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Following the Arts Revisionism (Part II): The 1995 Stratford Festival As his foreword in the House programs showed, Richard Monette organized his first (1995) season as artistic director ofthe Stratford Festival around the theme oflove: the "triumph of young (and not so young) love overimprobable obstacles" in The Boy Friend and The Gondoliers; love's contribution "to our sense ofself' in The Comedy ofErrors; the "impossibility of bargaining for divine love" in Amadeus; Jove as a bargain in The Merry Wives ofWindsor, "cynical amatory bargains" in The Country Wife; "the dangerous power of love" in both Macbeth and Long Day's Journey Into Night; and "the sacrifice of self that Jove makes possible" in The Stillborn Lover. The repertory range was impressive, the bases of revisionism varied. Revisionism ran the gamut from parody and Expressionism, to radical "re-imaginings" oftime-honoured classics, to subtle adjustments in presenting works with Jess impressive pedigrees. Every musical that Brian Macdonald directs is revised in a fundamental way at Stratford, and none more so than his productions ofGilbert and Sullivan, where the absolute need to sabotage slavish adherence to the original tone of the librettos is exercised with genius. If to some the Stratford productions would be tantamount to heresy, few even amongst the purists still take seriously tl1eir silly plots, illogical situations, cliched characters and absurd dialogue. A director can be forgiven the impulse to send up the work, provided, of course, that his mockery is good-natured and has a signature style. Brian Macdonald honours Gilbert and Sullivan more in the breach than many would in the observance of a world that is essentially artificial. The Gondoliers suited Macdonald's satiric sense especially well. He had already turned it to gold in 1983, and the present production was a fine tuning, as it were, of 166 most things that had worked in that version . The satire on republicanism was preserved but without undue dominance in a mounting that was extrovertive, mirthful and quite over the top in its relish of all things broad and vulgar. It included the preening and posing male chorus; the slow, stately, sensual entrance of the gondoliers; an ogling, tactile Contadine; the wild carnival ofswirling mannequins; the burlesque entrance ofthe sea-tossed barge bearing the Duke and Duchess ofPlaza del Toro, with Douglas Chamberlain's panto Dame an outrageous consortfor Eric Donkin's bored Duke. His "finery" topped by a galleon headpiece, and with billowing hooped hips sufficient to capsize the barge, Chamberlain sashayed and sulked, played coquette and vamp, and sang of the patient taming ofthe Duke well enough for any camp. While good and bad puns and topical allusions to political correctness, the CBC, and the Royals whirled by courtesy of David Mayerovitch, much ofthe production's success could be attributed to Michael J. Whitfield's rich lighting (except for a fizzled fireworks display in Part One) and Susan Benson's exquisite costuming and setdesign. With a white Venetian flagstone floor and a few props such as step-ladders, a trunk, a bird cage, and pillars, Benson turned design into geste, a ludic composition enhanced by the simplest exercises of mime and imagination. The Gondoliers was more easily revised than The Boy Friend,Sandy Wilson's affectionate , simple-hearted tribute to the frivolous '20s and theirstyles of romantic musical entertainment. Wilson's is a period piece with no room for "updated" lyrics and no value in parodying what is simply (as its author termed) a "loving salute to those faroff days of the cloche hat and the short skirt, a valentine from one post-war period to another." What matters are such things as stance, posture, gesture and movement. The characters are mere fluff: young English ladies at a finishing school on the French Riviera; a headmistress with a robust voice, Revue d'etudes canadiennes Vol. 31, No. 2 (Etl 1996 Summer) A scene from The Boy Friend by Sandy Wilson. (Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann, courtesy of the Stratford Festival.) body, and libido; a beautiful young heiress forlornly seeking love; a stem father who wishes to protect her from fortune hunters; a handsome delivery boy with, for incongruous parents, a lecherous aristocrat and his formidable...

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