Seana McKenna just pointed out a feature article about her performance as Medea, in which she refers to our magazine! The article by Alison Broverman  appears in today’s National Post, but in case it will get buried by future issues, here’s the text of the article:

“Vengeance and a good cup of tea”

No one would guess that in a few short hours the petite redhead sipping tea in the lobby of the King Edward Hotel will be raging around onstage at the Canon Theatre in Toronto as one of the angriest women in Greek mythology.

The redhead in question is Seana McKenna, who is currently starring in the Mirvish production of Medea.

Though far less vengeful than her onstage persona, McKenna is just as regal, presiding over afternoon tea like a benevolent monarch. It’s important to find time to relax while performing such an emotionally draining role, but since arriving from Winnipeg for the production, McKenna has been whisked around for so many media obligations that she has barely had time to sit down.

Relishing the peaceful atmosphere, the actor takes her time selecting a beverage, lingering over the humidor and inhaling the hotel’s selection of teas.

After a few moments’ consideration, she makes her choice (the hotel’s signature King Edward blend) and is ready to talk Greek tragedy.

This production, which came to Toronto by way of Winnipeg’s Manitoba Theatre Centre, is directed by McKenna’s husband Miles Potter and is a remount of the acclaimed version of the play he directed for the Manitoba Theatre Centre in 1992. This is McKenna’s third turn as Medea: She’s played the role every eight years since that first production.

“It’s my own version of the seven-year itch,” she quips. “The eight-year bitch.”

McKenna loves having the opportunity to revisit a play, and feels more comfortable every time she inhabits the role. “You have the confidence of knowing you survived it already,” she says. “Experience is a great help.”

By now she is used to Medea’s emotional extremes. “I begin the show weeping,” she says. “The play is definitely a purging experience. And by now, I’ve lived with it so long that this feels like normal!”

Not only is it McKenna’s third time playing the title character, it’s the third time her husband has directed her in the role. But even with the same director, she feels her characterization has evolved. “The production has become more volatile, more vicious,” she says. “Or maybe we just get nastier as we get older.”

But there is nothing vicious about the actress offstage. McKenna is determined to be a gracious interviewee, as she now identifies with those on the other side of the pen — she recently started writing a column for the Niagara-region magazine Escarpment Views.

Hardly jaded from her decades in the business, McKenna is still passionate about theatre. She loves talking about other people’s work as well as her own, so her quarterly magazine gig suits her well. Her next column is about how various Canadian actresses are approaching the lead role in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play Doubt, which has been making the rounds of the country’s regional theatres this year. “Everybody’s doing Doubt right now,” says McKenna. Everyone, including her: McKenna will be back in Toronto come spring, playing a stern Bronx nun at CanStage. – Medea runs until Feb. 8 at Toronto’s Canon Theatre (244 Victoria St.). For tickets, call 416- 872-1212 or visit mirvish.com. [end of article]

Seana and I have a running gag about tea: our favourite gifts to exchange have had something to do with this beverage. It certainly does convey relaxation and taking a little time for yourself, something that is in short supply for slaves of the arts! This reminds me that there’s only about one more week left to catch this performance. Mike is ready to see it again…

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     What a busy weekend it’s been! Escarpment Views was a media partner with the Guelph Organic Conference, so Mike Davis and I spent the last three days at the expo/tasting fair at Guelph University. The crowds of visitors were good, with free copies of our current and back issues snapped up by so many people that we ran out of some of them. We always look around the building after we’ve given out copies to see if any have been thrown out or dropped as litter, and we’re pleased that we never find any. People hang onto our issues! That must be why our advertisers get results long after new issues have been published.

     We were happy to meet Jens Gemmrich and Heike Koch, owners of Frogpond Farm, Ontario’s only organic winery. They had provided wine for one of the receptions, and donated a gift of wine bottles as a door prize at the main dinner. Mike and I must take a tour of their Niagara-on-the-Lake farm this summer.

     One visitor to our table, who said he liked what we’re doing with the magazine, was Michael Stadtländer, a celebrity chef with his own property near the Escarpment, called Eigensinn Farm. Michael is also president of the Canadian Chefs’ Congress, which “connects chefs to our land in solidarity with farmers, fishers, gardeners, foragers and all artisanal food producers.” We hope to work with Michael soon.

     This weekend we also squeezed in a visit to The Dam Pub in Thornbury, where Jamie Robinson and friends are forming The Grey Bruce Arts Collective to perform local plays and productions. Last night was Robbie Burns’ 250th birthday celebration at the packed pub, where Jamie and other theatre professionals in period costume read poetry, sang, fought with swords and of course addressed the haggis, which Mike actually ate and enjoyed, because this version was made of nothing worse than lamb, oatmeal and spices.

