1. HEADLINE STRESS DISORDER
Journalists are storytellers. In our current divided culture — in which positive change can feel impossible — what’s the best way to tell news stories?
In The Washington Post, investigative journalist Amanda Ripley confesses, “I have been actively avoiding the news for years.” She writes that a steady diet of news used to make her feel “more curious, not less”, “but half a dozen years ago, something changed. The news started to get under my skin. After my morning reading, I felt so drained that I couldn’t write — or do anything creative.”
I’m hearing similar things from friends and I’m experiencing it myself.
New data from the Reuters Institute show that four in 10 Americans sometimes or always avoid contact with the news — one of the highest rates in the world. Internationally, women are more affected than men. In Canada, trust in the CBC as a reliable news source has declined from 76% in 2018 to 59% in 2022.
Ripley says the Reuters survey reveals that people are avoiding the news because “It’s repetitive and dispiriting, often of dubious credibility, and it leaves people feeling powerless … It turns out that the more news we consume about mass-casualty events, such as shootings, the more we suffer. The more political news we ingest, the more mistakes we make about who we are” — and how much was can trust one other.
She quotes David Bornstein, co-founder of the non-profit Solutions Journalism Network, who says that, in the current model, “The journalist’s theory of change is that the best way to avert catastrophe is to keep people focused on the potential for catastrophe 24/7.”
Ripley adds, “That used to work — kind of. Reporters could rigorously chronicle threats and corruption, and then sit back and let the accountability rain down. But that dynamic only works if the public is more unified and journalists are widely trusted. These days, it doesn’t matter how many of former president Donald Trump’s lies reliable fact-checkers count; it won’t change anyone’s mind. A lot of journalists, perhaps frustrated by their impotence, have responded by getting louder and more shrill. Which only causes more people to (yes, you guessed it) avoid the news.”
In response, Ripley has identified three core ingredients that she feels are missing from the current approach to news reporting: hope, agency, and dignity. In other words, she's saying that what we need as readers is a realistic sense of hope that we can do something with the frightening information we’re receiving, take positive action based on that information, and be respected as we engage in the conversation.
Personally, I yearn for a sense of agency in the face of climate change. Ripley directs readers to WaPo’s “Six steps the world can take to halt climate change” and a TikTok account called The Garbage Queen, which celebrates “incremental environmental victories” and “debunks ‘climate doomers’.”
Ripley points to the Christian Science Monitor as a model of the kind of journalism she believes we need more of. “Each issue features reporting from around the globe,” she notes, “vivid photos, brutal realities — right alongside hope, agency and dignity. Stories include a brief explainer called ‘Why we wrote this,’ treating readers like respected partners.”
Bornstein, the guy from Solutions Journalism Network, says, “The world will get better when people understand problems, threats and challenges, and what their best options are to make progress.” Ripley reports that Bornstein and his colleagues “have now trained over 25,000 journalists to do high-quality solutions stories all over the world.”
She calls this kind of reporting “news for humans”, journalism that acknowledges our capacity for dealing with stress — and our need for realistic hope.
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Here’s a taste of Richard III, the production that opened the Stratford Festival’s new Tom Patterson Theatre in June. It’s running until October 30. Tickets
2. THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Ontario’s Stratford Festival finally debuted its $72-million, 600-seat Tom Patterson Theatre in June — and theatre writers are singing the praises of the venue’s acoustics.
In The Globe and Mail, Kelly Nestruck says there’s “great enjoyment to be found simply in approaching and entering this light-filled building, in exploring the pleasing curves of its elegant wraparound lobbies as you await curtain time.”
“But” he continues, “an audience member will only feel like a true explorer upon breaching the auditorium’s U-shaped seating area, which now involves going down instead of up; it’s like descending into the hull of a giant ship.
“The space is sunken for acoustic reasons and the disappearance of all ambient noise is immediately noticeable, almost unnervingly so, as you stowaway for your theatrical journey ahead.
“Richard III, which is directed by Stratford artistic director Antoni Cimolino, eagerly shows off all that is sonically possible in this intimate space.
“[Actor Colm] Feore’s power-hungry hunchback whispers, softly whistles and wheezes out his famous first monologue – ‘Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York’ – and the hushed sibilance of all those esses is like a snake hissing right in your ear.”
Similarly, in The New York Times, Jesse Green writes, “Leaving aside the plays themselves, the most dramatic presences at the new Tom Patterson Theater may in fact be absences. The usual whir of swiveling lights and the endless whoosh of moving air that infiltrate most theaters are undetectable here. Likewise, the blackouts are fully black — just the kind of inky dark to set the mood for ‘Richard III,’ the play that opened the glamorous new building at the Stratford Festival in June ...
“The various noise abatement measures, most notably air handlers that look like space capsules and take up a room the size of a playing field, reduce the ambient sound to 10 decibels, [the Patterson’s technical director Greg] Dougherty told me, similar to that of a recording studio.”
And what about big sonic hits? Nestruck tells us: “For the Battle of Bosworth Field that ends the play … [director] Cimolino unleashes a flurry of flashbangs from above that might make you cover your ears. This space can do startling surround-sound spectacle as well. (The inaugural sound design is by John Gzowski.)”
