by AMY BARRATT

The first-ever New Classical Theatre Festival is a hit for Gravy Bath Productions and the Saidye. Both Coriolanus, directed by Madd Harold (reviewed here last week) and The Portrait of Dorian Gray, with Gabor Zsigovics at the helm, are innovative, exciting pieces of work.

Gravy Bath is first and foremost a group effort, yet I find myself wanting to rave about their lead actors. Last week it was Trent Pardy as Coriolanus. This week it's Nicolas Wright in The Portrait.

Somehow, GB has managed not to become all about egos. Maybe that's because of the group ethos that has everyone pitching in backstage and selling a handful of tickets as their only pay. Also, co-founder Tony Palermo once told me that the members are willing to take turns in the spotlight; it's all about what will make the best show for them.

Which brings me back to Nic Wright. Up until now I've seen him in mostly comic roles in various GB shows, but he gets to show us something here that we haven't seen before. Wright has the appropriate light touch with the Wildean dialogue in the first act, successfully morphing into the demon of the second act without going all B-movie. He has these sleepy, deepset eyes that can turn cold as steel in, well, the blink of an eye.

Kokx's and Gabor Zsigovics' adaptation of the novel could still stand to be trimmed by about 15 minutes, but they've done a marvellous job overall.

Zsigovics, who also directs, is presumably responsible for the simply brilliant solution to the problem of the painting in Dorian Gray, as well as the creative "aging" of all of the characters except Dorian in the second act. It is far more effective than drawing wrinkles on everyone would have been.

The costumes don't bear too close inspection due to the minuscule budget, but they manage to evoke the period, which is the important thing. A mostly classical soundtrack provides a strong foundation for both productions. Bravo.

INTO AUTUMN

As Gravy Bath gives such satisfying closure to the summer, the fall season is getting underway. I'll have more of a preview next week, but here are a couple of things going on this week.

Remember the Lysistrata Project? Last March, shortly before the war on Iraq officially began, dramatic readings of Aristophanes' Lysistrata suddenly sprang up all over town. It wasn't just Montreal; there were over 1,000 readings that day around the globe of the anti-war play in which the women of Athens and Sparta hold a sex strike to get their men to stop fighting. Two women in New York City organized the global effort via the Internet. One of the two, actor Kathryn Blume, has written a one-person play about the experience, The Accidental Activist. Optative Theatre Laboratories is bringing the show here for two performances only at Casa del Popolo on Sept. 10. Showtimes are 8 and 10 p.m., $10 at the door, or pay-what-you-can for students, seniors and the disadvantaged.

Another one-woman show, Walking Sara is a multidisciplinary piece or "storytelling event" about a spiritual awakening. It is created and performed by Nadine Sures, a theatre graduate from the University of Alberta who is also a member of the Montreal Young Company. Performances of Walking Sara are Sept. 9–11, 8 p.m. at O Patro Vys (356 Mont-Royal E), $8–$10, 529-9117.

The Portrait of Dorian Gray final performance is Sept. 6, 9pm, at the Saidye (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine), $10/$15, 540-0774

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