Cohen are consultants.

The Jewish Independent interviewed Epstein regarding his role.

JI: How did you get the part of Leo Frank?

JE: I was fortunate. I had it offered to me. I did not have to audition. I was asked to do this a year ago. I said yes immediately. Parade is my favourite piece of musical theatre. I am obsessed with it. I even went down to Seattle years ago to see it when the original Broadway cast toured it and got Jason Robert Brown’s autograph (my favourite composer) on the program, which I still have today. I remember just sitting there being gripped the entire show. The music is so gorgeous. However, it is not your typical Broadway production.

JI: The director said in an interview that you were born to play this part.

JE: I do feel like it is right for me. I have been waiting a long time to get a chance to play Frank and, when it was offered to me, I grabbed the opportunity. It was offered to me even before Oct. 7 and I knew it was an important role as, even then, there was a very antisemitic YouTube clip being circulated and, as a Jew, it was on the top of my mind with incidents happening and growing, and it is even more relevant today after Oct. 7.

JI: What research did you do to prepare for the role?

JE: I read what I could. The trial is a fascinating story that has everything in it, not just antisemitism but racism and women’s suffrage and children working in factories and people’s attitudes even 50 years after the Civil War is over. The parade was organized to honour the Confederate soldiers and then this explosion comes out of it with a resurgence of the KKK and the formation of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League. As far as the role goes, it is a deep acting role, but you also have to be able to sing. It has a lot of layers to it. I just read the script over and over to get some sense of the depth of Leo’s character.

JI: How would you classify the production?

JE: It is dark but there are moments of levity. It is the music that brings you joy. It will be an intense experience. It is such an incredible musical that you get swept away and it soaks into you. It is very visceral. People crave that. You won’t get that experience anywhere else.

JI: What can you tell us about the space and the cast?

JE: It is a gorgeous, intimate space with the audience close to the action and a really strong cast. The original production had a cast of 40. This one is pared down to 20. It is huge to have 20 people in a 70-seat space – it feels like a giant production yet there still is a sense of intimacy about it. Lucille is the real star in a way as she becomes the driving force behind Leo’s sentencing being reduced and the resurgence of their love.

JI: How has the experience of playing Frank been for you?

JE: This experience has been incredible. Sometimes, I can’t always speak about the experience but I feel it. When I am in the show, I trust it, the material is great. I don’t have to come up with any tricks or think of the next joke or push the drama, I just stay present in the scene and give my version of what Leo is going through.

JI: Why should people come and see it?

JE: People love true crime stories and it is one of the most interesting cases in history, still talked about today. The production takes everything interesting about the case and puts it to the most gorgeous music you will ever hear.

JI: What would you like to have the audience take away from the production?

JE: They don’t have to take any theatrical thing away. Just come and watch. The story is there. It is a true story. They should just come, watch and feel.

For more information and tickets, visit raincitytheatre.com.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Chelsea Hotel is heavenly

Jack Garton, playing a Jokeresque bellhop, manipulates the memories and thoughts of the Writer, played by Adrian Glynn McMorran. (Sarah Race Photography)

In Paper Thin Hotel, Leonard Cohen writes, “It is written on the walls of this hotel, you go to heaven once you’ve been to hell.” Heaven is where you will be if you catch Steve Charles and Tracey Power’s 2024 iteration of their 2012 hit Chelsea Hotel, playing at the Firehall Arts Centre until March 3.

Chelsea Hotel is a loving tribute to Cohen and his poetry, which transcends time and space while touching on enduring universal topics – passion, loss, sex, religion and politics. Although Cohen has been dead for more than seven years, his music and lyrics live on and perhaps are more relevant than ever given the troubled state of our world.

I saw the world première of the show back in 2012 (jewishindependent.ca/oldsite/archives/feb12/archives12feb10-02.html) and did not think anything could make it better but, after a cross-country tour and 400 performances, like a fine wine, it has improved with age. Half of the original cast returns to reprise their roles and they, too, have only become better with time. Power does triple duty as she choreographs, acts and directs, while Charles is musical director/arranger and musician/actor.

