Bingo!
Daniel
MacIvor is no stranger to the pages of Arts East. The award-winning Nova Scotia
playwright has had a prolific and profound run of productions across the Atlantic region - and the country - in recent years. Recently he opened up to AE about Bingo!, which premiers tonight at the Neptune Theatre
in Halifax, and runs until November 4.
What inspired you to pen
Bingo!?
I
had been working at the Banff Centre during a five week residency in a cabin in
the woods. I was finishing a draft of my play "Arigato, Tokyo" a
rather heavy romantic tragedy influenced by my time in Japan and the
fundamentals of Noh Theatre. I managed to get through the draft and still had a
week left in the residency. As a kind of exorcism of the darker work I had just
been immersed in I felt like I wanted to work on something lighter, something
that was no-holds-barred comedy. I remembered a conversation I had with my old
friend Steve MacDonald and his partner Debbie Corkum in their kitchen in Cape
Breton about trying to make work for an east coast audience that would really
speak to them in a lighthearted but true way and I had an idea about a thirty
year class reunion and I immediately thought of the title Bingo!. The next
morning I came into the kitchen and Steve had already made the poster and put
it up on his fridge. It felt like something real already. So with the extra
time in Banff I went back to that idea and within the week I had the first
draft of the play.
What has the response
been like from audiences/critics to the work?
So
far so good. The critics have loved it in its first production with Mulgrave
Road Theatre and in its second production at Praire Theatre Exchange in
Winnipeg. And audiences have been able to see themselves in the play. People in
their forties and fifties see themselves and people in their twenties and
thirties see their parents. I think people are hungry for comedy in the
theatre, something that makes them laugh but at the same time allows them to
reflect on their own experiences.
Does that matter to you?
Critical
response matters less and less to me. It's taken me a long time but I'm
confident enough in my work and my motives that a negative review doesn't crush
me like it once did. The critic is doing a job and I understand that, every
play isn't for every person. And when one thinks about how many plays a critic
must see in a season it's pretty impressive then can keep any kind of
perspective at all. For me it's all about the audience response. I don't even
need to talk to the audience to know if the play working, being in the room
with them you can tell what's landing and what isn't. That's a big part of why
I continue to rewrite after the show has opened and is running. Very seldom
would I make a change in a play based on a review but often based on an
audience reaction.
What has it been like to
work with Heather Rankin?
Heather
is a superstar. She's one of those people who is so confident in front of an
audience that you can't take her eyes off her. And while she's a born performer
she still has a genuine and totally honest access to her heart. And not only
that she is one of the kindest and most generous humans I have had the pleasure
to meet. We all love Heather.
What can audiences
expect during the Neptune run?
Wonderful
performances from Emmy Alcorn, John Beale, Marty Burt, Heather Rankin and Ryan
Rogerson and an excellent set and lighting design from our designers Garrett
Barker and Vicky Williams. I'm very excited about having these great actors on
in that beautiful stage in that special space. Audiences can expect a full evening,
lots of laughs and a tug on a heartstring or two.
What’s next on your
creative agenda?
I
have a couple of new plays in the works and I'm working on a solo show based on
the memoirs of the American monologist Spalding Gray. The solo show I'm currently
touring "This is What Happens Next" plays at the Studio theatre at
Neptune as part of Eastern Front's season in November and then we're on to
Toronto and a run at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary.
