Riding the
Stratford wave

>> Local actor Jennifer Morehouse adjusts to a theatre season away from home

by AMY BARRATT

“I move furniture and I pull a camel.”

That’s actor Jennifer Morehouse talking about her role in The Comedy of Errors at this season’s Stratford Festival. It’s the Montrealer’s first stint in Stratford in a 20-year career and she’s not complaining, even though her role is so small she doesn’t even have a name. That may be because she’s just not a complainer, or it may have something to do with having a meatier role in Derek Walcott’s The Odyssey, which just started previews.

“It’s been a gentle introduction to the Stratford experience,” says Morehouse, whose local credits include The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia, at the Centaur, and Projet porte parole’s Seeds. “At first, I did feel a bit: why am I here? It seemed weird to be doing very little.

“For one of the shows [To Kill a Mockingbird], I’m a non-appearing understudy.” She has had to learn the part of the narrator in the stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved autobiographical novel, and has to be in Stratford, just in case, but may never get to go on.

As for the camel-pulling, The Comedy of Errors director Richard Monette (who is bowing out as artistic director after this season) wanted to advertise another show within a show. So, he got Morehouse to pull the My One and Only camel across the stage. (No, it’s not a live animal; this is Stratford, not a Céline Dion wedding).

“I’ll tell you though, that camel bit gets funnier every night.”

This is the kind of actor Morehouse is: no matter the size of the role, she’ll never give less than her best. That dedication paid off recently when she received a Best Actress nomination for a Betty Mitchell Award (Calgary) for repeating her role in The Goat at Alberta Theatre Projects (winners to be announced later this month).

She credits her being in Stratford at all to Peter Hinton, who directs The Odyssey. The two have known each other at least since 1992, when she appeared in his production of Normand Chaurette’s Les reines at the Canadian Stage Company.

“The rehearsal process is so rich,” Morehouse says of working on The Odyssey. “For me, it’s a pleasure to be employed, and only doing theatre. To be with one group of people, in one creative environment, and that’s all I’m doing. I’m not working in a bakery. I’m not auditioning. I know when October comes and I go back to struggling to make ends meet, I’ll appreciate Stratford all the more.”

That’s not to say that it’s been easy for Morehouse to leave family and friends behind for the eight-month Stratford season (she arrived February 22).

Her daughter Gabriel, nine, and partner Matthew have been with her a lot since the school year ended, but the first few months were hard on everyone.

“At first, I thought I could go home whenever I wanted, but you really can’t. The festival only tells you what you’re doing the night before, so you can’t plan anything.”

Still, Morehouse says she’d definitely go back if asked (auditions for next season have already taken place, and decisions are expected to be made this month) but things would have to be different, not at work but at home. “Eight months is too long to be away. We’d have to find a way for them to be here.

“I’d heard some negative things from other actors about coming to Stratford, but if you ride its wave, then you’re fine. Honestly, I haven’t met any egos.”