The sung-through musical revolves around a tortured writer (Adrian Glynn McMorran) shuttered up in a shabby room in New York’s Chelsea Hotel trying to forget his past so that he can be creative again. The show opens with him outstretched on a bed towering with crumpled paper, a metaphor for his cluttered mind. Each time he writes something down and throws it away, we feel his existential angst as he searches for inspiration from his life’s memories. Five actors, playing multiple characters, move in and out of his various visions, reminding him of his past romantic entanglements and indiscretions through songs like “Suzanne,” “Take this Waltz,” “First We Take Manhattan,” “Tower of Song,” “Dance Me to the End of Earth,” “Bird on a Wire” and, of course, “Hallelujah.”

All the scenes play out in the Writer’s mind – illusions in a carnival-like setting guided by a Jokeresque bellhop (a terrific Jack Garton) who pops in and out of the set as he manipulates the Writer’s memories and thoughts.

This truly ensemble production is a fusion of dance, music and theatre, with the multi-talented cast of six all triple threats – each capable of singing, dancing and playing the myriad instruments used in the show, ranging from the traditional – guitar, violin, keyboards and drums – to the more unconventional – banjo, ukulele, accordion and even a kazoo (showcased in the very erotic “I’m Your Man” number).

McMorran is sensational as the Writer. His vocals run the gamut from softly crooned ballads to frenetic rock ’n’ roll numbers. Power, Marlene Ginader and Michelle Bouey play the lovers and the muses, moving through the various vignettes in dreamlike, ethereal fashion. Ginader, in her blue raincoat, is touching in her portrayal of the jilted lover trying to get back into the Writer’s heart. Hovering quietly in the shadowy background, Charles switches effortlessly from instrument to instrument, until he emerges front and centre stage to sing a poignant “Famous Blue Raincoat.”

The staging is sublime. Kudos to set and costume designer Drew Facey for his fragile, paper-like set and simple costumes. John Webber’s mood lighting completes the surreal atmosphere.

As you unwrap the layers of this performance, so ably packaged by this wonderful cast, the pleasure only increases. There is so much to like in this production – don’t miss it.

As a bonus, on Feb. 23, the theatre is holding a special event, Endless Love, toasting the legacy of Cohen, which includes pre- and post-show receptions, cast mingling and, of course, the show. Tickets can be purchased at firehallartscentre.ca or by calling the box office at 604-689-0926.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Treatise on war, peace

Left to right: Tom Pickett, Advah Soudack, Kate Besworth and Karthik Kadam in Bard on the Beach’s production of Shakespeare’s Henry V, which runs to Aug. 13. (photo by Tim Matheson)

Bard on the Beach rarely presents Shakespeare’s history plays. The last time Vancouver audiences were treated to one of the House of Lancaster trilogies was in 2011. Like Julius Caesar, currently playing on the Mainstage, Henry V is a timely production, based on world events. Unlike Julius Caesar, which is set in modern times, director Lois Anderson has envisioned the setting for Henry V as an indeterminate time in a wartorn future.

In Henry V, there is a device Shakespeare often used – a play within a play. A traveling troupe of nine actors, seeking shelter from a raging storm, suitcases in hand, arrives in an apocalyptic time to present their version of Henry V. Their ultimate message: make love, not war.

When Henry IV died, his 16-year-old son, Prince Hal, ascended to the throne of England. His father had, on his deathbed, made it clear to his son that, to take on the crown responsibilities, he had to give up his profligate lifestyle and his association with the lower-class tavern set, including his mentor Falstaff. Once on the throne, and taking government matters seriously, Henry V is surrounded by ambitious advisors who encourage him to invade France as part of the ongoing Hundred Years War between the two countries. Reluctant at first, the arrival of an emissary at his court with a “gift” of tennis balls (analogous to a slap in the face) from the cocky French Prince, the Dauphin, convinces Henry to go to war.

