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>> The Montreal English Critics Circle’s consensus on this year’s tops in theatre

by AMY BARRATT

With only a few raised voices (and those mainly to drown out a lead-fingered piano player), and not a drop of blood spilled, the Montreal English Critics Circle recently met to name the following slate of MECCA winners for 2001–02:

For Best Actor, the short list was pretty short. We liked: Mark O’Regan, the Irish actor brought over to play Johnnypateenmike in Centaur’s The Cripple of Inishmaan; and Dino Tavarone, for his portrayal of rock-solid Frank, in Trevor Ferguson’s Long, Long, Short Long (infinitheatre). Ultimately, we chose Pierre Brault, for his one-man depiction of the D’Arcy McGee assassination in Blood on the Moon at the Saidye.

Best Actress went to Alison Darcy, as Abbey in Jacob Richmond’s Small Returns (November company, infinitheatre). Darcy is one of the most focused, committed performers on the Montreal stage, and was both funny and fragile in this part. My personal favourites among the runners up were Jane Spidell, who was riveting as Josie in A Moon for the Misbegotten (Centaur); and Diana Fajrajsl, an always interesting local actress who went the extra mile in Imago Theatre’s Divinity Bash/nine lives.

Best Director candidates included Guy Sprung, for Long Long Short Long; Chris Abraham for Salt-Water Moon (Saidye); and Alex Ivanovici, for 2000 Questions (Projet Porte-parole). But our choice for this year’s award was Madd Harold (alias Matthew Tiffin) who, with Henry. Octobre. 1970., did things to Shakespeare’s Henry V that should be illegal, and gave us the most innovative production of the season in the process.

For Best Design/Look we ended up with a tie. Jonas Veroff Bouchard’s floor-to-ceiling elastic bands were a perfect metaphor for the “how far can we stretch this?” subtext of the stock market in 2000 Questions. Maryse Bienvenu went in an entirely different direction in re-creating the train car that was home to the five characters in Long, Long, Short, Long. Both shows benefited from the expert lighting of Robin A. Paterson.
Best Professional Production went to Salt-Water Moon, at the Saidye. This was simply the most satisfying show of the season, combining excellent acting, direction and design (with a pretty fine text, by David French, to work from).

Best Production, in the Amateur or Semi-Pro category, went whole-heartedly to Gravy Bath’s Henry. Octobre. 1970., for reasons already stated. The only other serious contender for this award was another highly innovative work, Job: The HipHop Musical, presented by Foqué dans la tête productions at this year’s Fringe.
The Best Visiting Production of the year, we agreed, was Maija of Chaggaland, a one-woman show by Tanzanian-born Sheela Langeberg. The show was brought in to the MAI by Black Theatre Workshop.
Best New Play went to Job: The HipHop Musical, by Eli Batalion and Jerome Saibil. My favourite of the runners-up was Rhapsody, a play about George Gershwin by Joel Fishbane.

For Best Ensemble, we chose the four performers in Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Chekhov’s Shorts, at the Saidye.
The MECCA for Distinction is given to a company or individual who has made a significant contribution to the life and vitality of the English theatre scene, usually over a period of years. This is the one category where there was virtually no debate. The award went to Jeremy Hechtman and Patrick Goddard, for making the Montreal Fringe Festival a highlight of the theatre calendar.

Finally, the MECCA for “Revelation”-awarded to someone who surprised us with something fresh and new-went to Beyond the Cubicle Productions, for Denmark and Elsinore. This multimedia Hamlet using actors of colour was set in a dance bar. We hope to hear more from this company. :

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