THUNDER BAY – While the COVID-19 pandemic may be a boon for streaming services like Netflix, it’s been less kind to most of the art world, with theatres, galleries, and concert halls around the world barring their doors.
But as the global crisis drags from weeks into months, some artists aren’t content to wait for the day those doors re-open. Opera singers have taken to their balconies; painters have turned their art into colouring pages to entertain those stuck at home; and Sir Patrick Stewart has done his part to soothe the world’s spirits with daily sonnet readings.
Thunder Bay’s performing arts community is getting in on the act, with impromptu theatre company Come Play With Me offering livestreamed play readings via Facebook. Their first, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, streamed over the weekend to thunderous applause – even if it came in the form of GIFs and emojis.
Actors did their best to bring a period flare to the production, rummaging through closets to improvise Victorian attire. Viewership for the first production ranged into the hundreds, and seems likely to grow.
Thomas McDonald, a local director and actor, had his friends in the theatre community on his mind when he decided to kickstart the project.
“I’m thinking about a bunch of creative people who are sitting in their living rooms, wondering when they’re going to perform next or get to be a part of that community again,” he said. “That’s when the idea became, we need to do something – what can we do?”
Come Play With Me has pulled in a growing number of Thunder Bay performers – including some who have since scattered across the country and beyond. They plan to organize a new reading each week, curated by a rotating cast of directors.
Their next performance, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, will air as a matinee Saturday, to accommodate the time difference with one member who now lives in Northern Ireland.
Robert Perrier, a performer with the group, said the initiative met a keenly felt need.
“When some of the regular life distractions are taken away, we’re kind of put in a place of reflection and self-assessment, and we realize that as human beings we crave art and performance,” he said. “When that’s suddenly taken away, it does feel like there’s a bit of a gap. It can help us get through the tough times.”
While the format brings some challenges and limitations – internet glitches among them – Perrier said the online readings free up new possibilities for local performers and audiences.
“It’s a chance to try something different,” he said. “The shows we’re able to do are not ones that necessarily would see the light of day in Thunder Bay – they might be more niche, or they’re bigger productions.”
Though fueled by modern technology, McDonald said in many ways the format harkens back to an earlier era of performance.
“One of the folks who watched the show was the grandmother of one of our performers,” he related. “She said, this is like listening to the old radio plays back in the ‘40s and ‘50s.”
It’s caused performers to stretch their creative muscles, McDonald said.
“I think we just have to approach it differently. When you’re putting on a physical production, the focus sometimes becomes what you’re doing. With this, it’s more about your face and [the words]. It puts a little more emphasis on the dialogue.”
Come Play With Me performances are available on the group’s Facebook page, where they’re streamed live and archived for later viewing. Their next reading, Arcadia, will stream at 2 p.m. this Saturday.