On the battlefield, Henry comes of age, transitioning from an impressionable youth to a fierce leader of men. Although vastly outnumbered, the English are ultimately successful in the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, spurred on by Henry’s rousing now-iconic call to arms: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”

As part of the boy-to-man transition, Henry takes a hard line with his tavern pals, who have also joined the fight for king and country – condemning one to death for stealing a loaf of bread and eschewing the pleas for reconciliation from a dying Falstaff.

The audience is guided through the story by a narrator, the Chorus, who welcomes us to “the show” and provides numerous asides that give context and meaning to what is happening on stage, both in the action and in Henry’s mind (manifested by flashbacks to his carefree days of youth).

All the cast, save for the eponymous lead, play multiple roles and Anderson has chosen to always keep the actors on stage. When not involved in a scene, they sit off to the side. Costume changes take place right in front of the audience. The intimate Douglas Campbell Theatre allows for this up-close-and-personal action.

The women in this production are standouts. Jewish community member Advah Soudack not only acts, doing double-duty portraying Mistress Quickly (one of the tavern denizens) and the emissary Mountjoy, but also has a chance to show off her vocal skills with a haunting solo. Newcomer Marlee Griffiths is simply delightful as the French princess Katharine, especially as she practises English with her maid. Emilie Leclerc is both the narrator and French Queen Isabelle, and makes her Bard debut with a strong performance.

Kate Besworth plays Henry V in a gender reversal. Anderson’s vision encompasses the insecurity and angst of a teenager suddenly placed in charge of a country at war, who must make decisions with far-reaching consequences. Yet that same youth can be painfully shy when it comes to wooing, winning and wedding Princess Katherine (a strategic alliance that helps broker peace between the warring nations). Diminutive Besworth ably portrays these two sides of Henry’s character.

Among the male actors, Billy Marchenski is a tough Exeter; Craig Erickson, Henry IV; Tom Pickett, the King of France; and Karthik Kadam, the Dauphin. Munish Sharma gets to play with the role of portly Falstaff.

However, the real stars in this rendering are the designers. Kudos to all of them, starting with Jewish community member Amir Ofek in charge of the set design. In the program notes, he writes, “Director Lois Anderson and myself reimagined this production as an immersive audience experience that starts from the moment you enter the performance space.” He certainly accomplished this goal. When you step through the front tent flap, you are transported into a futuristic sepia-and-earth-tone world, chairs haphazardly stacked, looking like they are about to fall over (a metaphor for the chaos of the world), and an inner tent made of burlap sacks stitched together (scavenged from various local coffee shops), all atop a cracked, parched dirt floor. You really do feel like you are in a tent in the middle of a battlefield. The chairs are used to represent everything from beds to thrones to canons to barricades to weapons.

Mara Gottler’s costumes reflect the “anytime and no time” design mandate she was given and lend themselves to the quick on-stage changes. She wanted to “convey a visual narrative of war and love,” and accomplishes this with different colour palettes for the French and English courts and the tavern gang. Sophie Tang’s lighting, together with Joelysa Pankanea’s musical score, complete the effect. Original songs for the troupe add a novel layer to the production and choreographer/fight director Jonathan Hawley Purvis deserves a mention for the clever battle scenes.

Anderson’s vision is certainly a treatise on the evils – and inevitability – of war, yet still holds out a glimmer of hope for redemption through love.

Henry V runs until Aug. 13. For tickets, visit bardonthebeach.org or call the box office, 604-739-0559.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Bard masters comedy, tragedy

Oscar Derkx (Orlando) and Chelsea Rose (Rosalind) in As You Like It. (photo by Tim Matheson)

What do you get if you mix a Shakespearean comedy with 23 Beatles hits from the 1960s and set the whole thing in Vancouver and the Okanagan? An unforgettable night at Bard on the Beach, which opened its 34th season with a remounting of its 2018 hit As You Like It.

Various nips and tucks to the original script have been made. While purists may not appreciate the surgery, the Bard version still follows the convoluted saga of four pairs of young lovers who cross paths as they work through obstacles in their quests for true love. After all, all you need is love.

