Theatre Kingston
Encyclopedia
Theatre Kingston is a theatre company located in Kingston
, Ontario
, Canada
.
Founded in 1990 as Theatre Beyond by Paul Gelineau, the company became The People's Theatre Kingston in 1992 and had two more Artistic Directors under that name—Kathryn MacKay (1993-94) and Kathleen LeRoux (1994-97). In late 1997, the present Artistic Director, Craig Walker
, was appointed and in early 1998 the company shortened its name to Theatre Kingston and moved into the Baby Grand Studio in downtown Kingston, where it began offering a full season of four or more productions a year.
Under the name Theatre Kingston, the company began to gain a reputation not only for the high quality but the unusual nature of its productions. These include two co-productions with the local French theatre company, Les Treteaux de Kingston, of bilingual plays: David Fennario
's Balconville and Marianne Ackerman
's L'Affaire Tartuffe; the second professional productions of Ann-Marie MacDonald
's The Arab's Mouth and Judith Thompson
's Perfect Pie; uncommon approaches to more familiar plays: such as Judith Thompson's Lion in the Streets—which was presented in the round on a sand-floor in a setting which resembled a cross between a public park and a bull-ring; an eerie version of Henry James
' ghost story, The Turn of the Screw
in the adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher
, which took place in a long dark hallway with the two performers—the Governess and a man who played all the other roles—picked out by spots of light; and Bernard Shaw
's Pygmalion—which was set as if in the playwright's own study, Shaw himself narrating, dressing the stage, playing the minor characters and filling out the story with short scenes drawn from his own screenplay. The company has also presented several world premieres, including most notably Meltdown, John Lazarus
's astonishing retelling of the myth of Daedalus
, Icarus
and the Minotaur
; the collectively created community play about Kingston's social stratification, Princess Street: The Great Divide; Fred Euringer's Night Noises, about a nineteenth-century nutritionist who connived at the starvation deaths of his own children, and Craig Walker
's Chantecler, a musical based loosely on the play by Edmond Rostand
and his Finnegans Wake
: a dream play, an innovative adaptation from the novel by James Joyce
which enjoyed a successful run not only in Kingston, but at the Tarragon Theatre
in Toronto
. The Globe and Mail
declared this a "brilliant" production which showed "amazing theatrical panache". In 2004, Theatre Kingston took Walker's production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale
to Harbourfront
in Toronto. EYE Magazine called it a "moving and insightful production" that "ma[de] the work shine like new."
In 2001, in association with Queen's University
, the company created a children's theatre troupe, The Barefoot Players, which tours the parks and libraries of the Kingston region every summer.
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Founded in 1990 as Theatre Beyond by Paul Gelineau, the company became The People's Theatre Kingston in 1992 and had two more Artistic Directors under that name—Kathryn MacKay (1993-94) and Kathleen LeRoux (1994-97). In late 1997, the present Artistic Director, Craig Walker
Craig Walker
Craig Stewart Walker is a Canadian writer, theatre director, actor and educator.Walker graduated from Bayview Secondary School and afterwards, began his career in the theatre as an actor with the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and the National Arts Centre of Canada and other companies. ...
, was appointed and in early 1998 the company shortened its name to Theatre Kingston and moved into the Baby Grand Studio in downtown Kingston, where it began offering a full season of four or more productions a year.
Under the name Theatre Kingston, the company began to gain a reputation not only for the high quality but the unusual nature of its productions. These include two co-productions with the local French theatre company, Les Treteaux de Kingston, of bilingual plays: David Fennario
David Fennario
David William Fennario, né David Wiper is a Canadian playwright best known for Balconville , his bilingual dramatization of life in working-class Montreal, for which he won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award. A committed socialist, Fennario has been a candidate for the Union des forces...
's Balconville and Marianne Ackerman
Marianne Ackerman
Marianne Letitia Ackerman is a Canadian novelist, playwright, and journalist. Piers' Desire, her third and most recent novel, was published in 2010.- Life and career :...
's L'Affaire Tartuffe; the second professional productions of Ann-Marie MacDonald
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Ann-Marie MacDonald is a Canadian playwright, novelist, actor and broadcast journalist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. The daughter of a member of Canada's military, she was born at an air force base near Baden-Baden, West Germany....
's The Arab's Mouth and Judith Thompson
Judith Thompson
Judith Clare Thompson, OC is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail once declared that "...in this country, a playwright as good as Judith Thompson is a miracle." She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the...
's Perfect Pie; uncommon approaches to more familiar plays: such as Judith Thompson's Lion in the Streets—which was presented in the round on a sand-floor in a setting which resembled a cross between a public park and a bull-ring; an eerie version of Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
' ghost story, The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
in the adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher
Jeffrey Hatcher
Jeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just Stage Beauty...
, which took place in a long dark hallway with the two performers—the Governess and a man who played all the other roles—picked out by spots of light; and Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Pygmalion—which was set as if in the playwright's own study, Shaw himself narrating, dressing the stage, playing the minor characters and filling out the story with short scenes drawn from his own screenplay. The company has also presented several world premieres, including most notably Meltdown, John Lazarus
John Lazarus
John Lazarus, is a Canadian playwright.He is author of Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, The Late Blumer, Homework & Curtains, Genuine Fakes, The Trials of Eddy Haymour, Medea's Disgust, Village of Idiots, Rough Magic Meltdown and Secrets.Lazarus is also the author of many plays for young...
's astonishing retelling of the myth of Daedalus
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artisan.-Family:...
, Icarus
Icarus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax...
and the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
; the collectively created community play about Kingston's social stratification, Princess Street: The Great Divide; Fred Euringer's Night Noises, about a nineteenth-century nutritionist who connived at the starvation deaths of his own children, and Craig Walker
Craig Walker
Craig Stewart Walker is a Canadian writer, theatre director, actor and educator.Walker graduated from Bayview Secondary School and afterwards, began his career in the theatre as an actor with the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and the National Arts Centre of Canada and other companies. ...
's Chantecler, a musical based loosely on the play by Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
and his Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's...
: a dream play, an innovative adaptation from the novel by James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
which enjoyed a successful run not only in Kingston, but at the Tarragon Theatre
Tarragon Theatre
The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country. Located near Casa Loma, the theatre was founded by Bill and Jane Glassco in 1970. Bill was the Artistic Director from 1971 to 1982. In 1982, Urjo Kareda took over as...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
declared this a "brilliant" production which showed "amazing theatrical panache". In 2004, Theatre Kingston took Walker's production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
to Harbourfront
Harbourfront
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Canada. Part of the Toronto Waterfront, Harbourfront extends west from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street along Queen's Quay. East of Yonge to Parliament St...
in Toronto. EYE Magazine called it a "moving and insightful production" that "ma[de] the work shine like new."
In 2001, in association with Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
, the company created a children's theatre troupe, The Barefoot Players, which tours the parks and libraries of the Kingston region every summer.
External links
- Official Site of Theatre Kingston
- Review of Finnegans Wake: A Dream Play
- Review of Finnegans Wake: A Dream Play
- Review of The Turn of the Screw
- Review of The Winter's Tale
- BareFoot Players - Joint venture between Queen's University and Theatre Kingston.