The Patterson was designed by the Toronto firm Hariri Pontarini Architects.
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This is my friend Geoff reading his poem “The Woman Who Talks to her Dog at the Beach”. Here's a link to the video.
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3. WHO’S A GOOD DOG?
Geoff Inverarity’s poem “The Woman Who Talks to her Dog at the Beach” evokes the joy — and the reminder of mortality — that sharing love with an animal always brings.
“The Woman Who Talks to her Dog at the Beach” was published by Anvil Press in Geoff’s debut book of poetry, All the Broken Things, which was nominated for the Canadian Authors Association 2022 Fred Kerner Book of the Year. The judges wrote, “All the Broken Things is a collection of poetry that doesn’t so much make sense of the world as scrutinize the nonsensical and display it in all its disordered and sometimes gorgeous complexity.”
As always, I encourage you to read this poem out loud, to place yourself in the positions of the speakers.
The Woman Who Talks to Her Dog at the Beach
By Geoff Inverarity
The Woman Who Talks to her Dog at the Beach
favours the Socratic method:
“Where’s your stick?”
“What do you think is going to happen
if you keep chewing on that stick?”
“Would you like a treat?”
“Are you ready to go home now?”
Simple stuff.
(Answers: “The stick is behind me.
Soon it will all be gone.
Yes, always a treat.
No, obviously, home, never.”)
But in private, later,
the tricky existential questions fly:
“Who’s a Good Dog?”
“Are you a Good Dog?”
“Who’s a Good Dog, then?”
The dog wrestles with the questions.
“I have done whatsoever you have asked of me.
I sat when you required it,
stayed, despite my heart being wrenched
with every step you took away from me.
I confess, alone in exile I have often howled
despairing questions of my own:
‘Will I never see you again?’
‘Are you ever coming home?’
‘Why have you forsaken me?’
“I have dropped what you wanted dropped;
searched out and picked up
what was apparently lost —
all the sticks you could not find,
the balls you could not see.
I have rolled over and plunged myself
again and again into the rime-cold ocean
at your behest.
“Yet still you ask the same question:
‘Who is a Good Dog?’
"There are other questions.
Clearly, yes, of course
I would like to go for a walk,
and it would be most agreeable
a privilege and an honour
to carry the squeaky toy with me in my mouth.
But am I a Good Dog?
Do you know the answer?
Because I would appreciate some clarity.
"Who, on this shoreline,
is a Good Dog?
Are there better dogs than I?
Please, I hope to have an answer
before my coat mats
my legs stiffen,
my breath reeks,
and I am finally ready
to go home at last."
The Woman Who Talks to Her Dog at the Beach
launches her questions into the air.
Life is complicated, and lonely.
There is heartbreak in the future.
People are difficult,
there is great comfort in companionship,
in the simple love of dogs.
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So far at least, Kinky Boots (pictured) and Something Rotten! are the two big shows to see this summer. (This photo featuring Stewart Adam McKensy is by Moonrider Productions)
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4. SEEING THINGS
Ongoing Theatre
When I first heard the premise for Something Rotten!, I thought, “That is so dumb” — and it is. But, in this case, dumb turns out to be hilarious. The story is set in Elizabethan England, where a struggling playwright named Nick Bottom has to come up with fresh ideas before his patron cuts him off. Unlike William Shakespeare, who’s getting all the attention, Nick is not a fountain of invention, so he consults a soothsayer, a distant relative of Nostradamus. This lesser-known prophet tips Nick off that musicals will be big in the future and, when Nick is looking for a plot for his musical and asks Nostradamus what the Bard’s biggest hit will be, the soothsayer replies "Omelette" — just missing Hamlet by that much. So Nick starts creating a show about breakfast. (According to Nostradamus, Omelette, also features a Danish.) Before the evening is over, Something Rotten! has made cockeyed references to every musical you’ve ever heard of — and they all get shoehorned into Nick’s script. Just wait till you see how Nick decides to deal with the Nazis from The Sound of Music. Under Rachel Peake’s direction, this production is impeccably performed. Standout performances include Kamyar Pazandeh’s golden-voiced, slyly comic Nick, Daniel Curalli's jaw-dropping turn as the narcissistic Bard, and Jyla Robinson’s hysterically eccentric Nostradamus. Like the rest of the evening, Nicol Spinola’s choreography is full of joyously anachronistic quirks. Something Rotten! is the most consistently satisfying show I’ve seen this summer. Make it a hit.
This Theatre Under the Stars production is running in rep in Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl until August 26. Here’s my full review, and here’s where to get tickets.