The action starts in Vancouver with a zany pre-show bout of Superstar Wrestling – make sure you get into the tent 15 minutes before curtain time. Ringmaster Touchstone introduces Charles 2 Guns Leibowitz, a narcissist on steroids, who takes on all comers for cash prizes. Orlando, who has been denied his inheritance by older brother Oliver, decides to go for it, although the underdog in size and confidence.

During the match, Orlando catches the eye of Rosalind, and it is love at first sight (“she loves you, ya ya ya!”). However, Rosalind is banished from Vancouver by her aunt, and runs off to the Okanagan with best friend Celia and faithful servant Touchstone. To do this safely, Rosalind uses one of Shakespeare’s favourite ploys and disguises herself as a boy (Ganymede), with Celia playing her sister.

Orlando, with his devoted servant, Adam, also heads to the Okanagan when his brother threatens to have him killed. As expected, he crosses paths with Ganymede/Rosalind and her entourage.

Add to the mix a lovelorn rube and the object of his affections, a shepherdess who becomes enamoured of Touchstone, a commune of back-to-earthers headed by Rosalind’s mother, who also was banished, and the plot twists and turns through secret notes, trysts, actors hiding behind trees (it is Shakespeare after all), strange picnics and more. Every scene morphs smoothly into a Fab Four moment through songs like “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “All you Need is Love,” high-energy, fancy footwork (a shout out to choreographer Jonathan Hawley Purvis) and toe-tapping music from a five-piece band helmed by musical director Ben Elliott (who also acts in the play).

This is a real ensemble piece and every cast member seems to give it their all. I was particularly impressed with Chelsea Rose’s vocals, as Rosalind. Oscar Derkx (Orlando) is boyishly charming and can also belt out a song. Elliott (Silvius) showcases his comedic chops in a raunchy pas de deux with Alexandra Lainfiesta (Phoebe). Finally, Scott Bellis, as Jacques, movingly delivers the iconic soliloquy “All the world’s a stage,” where the Bard explores the circle of life in seven stages, from babe to senile senior. Clad in a black turtleneck sweater and corduroy bell bottoms, Bellis is the quintessential beatnik. He also gets one of the best lines of the night – “I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs.”

Director Daryl Clonan can be proud of this latest iteration, which has toured through parts of Canada and the United States. The production values are top rate, starting with the glitzy set including a psychedelic VW parked at the back of the stage. Kudos to costume designer Carmen Alatorre for capturing the essence of the era – paisleys, acid-wash jeans, fringed vests, bell-bottoms, granny glasses, headbands and beads for the Okanagan granola set with Jackie O pillbox hats, white gloves, two-piece suits, chinos and polyester shirts for the urban crowd. And Gerald King’s lighting works wonders with a rainbow palette projected against Plexiglas panels that illuminate the tent backdrop of ocean and mountains.

***

In something completely different, the cast members of As You Like It also star in Julius Caesar, which plays alternating nights on the BMO Stage.

Bard on the Beach last produced Julius Caesar in 2007. This summer’s adaptation by Stephen Drover, set in modern times, brings novel perspectives to the classic tragedy of political ambition, jealousy, tyranny, treachery, mob rule, murder and revenge, and will resonate with contemporary audiences.

Despite the title, the real protagonist is Brutus, who grapples with his loyalty to Caesar and what he believes is the greater good of Rome, when approached by a group of senators to help assassinate Caesar. Hesitant at first, he ultimately joins the other senators in plotting Caesar’s demise – to take place at a meeting on the Ides (15th) of March. Though Caesar has been warned by a local soothsayer to beware that day, he ignores that warning and the pleas of his wife to stay home.

Caesar (an impressive Andrew Wheeler) arrives at the senate resplendent in a white business suit, topped off with a jaunty fedora, to the cheers of his people. Once there, Brutus and his fellow conspirators surround Caesar and, one by one, stab him, the final thrust coming from Brutus. In this viscerally haunting scene, Caesar falls to the ground, his white suit covered in red blood, as he utters his last words, “et tu, Brute,” surrounded by the conspirators, their hands dripping with blood.

