Linda Griffiths: One Woman Dynamo

Star of Alien Creature, Maggie & Pierre on the Fabulist Element

Nov 23, 2007 Coral Andrews

Linda Griffiths on a poet and a politician, playwrights she "likes", National Theatre School salad days and the creation of Fabulist Theatre - no bio plays here!

In Part Five, Age of Arousal playwright Linda Griffiths delves into the creative process of Maggie and Pierre, Alien Creature, uneasy early days in Montreal, and preferred Canadian playwrights.

Is it true you got kicked out of The National Theatre School?

"I did."

What did you do?

"I would love to say I was rebellious and feisty, but I turned into just a wraith. I retreated from the almost boot-camp atmosphere of the place. It just did not suit me. I felt really uneasy about it and I turned very silent and very skinny. So I think they were completely right to kick me out, which doesn’t mean at the time it wasn’t quite devastating, but I think they were completely right. It was not the right place for me to be.

The theatre that you’ve done with Paul Thompson, Collective Creation based on immediate environment and collective ideas, is some of the most powerful theatre in Canadian theatre history: The Farm Show, The Drawer Boy which Michael Healey now calls the Franchise. Then, of course there is your other colleague Miles Potter. You and Paul went on to do Maggie and Pierre – a monodrama. What drew you to this?

"I wasn’t drawn to it particularly. In fact I did not want to a one-person show when Thompson suggested it to me. It really was his idea because I thought everyone does a one-person show; I don’t want to do that. So I was very concerned with making it different than the single-address, one-person show that I saw. So by having the characters talk to each other like a regular drama, that was one of the unique things about Maggie and Pierre. No one had seen that before.

In my mind, it wasn’t a one-person show, it was a three-character show. Hopefully because of the way we did it – where we costumed each character very differently to begin with and then the costume morphed into a more basic costume so we could change back and forth very quickly. But the idea was to present three completely different visual images to the audience. They knew it was one person, but that was what they were experiencing – a three-character play."

Alien Creature … what drew you to poet Gwendolyn MacEwen?

"The Rosemary Sullivan book Shadowmaker was a kind of entry point, even though there was very little straight biography. I don’t do bio plays. I feel I have to say that because of the odd nature of my work. It often begins from something very specific, but it never ends there. I live in basically the same area of Toronto (as MacEwen did) and I just felt this connection to her, and it is not all dark.

Her poetry is very unreal – would be the word to use, and so are my plays. There is often this fantastical element or what I call a “fabulist” element to my work and I felt that I absolutely connected with her. It was a certain time of my life. I felt a deep connection with her and that is a more traditional one-person show in that it is directed less at the audience.

What was unusual was that I did magic illusion in the play so we had fire. I brought out chains at one point, and glasses turned into things – all kinds of stuff like that – and that was fun to do."

Who are your fave playwrights?

"Someone asked me that the other day, and my minds blanks. I don’t know if I have or think in terms of a favourite playwright. Of course there are people that I like. Caryl Churchill would be one of them. In Canada, I really like Jason Sherman’s work and Maureen Hunter’s work. I like George Walker as well. Of course, I am interested in Judith Thompson’s work.

Is there one playwright that has made you think Oh My God…

"I don’t know. The truth is, it’s not just the play, it’s the production as well, and it has been a while since I have been really blown away. There are things I like but to say when you come out 'I am just really blown away' …I really like Karen Hines’ work. She directed Age of Arousal at ATP. Her work I love because it has this surreal or unreal quality to it but it is also very grounded. It’s not .. there’s that word again … arty. Her work I really love. It’s expressionistic and it’s twisted – it’s all of that. I really appreciate her sensibility."

In the final part of this six piece series, Linda Griffiths discusses the future of Canadian Theatre. What's the deal with niche audiences?

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