The book for TUTS's other show this season, We Will Rock You, is also dumb, but in a bad way. A jukebox musical built on the music of Queen, We Will Rock You is dripping with so much old-fart attitude you can almost smell it. Set 300 years in the future, Ben Elton’s book features a guy named Galileo, a young prophet who’s been sent to free the minds of “the kids” by introducing them to twentieth-century rock and roll. There’s little wit in this; mostly, it’s just self-aggrandisement, condescension, and cashing in. From today’s standpoint, the attitude is basically: The music kids listen to these days is shit; they should really be more like their grandparents. That said, as with Something Rotten!, the performances and production values in We Will Rock You — under Saccha Dennis’s direction — are of a remarkably high and consistent standard. Steffanie Davis, who’s playing a corporate villain named Killer Queen, delivers the performance highlight of the evening with her rendition of “Another One Bites the Dust”, but everybody can sing, including: Danny Malena as Galileo, Jessica Spenst as his love interest Scaramouche, and Tanner Zerr and Jennifer Suratos as Bohemian rebels Brit and Oz. Brian Ball's costumes are a party and Robert Sondergaard's rock-concert set and lighting are suitably kinetic and flashy. But — and these are big buts — Elton’s book is boneheadedly sexist (Scaramouche’s feminism is dismissed as a comic quirk) and, given that We Will Rock You is a cash cow designed to exploit nostalgia, it’s hard to take seriously the show’s critique of the capitalist music industry. Queen's music is rousing, but this musical is boring.
This Theatre Under the Stars production is running in rep in Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl until August 27. Here’s my full review and here’s where to get tickets.
For VocalEye patrons (folks with limited vision) there’ll be a described performance and a good deal on August 5. To take advantage of this offer, call the TUTS box office at 604-734-1917.
Stewart Adam McKensy, who’s playing Lola, the central drag queen in the Arts Club’s production of Kinky Boots, is a star! He delivers a performance that is simultaneously huge — big gestures, exaggerated vocal patterns — and informed by an emotional understanding of the character. That said, Kinky Boots isn’t perfect. In Harvey Fierstein’s book, the set-up is so obvious that the musical marks time until it finally hits a groove, and the opening number, which repeats the word beautiful 43 times, is record-breakingly boring. But that groove does get hit and director Barbara Tomasic’s production is stuffed with talent. Playing Charlie, the gormless guy who tries to save his family’s failing shoe factory by manufacturing sturdy, stylin’ boots for drag queens, Sayer Roberts contributes a bright tenor and solid acting chops. As Lauren, the factory worker who finds herself smitten with Charlie, Kelli Ogmundson is deliciously eccentric, and so is Andrew Wheeler as George, the conservative factory foreman whose eyes start to open to other possibilities when they land on Lola. Julie Tomaino’s choreography made me want to dance and Pam Johnson’s factory set pulls off chameleon-like transformations. I’ve got to say that, as a guy who’s been doing drag since I was three, it was a deep pleasure to sit in a mainstream audience that was expressing its raucous, rapturous support of drag and drag queens.
Here’s my full review of this Arts Club production, which is running at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until July 31. This is your last weekend to catch it. Tickets.
Director Scott Bellis’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Bard on the Beach is a prime example of Bard’s Big Mistake. Too often, it feels like Vancouver’s marquee presenter of Shakespeare’s plays is afraid of the language, afraid Vancouver audiences won’t understand it, so Bard dumbs down the plays by slathering them with coarse comic business. In this production of Dream, for instance, the hilarity of the verbal smackdown in which Helena and Hermia insult one another about their differing physical statures — “You bead, you acorn!”, “Painted maypole!” — gets lost because Bellis directs the actors playing Demetrius and Lysander to be so horny for Helena that they’re crawling around on their bellies, virtually humping the floor and trying to grab her. Carly Street, who plays Bottom, has great comic timing and she’s inventive — but she doesn’t know when to stop and Bellis hasn’t stopped her. Street breaks the play’s internal reality by inserting colloquial asides (“I have no idea what’s going on”), she indulges in cheap physical humour, stabbing herself in the crotch in the mechanicals’ performance of Pyramus and Thisbe, and she’s such a show-off that she sucks the air out of every scene she’s in. Amid the mayhem, some performances, including Billy Marchenski’s coolly sexy Oberon, survive. To their great credit, Emily Dallas (Helena) and Christopher Allen (Demetrius) also manage to maintain emotionally credible characterizations within the broad style. The physical production is gorgeous. In Amir Ofek’s set, Athens is a stark art deco ruin, and Christine Reimer’s costumes, which combine fantasy and 1920s fashion, are knockouts: in Oberon’s first entrance, he’s a walking, ten-foot-tall tree. But somebody really needs to tell Bard’s artistic director Christopher Gaze and executive director Claire Sakaki that Vancouver audiences deserve more than the condescension implicit in the apparent assumption that we won’t understand Shakespeare’s language and stories unless they’re turned into cartoons.
Here's my full review of this Bard on the Beach production, which is running in the BMO Mainstage tent until September 24. And here’s where to get tickets.
For Vocal Eye members, there’ll be described performances and good deals on Saturday, August 20 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, August 28 at 2 pm. Call 604-739-0559 to take advantage of this offer.
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THIS IS THE 250th ISSUE OF FRESH SHEET. THANKS FOR COMING ON THIS RIDE WITH ME!
Here’s the link to last week’s issue, “When ‘Culture War’ Isn’t a Metaphor”. The lead item is about Putin’s focused assault on Ukrainian art and artists — and about artists’ resistance, including the military kind.
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