At the state funeral, Brutus tries to convince the crowd that Caesar had to die for the good of Rome, but Mark Antony – a loyal friend to Caesar and a skilful orator – gives the “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” speech, over a ghoulish glass coffin containing Caesar’s bloodied body. The crowd turns against the conspirators, who are forced to flee. Antony then summons Caesar’s nephew, Octavius, to raise an army to hunt down and kill the conspirators so that Caesar’s death can be avenged. This leads to a civil war, with the action coming right into the audience.

In the penultimate scene, Brutus, having been visited by Caesar’s bloodied ghost and surrounded by his fallen comrades, realizes that defeat is at hand and implores his trusty servant to kill him. Andrew McNee’s performance as Brutus in this scene is compelling.

The final scene is eerie, as Caesar’s ghost slowly walks off the stage into the sunset amid wisps of smoke.

Director Cherisse Richards has chosen to reverse many of the roles so that most of the conspirators are female, as is the role of Mark Antony, played by Jennifer Lines, who is simply sublime.

In another twist, Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, and Portia, Brutus’s wife, appear more prominently in the adaptation, providing insights into the private lives and feelings of their husbands.

The stark set showcases a mix of old and new – jagged concrete columns evoke ancient Roman architecture, which morphs into tables, desks and even a wardrobe, against a backdrop of multimedia screens.

Jessica Oostergo’s warrior costumes are metaphors for good versus evil – Octavius’s allies clad in light khaki fatigues while Brutus’s side roams the stage in black and grey, looking like SWAT team members.

Video designer Candelario Andrade’s projections – spanning the spectrum from Joan of Arc, to Napoleon at Waterloo, to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol – accompanied by sound designer Kate Delorme’s ominous scores contextualize the action.

For Bard on the Beach tickets and the full schedule, which also includes Henry V and Goblin: Macbeth, visit bardonthebeach.org.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Go see Courage Now

Left to right, Katherine Matlashewski (as Shayna Schneider), Advah Soudack (as Margaret Grant) and Amitai Marmorstein (as Jankl Schneider) in Courage Now, playing at the Firehall Arts Centre until Dec. 4. (photo by Youn Park)

One does not often get a chance to see a world première of a play in Vancouver. After writing my preview article on Courage Now in the last edition of the Independent, I was looking forward with great anticipation to seeing the final product. I was not disappointed.

It is a difficult story to tell but it is done with such sensitivity and style that I highly recommend seeing it. As a child of a Holocaust survivor, any story of courage and heroism arising out of that era resonates with me – this one in particular had me in tears.

From the moment you walk into the intimate Firehall Arts Centre theatre, you know you are about to see something special. The set is austere – a desk, a bench, a lattice-like trellis, an empty wall-mounted picture frame – with a pagoda-style roof and an archway backlit with vibrant colours. (Kudos to set designer Kimira Reddy and lighting designer Itai Erdal.)

To summarize the backstory, Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1940, against the instructions of his government, issued more than 2,300 handwritten visas in a 30-day period to save Jews trying to leave Poland and Lithuania. He was supported in his decision by his wife, Yukiko, who knew the price the family would pay for going against the government edicts. And a price was paid: career loss, humiliation and Sugihara’s self-imposed postwar exile to Russia for 16 years.

The play follows what appear to be two separate narratives that intersect in an unexpected way in the final scene. In 1986, Yukiko (playwright Manami Hara) is forced to revisit wartime when a visitor from Vancouver, Margaret Grant, born Shayna Schneider (Advah Soudack), comes for answers from Sugihara as to what happened to her father after he put her on a train out of Kaunas when she was 13 years old. She has resented her father through the years, feeling abandoned and betrayed by his sending her off alone; she is also coping with a difficult divorce and her own daughter’s hatred. Sugihara has recently died, however, and Margaret must turn to Yukiko for answers instead.

The play opens with Yukiko waking from a dream where she is visited by the ghost of her husband. Then Margaret enters her garden. She tells Yukiko, “I am a Sugihara Jew, Sempo saved my life.” The play then moves through a series of memory flashbacks, as the audience is transported back and forth between 1940 Kaunas and 1986 Japan.

