LORNE ELLIOTT'S UPSIDE OF THE DOWNSIDE

JACK WOULD HAVE ENJOYED THIS SHOW. WE DID.


Writer, composer, actor, musician Lorne Elliott has been meandering all over Canada and gathering comic gems about us for nearly 30 years. His performance on the historic stage of the Gravenhurst Opera House Tuesday 23 August 2011 happened one day after the death of a former schoolmate of his in Hudson, Quebec.

Like many, if not all, of the audience at the Opera House that evening, and millions across Canada, I was mourning the rapid decline and sudden passing of Jack Layton, leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and an inspiration within and beyond his political affiliation with the NDP. It seemed somehow quite appropriate to carry on with life as usual, and attend a show that I am sure Jack would have enjoyed.

In fact, as we learned with the last sentence from the stage, that whole evening was dedicated to the late Mr. Layton. “This one’s for you,  Jack!” Subtly, Lorne Elliott, a consummate master of searching and gentlemanly humour, had been working up to that quiet ending all evening as he tickled us into gales of laughter.

An evening with this quintessential Canadian comedian is a whirlwind journey “Madly Off in All Directions”, like his former Saturday afternoon broadcasts on CBC Radio. Eager to catch his current show on stage, I had no idea how much more fun it would be to see that rubbery face in action, and the trademark shocked hairdo and baggy trousers.

In fact I just barely caught this live show. Try to sneak inconspicuously into our venerable Opera House from its updated elevator entrance, just below stage right, in a colourful Ghanian print outfit.

Up on stage Lorne was mercilessly wrangling a microphone on a heavy stand, and regaling an already appreciative house with wildly graphic self-deprecations on a home renovation disaster. Next thing we knew it, we were sharing an off-shore breeze off Prince Edward Island in a home-crafted boat that was the epitome of ineptitude.

A typical effect of a stage performance by Lorne Elliott seems to be a certain infectiousness. We have just seen an example of this, as I got embroiled in excessive vocabularizations, as characterized by Lorne’s CBC icon, Rex Murphy.

Thorough enjoyment of an Elliott gig would imply that the audience is familiar with the CBC and its personalities. His contagious flippancy rubs off on his audiences, who come out of his performances feeling funny and quipping merrily. Warmed up by successively more hilarious misadventures in home renovation, landscaping and boat-building, we easily swallowed passing comments like, “Canadian - it’s a wonder we manage to breathe.”

Part of the Elliott mandate is to add the audience’s home town to his itinerary and litany. He kept us neatly skewered in Gravenhurst, and seemed to know intuitively that we are inclined to be “weird”. Funny he should notice that. Other reviewers have noticed his noticing, and reported him as an astute observer of Canadian wildlife, including the humans and super-humans like David Suzuki.

Undoubtedly noting a predominance of grey heads among us, Lorne made sure anyone the least bit hard of hearing was able to capture the rich subtleties of moose, a language he speaks fluently in his alter ego of Morris, the Moose. The guy next to me was joining quite effectively in the chorus of that song.

I idly wonder if Lorne Elliott happened to know that here in Gravenhurst we don’t need to go into the woods, with or without warning bells, but may casually meet a bear strolling around the Opera House or up a tree by the Salvation Army church. At any rate, his comments tend to hit close to home.

In the artist’s own words:  “The one-man show I'm performing now is called "THE UPSIDE OF THE DOWNTURN". ... The way the One-man show works is by not staying in one place too long. It's harder to hit a moving target.”

Here is a sample of Lorne Elliott in action, using some of the ideas that we heard in Gravenhurst. One of two clips from a show at Stephensville, Newfoundland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3EcO8dSJQY&feature=related

His own website is fun to browse and most informative.
http://www.lorne-elliott.com

Off and on during the writing of this review I was watching CBC television’s coverage of Jack Layton’s lying in state at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, and interviews with his close friends and associates. Jian Ghomeshi, a personal friend of Jack and his family, made a shiver go down my spine as he reported NDP Caucus Members vowing “not to go madly off in all directions” but to work together toward their late leader’s visions and goals for Canada.

I didn’t happen to vote NDP in the recent election, and I’m not a member of any party, but I am so sad to see a great leader leave us just after bringing Quebec into the federal fold and taking his place as the first NDP leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. This one is for you, Jack, for Olivia and your family, and for all of us who have appreciated your decency, responsibility, music and fun in politics and in our lives.

And now back to
http://www.gravenhurstoperahouse.com/

Dragonfly Theatre Presents "Beyond a Joke"

“Just think. If there were no television and no church, none of this would have happened.”

“This” is an escalating series of pseudo disasters visiting the characters of the British farce, “Beyond a Joke”. Popular playwright Derek Benfield is not Shakespeare, but knows how to whip up a light cocktail of summer theatre fun set in the décor of an English country house and garden. Ladders, wheelbarrows and rubber boots lend a rustic air to the action, peppered by dialogue that gathers momentum and wit as it moves along.

As one of the audience on opening night, I can assure you that the set is pleasant and expansive, and the acting and direction excellent, ably overcoming Benfield’s rather stodgy first act and gathering glib momentum in the second. As characters are added  the tempo accelerates.

The macabre theme is, as the title forebodes, not the least funny in itself. And that’s the whole point of the exercise. “After all,” says a central character, “It can happen to anyone.”

Beyond this very sketchy review I cannot go, without letting too many bodies, I mean cats, out of bags, closets or wheelbarrows. The lily pond is almost like a character in the play, gathering sinister overtones as it is pointed at from the stage, off in the invisible distance. As for the summer house ...

I hope I have intrigued anyone who has not seen the play yet, sufficiently to consider investing in a summer evening with the inimitable Dragonfly Theatre Company in the Trillium Court at the Gravenhurst Opera House.

There is still time to join the audience. “Beyond a Joke” completes its run on 13th August.  Dinner is served.