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Magnetic North brings small, short plays - lots of them - to Vancouver

03.06.2008 17:00 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Multimedia show Loft by Les 7 doigts de la main circus troupe of Montreal is part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Vancouver. (Magnetic North Theatre Festival)

Two years ago theatrical history was made in a converted funeral chapel in Vancouver when close to a dozen theatre companies staged a series of plays for audiences of between one and 20.

It was called Hive and it was a roaring success, selling out before opening night on word of mouth alone.

Hive returns to Vancouver as part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, an annual festival that alternates between its Ottawa base and another Canadian city.

Vancouver is the 2008 host for Magnetic North, which brings experimental and ground-breaking productions together in a concentrated burst from June 4-14.

In addition to Hive 2, the festival features one-person productions such as blood.claat, a coming-of-age story written and performed by d'bi.young.antiafrika, a Toronto dub poet, and An Evening with Uncle Val, by Newfoundland's Andy Jones.

"You see the rise of the 10-minute play all across the country," says Magnetic North artistic director Ken Cameron. "And I think we'll se a lot more of it as economics mean main stage plays are more difficult to produce and they become riskier."

Ami Gladstone, one of the producers of Hive 2 and a member of Victoria's Theatre Skam, says a selection of small, short shows appeals to modern theatre audiences.

"If one of our shows isn't very good, at least there are ten other shows you can enjoy, so hopefully the sum is greater than all the little parts," he said.

And the small size of the audiences can mean a stronger connection between players and theatregoers.

"This idea of intimate performances is something we can only do in theatre," Gladstone said.

Hive 2 will be staged in the Centre For Digital Media on the Great Northern Way campus in Vancouver.

The 11 theatre companies involved drew lots for theatre spaces and then traded for something that they thought would fit their play.

Kendra Fanconi of The Only Animal theatre company of Vancouver was assigned a larger space, but traded for a tiny office that's a 2.5-metre-square white box suspended from the warehouse ceiling at the top of two flights of stairs.

"The space the audience will be in is just big enough for a little desk, and on the desk sits a microscope," Fanconi said. "We're actually looking at creating the very smallest theatre piece that we possibly can."

Theatre Replacement, another Hive 2 participant, has been touring a piece called The Bioboxes, in which an actor wears a box on his shoulders.

Magnetic North includes Loft, an acrobatic performance by Montreal's Les 7 doigts de la main and April 14, 1912, about the sinking of the Titanic, by Toronto's Theatre Rusticle.

The festival includes 53 performances of 10 main works at eight separate venues.

"It's part trade show, part theatre festival and part showcase," Cameron said. It comes at the end of the theatre season, and a lot of artistic directors come to "go shopping" for productions they can book a couple years down the road.

Magnetic North also includes workshops, debates and celebrity speakers. This year Gordon Pinsent, Sandra Oh and Tantoo Cardinal are among the stars at Magnetic Encounters.

With files from CBC's Paul Grant

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