Katherine Matlashewski plays the teenage Shayna and Amitai Marmorstein plays her father, Jankl. Jankl visits Sugihara (Ryota Kaneko) to plead for visas on behalf of the thousands of Jews who have been lining up every day outside the consul’s office. In a touching and poignant scene, something as simple as a shared cup of coffee gives you a sense of the integrity and honour of these two men as they strive to do the right thing. Kaneko plays Sugihara with a quiet intensity and Marmorstein portrays Jankl with dignity. The scene where he sees Shayna off at the train station is heartbreaking – he watches his only child (his “little mouse,” as he calls her) walk away from him, tattered suitcase in hand, in a fog of smoke and the eerie sound of a train whistle in the distance.

photo - Ryota Kaneko plays Chiune Sugihara and Courage Now playwright Manami Hara takes on the role of Yukiko Sugihara — Ryota Kaneko plays Chiune Sugihara and Courage Now playwright Manami Hara takes on the role of Yukiko Sugihara. (photo by Youn Park)

In many ways, the journeys of the two women are love stories. Yukiko grapples with the grief of losing her husband, moving through the stages towards acceptance, and Margaret comes to the realization that it was her father’s love that put her on that train in 1940. Both characters become conduits for the other’s catharsis. When Yukiko shares her husband’s journal from that time, Margaret says, “My father lives in that journal.”

All five of the actors do credit to their roles in this ensemble piece but Hara and Soudack’s performances are sublime. The play is particularly effective when all five actors are on stage at the same time in the memory flashback vignettes.

My one criticism is that there is quite a bit of Japanese dialogue between Kaneko and Hara and it would have been helpful to have either a reader board translating or a program insert with translations.

Hara has penned a lovely tribute to Sugihara and I, for one, am grateful to her for her work.

Courage Now is at the Firehall until Dec. 4. For tickets, visit firehallartscentre.ca.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

New play honours Sugihara

Yukiko and Chiune Sugihara (photo from Firehall Arts Centre)

It is written in the Mishnah that, “If you save the life of one person, it is as if you save the entire world.” Chiune Sugihara saved 6,000 Jewish lives – 6,000 worlds – in the summer of 1940, despite the dangers of doing so to himself and his family.

A new play about Sugihara sees its world première at the Firehall Arts Centre this month. Written by Japanese-Canadian actor and playwright Manami Hara, Courage Now opens Nov. 19.

Contrary to his government’s strict instructions to not issue visas to Jewish refugees, Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, handwrote in a 30-day period more than 2,300 visas for Jews trying to escape from Europe via the Soviet Union to Japan. Sugihara was a husband, a father, a career diplomat, a linguist, but, above all, with his strict Samurai upbringing, he believed in respect for, and sanctity of, human life. As he said, “They were human beings and they needed help.”

Sugihara’s actions are responsible for more than 40,000 Jews being alive today. Yet, after the war, the Japanese government dismissed him from diplomatic service and treated him as a persona non grata. However, Israel has honoured his courage and his memory on three occasions – in 1985, by recognizing him as one of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem; in 2016, by naming a street in Netanya after him; and, in October 2021, by dedicating Sugihara Square in Jerusalem.

In an interview with the Independent, playwright and actor Hara talked about the journey that led her to write Courage Now.

“About 12 years ago, my mentor from Studio 58, Jane Heyman, approached me and asked if I knew about Sugihara and I said that I did not. She told me his story, that her parents and uncle had been saved by him and that she would not be here if not for his actions. We talked about collaborating on a play. Her story and my being Japanese made it very personal for me, as I was very embarrassed by how the Japanese government treated him after 1945.”

Getting a play from conception to the stage is a long process.

“I heard that a Japanese playwright, Hiraishi Koichi, had written about Sugihara. I got a hold of his play, translated it into English and worked with Jane on it but it just did not seem dramatic enough,” said Hara. “I talked to Koichi and asked if I could adapt the play and he gave me permission. So, I researched the Jewish families who were Sugihara survivors and created more scenes. But it still did not seem to have the theatrical weight it needed to be a success so I put it away for a couple years, as I felt I had lost my vision.

