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Men will be boys >> MacIvor play explores male competition by AMY BARRATT
Oh, settle down. Not in that way. The young Montreal actor-director is a huge fan of Toronto writer MacIvor's work. Twenty-three-year-old Gasoi has previously been involved with productions of MacIvor's plays Wild Abandon and See Bob Run. Now he directs Imago Theatre's new Young Company in a production of Never Swim Alone, opening tonight at Geordie Space. "What I like about it is that it's so theatrical," says Gasoi. "The action is not something that could exist outside of that realm." MacIvor, who has his own troupe, Da Da Kamera in Toronto, writes plays specifically for small, intimate venues. They also tend to require very little in terms of set or decor--a bonus for companies with small budgets. Gasoi adds that Geordie Space, apart from being relatively cheap to rent, is ideal for a show like this because of the intimacy. The artistic direction of Imago Theatre--which has been around since 1986--was taken over last year by Ron Spurles. One of Imago's goals has always been to support young talent, and the newly formed Young Company, with Gasoi in charge, aims to do just that. "We want to make work for young anglophones here in Montreal, to get them to stay here," says Spurles. Most of the people involved with Never Swim Alone are products of local theatre programmes. Actors Andrew Burr and Cory Fantie both went to John Abbott a year behind Gasoi. Fantie, who appeared in last season's The Winter's Tale at the Centaur, is now studying playwrighting at Concordia. Paula Jean Hixson is a Concordia theatre graduate who also trod the Centaur boards in The Winter's Tale. Imago is fulfilling its mandate on the production side too. Another John Abbott graduate, Maia Konrad, has been entrusted with designing the entire show. The simple structure of the play has two men, Frank and Bill, challenging each other to a series of contests--in everything from who is better at "dressing for success" to who has the bigger, um, member. The third character, a female Referee, calls the winner of each "round." So, is Never Swim Alone a "guy" play? "Well, the men do most of the talking," says actress Hixson, "but the Referee has a lot of power. Her presence is always there. In a sense she shows the way; she represents the part of the men that's missing." Despite serious themes, there's a tremendous amount of humour in MacIvor's writing. For anyone who thought that only women could be bitchy, check out this exchange: FRANK: Are you thinner? BILL: No. FRANK: You're not thinner? BILL: No, I'm just the same. FRANK: Really? BILL: Same as always. FRANK: It must just be your hair. Ouch. At just eight bucks a pop, Imago's Never Swim Alone promises the one-two punch of good theatre: it should be both thought-provoking and entertaining. Oct. 16-25 at Geordie Space, 8pm, $8
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Lowell Gasoi loves Daniel MacIvor.