With CARLA ANDERSON
TORONTO - Our guide pointed to a light on the stage। "That’s the ghost light," she said. "Most theaters keep one burning at night when the theater is empty. When you don’t have one, strange things happen. It’s as if a bad spirit comes to visit and breaks or messes everything up."
Theaters keep a stage light on to keep bad spirits away
Of course, what we were seeing was not preparation for just any show. The Shaw Festival has been called "the best repertory theater in the entire continent," not just by a local booster but by John Simon, a reviewer for New York magazine.
He deplores the fact that there is nothing in the United States to rival the Shaw Festival. Each year from April through November, more than 300,000 people flock to the three theaters to sample about nine plays or musicals, a one-act play, a series of staged readings and chats with actors and staff.
The fans often stay a week and catch as many as eight performances. Take warning: It is not always easy to get seats, so make your reservations early. The Festival Theater has a seating capacity of 856; the Court House, 327; and the Royal George, 328.
We watched seamstresses work on costumes for one season’s shows. No shortcuts were being taken on the 350 costumes needed for the plays. Because all the shows at the Shaw are period pieces, great attention is given to details. The staff finds it annoying when a theatergoer complains that a hairstyle is wrong or that the buttons on a uniform are not of the correct period.
Started in 1962, the Shaw specializes in plays written during George Bernard Shaw’s lifetime, 1856 to 1950. Plays that are about life in those years but that were written after 1950 began to be included in 2000.
Because a costume must hold up well for as many as 200 performances, both time and money are needed to create one. An elaborate costume might take a week to make. Men’s costumes cost from $1,500 to $1,800 and women’s from $500 to $3,000.
We were on a backstage tour of the Festival Theater at the Shaw Festival ’05 at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada। As we explored the various areas, the other Elderhostelers in our group were responding with, "I never knew that" or "There’s so much for them to do to put on a production।"
Visitors to the back stage tour get to try on costumes That does not include the cost of upkeep. Many roles are physically demanding; washable costumes must be cleaned after every performance and dry-cleanable clothes after every three or four shows. The team responsible for this is called "Wardrobe Running."
A section of the backstage area is given over to wigs. The wig master can make a wig in 20 hours, and her assistant can do so in 30.
We would never have guessed that so many wigs are used in period plays. They must be cleaned and styled after every show. If actors are wearing wigs in a show, they cannot cut or style their hair differently for the run of the show.
Half a century ago, when we first started going to plays together, the actors had just their voices and good acoustics. Now they have microphones on their bodies, and it is sometimes tricky to figure out where they carry them. At the Shaw, they have them on their heads, just at the hairline. If the actor must wear a hat, the mike is in the hat brim. In several plays we saw in London recently, no attempt was made to hide the mike, which was at the side of the mouth.
Some props are realistic even up close Although costumes are real, props are mostly artificial. A stack of sandwiches is plastic, chain mail is silver-colored cord and flowers are silk. Walls are just cleverly painted stone or wood. On the other hand, swords are actually steel, so you can hear the solid clangs during a fight.
There are two crews for each stage: a running crew to run the show and a changeover crew to change the stage, as the afternoon matinee differs from the evening show. Each set breaks into sections that are built on "trucks," which are vertical walls or horizontal platforms on wheels.
As Jackie Maxwell, the artistic director, noted about that year’s plays, "Whether you prefer plays that are joyous and whimsical such as ‘You Never Can Tell’ or sexy and provocative such as ‘Happy End’ or whether celebrated Broadway musicals such as ‘Gypsy’ or sophisticated comedies such as ‘The Constant Wife’ are more your style, all season long, you will discover stories to provoke, intoxicate, move and delight."
So curtain up! Let the magic begin.
To check what is current go to www.shawfest.com/.