“About five years ago, I traveled to Japan and had a chance to speak to Sugihara’s daughter-in-law and two of his grandchildren, which gave me a firsthand intimate look into his life and that of Yukiko, his wife. Then it dawned on me that the way to tell the story was from two female points of view, that of Yukiko and of a child survivor, Margaret. So, I went back to the story and after many years of writing drafts and workshopping, here we are.”

There are five characters in the play: Sugihara, Yukiko, a young Margaret, an adult Margaret (Jewish community member Advah Soudak) and young Margaret’s father (community member Amitai Marmorstein). Margaret is a fictional character, created from the stories of many survivors. Scenes are set up to move between the Lithuanian summer of 1940 and mid-1980s Vancouver, where an adult Margaret now lives.

Hara does double duty in this production, as the playwright and performing as Yukiko. “It is difficult to switch, wearing both hats, you feel like you have a split personality,” she acknowledged. “However, I take off my playwright hat and then I concentrate on my character in terms of what are her needs, where should I be focused and what is happening with the other characters. So, when I am on stage, I am the actor and I let the director take over from there. If he or the other actors see anything that needs tweaking or fixing, they will let me know. It is a very collaborative process. We are three weeks from opening and still finalizing many of the details.”

Hara sees her character as a spirited, stubborn, strong woman, not as stereotypically subservient, but rather as someone who also was idealistic and who was supportive of her husband in all that he did. “She knew the risk to her family and the sacrifice that would have to be made in carrying out her husband’s plan to save the Jewish refugees,” said Hara. “It is an amazing role and I am so honoured to be able to bring this story to Vancouver audiences. I hope the audience takes away that there is always hope, that there is always a way to find courage to walk towards that hope and one should never give up.”

Director Amiel Gladstone got involved in the project, having worked with Hara before.

“She was looking for the right kind of collaborative director for the show and she reached out to me because I work so much with new plays,” said Gladstone in a telephone interview with the Independent. “She told me that she had been hoping for a Jewish director…. I told her that my father was Jewish.”

As to the play, he said, “It is a memory play dealing with two women trying to piece together what happened to them years ago during those dark times. We had to create a space that includes both 1940 and present-day locations: a Japanese home and garden, a Jewish refugee apartment, the Kaunas consul office, a park, the train station, with all the locations in view at the same time. It becomes a dream world, where the actors move from set to set as they go back and forth in time. Itai Erdal’s lighting design will inform the audience as to the change in time and place.” (Erdal is also a member of the Jewish community.)

Soudack’s character, in her 50s, is going through a difficult separation and divorce. In an interview with the Independent, Soudack explained, “She realizes that she has a big hole in life, as she does not know what happened to her parents. She travels to Japan to seek out Sugihara and to ask about her father but learns that Sugihara is dead (he died in 1986) so she looks to Yukiko for answers. At the same time, Yukiko is also going back and remembering that time through her interaction with Margaret.”

Soudack had to grapple with capturing the essence of Margaret’s psychological issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

“She has broken pieces of memory that she wants to fit together. She has had a difficult life,” said Soudack. “It must have been terrifying to be leaving your family, everything you know and being put on a train and sent off on your own. She has a lot of anger, sadness and abandonment and betrayal issues. She does not form close loving relationships very easily, as she learned that people closest to her disappear. She has to work through all this as she seeks the truth.”

Working with Hara has been a treat, said Soudack. “It is fabulous with the playwright right there so, when a question comes up, she can give us the explanation. It is a beautiful sense of collaboration, respect, joy and appreciation of what she wrote and it is a gift to be right there with her working through this project.”

As to being a Jewish actor in this role, she said, “As a Jewish person, you grow up with the Holocaust and the plight of the Jews – it is so part of our DNA that, when you come across a story and people that you never heard of, it makes you have such gratitude and respect for these non-Jewish heroes who, in the face of so much antisemitism, still found the courage to do the right thing. If I could meet Mr. Sugihara, I would hug him, look him in his eyes and thank him for his bravery and courage.”

Courage Now runs to Dec. 4. For tickets, visit firehallartscentre.ca or call the box office, 604-689-0926.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.