     Paul Amos, Roger Shank, Jamie Robinson and Trish Williams gave the dramatic performances. Young Connor Ritchie played bagpipe beautifully and Jessica Nicol demonstrated her championship highland dance skills. Funds raised from this evening go toward Thornbury’s new medical centre.

     Keep an eye peeled for more from The Grey Bruce Arts Collective. It promises to be an exciting new theatre centre.

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     Medea opened yesterday in Toronto’s Canon Theatre and as a gift to cast members, Seana McKenna had shirts made with “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Medea?” written across a bloody-looking letter “M.” This is, of course, a nod to the Mirvish production of The Sound of Music, whose lead was cast by the CBC reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

     Any problems about Medea have been solved by this production, the third time that Seana has performed this role with Scott Wentworth as Medea’s husband Jason and Mile Potter directing. The story is not easy to take in. Yet this 2,500-year-old tale of the hell let loose by a woman scorned by her husband, who marries a young blonde, is as contemporary as a Dr. Phil show. The lesson of the play might be: don’t mess with your ex-wife.

     Despite its horrific ending, the tragedy is not all doom and gloom. There is enough irony and sarcastic humour to lighten the tone even as we gasp at what Medea is driven to.

     Seana doesn’t play her as a one-note witch or madwoman. Medea does practise “dark arts” that include healing and the use of medicines, which was enough to brand women as witches only a few hundred years ago. And she does cross the line into mad revenge, but Seana plays her sympathetically. She has Medea swing between the extremes of a discarded wife abandoned in a foreign land to a supernatural force that controls thunder, lightning and fire. Even her idea to commit the ultimate unnatural act that even wild animals don’t do, is more the result of King Aegeus’s belief that to die childless is the worst thing that can happen to a man, than her own simple thirst for revenge.

     This is not fare for a mindless fun night out. If you’re going through a painful divorce, are a man considering stepping outside your marriage or want to see powerful performances in a shocking production, this is a cathartic cautionary tale to see with friends. Book club groups are sure to love it.

     Additonal notes: Seana is our regular theatre columnist and she has written about performing Medea in the December issue of Escarpment Views.

     A pre-show talk about the myth is given for free, one hour before each performance. This is a useful introduction to the play.

     Seana will give a live interview on CBC radio’s Q program at 10 a.m. on Thursday Jan. 15.

     Do you agree with my critique? Did I miss the boat about this show or the myth of Medea? Share your views.

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We are pleasantly surprised that the local paper, The Independent and Free Press, has today published Mike Davis’s letter to the editor in response to the entire front page coverage of his shoulder dislocation while photographing the Egg Nog Jog. (See our blog posting & the many comments about this, dated Dec. 16.) Surprised, because they haven’t always published critical letters. Gloria Hildebrandt has had this experience. To be fair to the paper, we’re acknowledging what they’ve done. They also published a letter from the secretary of the Egg Nog Jog, who wrote “I’d hate to think that our recent Egg Nog Jog will be remembered by the unfortunate fall taken by fellow club member Mike Davis — so boldly featured on the front page of the Dec. 17 issue.”
We’re printing Mike’s letter here, because it will be difficult to find on their site in a few days. Here’s Mike’s letter as they published it:

Photographer says it’s good to focus on safety
Tuesday January 6 2009
Dear editor,
I am the photographer you managed to snap during the Egg Nog Jog on Dec. 14 (Dec. 17 Independent & Free Press).
Many also know me as a former town councillor and now as the principal photographer and co-publisher of Escarpment Views magazine. Thank you for filling up the front page with my accident. It seems I can still make the news!
To give you more information, I had been asked by the Georgetown Runners to photograph the event. I am known for going the extra distance to get great shots, and this time I miscalculated.
Yes, I was far too close to the start of the race, and waited far too long to get that last great shot before getting out of the way.
By the way, the perspective of your photo is misleading. I was a fair distance back from the start line, but not far enough. Your photographer did the wise thing by taking the safe way out and standing far back.
Our readers tell us that they love my photographs. But the lesson I’ve learned is to focus on safety as well as great photos.
Mike Davis,
Georgetown

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     Mark your calendars for the Guelph Organic Conference and Organic Expo Canada Tasting Fair from Jan. 22 to 25. This is the 28th annual conference, making it Canada’s longest running organic marketing show. It promises to be of interest to consumers, gardeners, researchers, farmers and students.

     Escarpment Views will be giving out our current and back issues, taking subscriptions and unveiling a great new product there. Come and visit us at the Expo on Jan. 24 & 25. Admission is free.

     There will also be four days of workshops from Jan. 22 to 25 about organic vegetable production, land trusts, ecovillages, careers in organics and more. Get all the info about them here. Please drop by to see us! I think we’ll be in the central auditorium.

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