LETTER ONE

...And Counting! (Letter Three), étonnant et virulent pamphlet, vient conclure les deux premières lettres contestataires et controversées de l’auteur et homme de théâtre Tony Nardi sur la condition médiocre de la culture et de la précarité des comédiens. Alors que la première lettre faisait référence aux stéréotypes, la seconde protestait avec véhémence contre les conceptions erronées de la commedia dell’arte, autant du côté des comédiens, des metteurs en scène que des critiques. Cette lettre faisait état de plusieurs faiblesses de la culture canadienne et a d’ailleurs été présentée à l’Espace Libre l’automne dernier. ...And Counting! (Letter Three), possiblement la lettre la plus personnelle des trois, est essentiellement un post- mortem des deux précédentes.

 

Il ne fallait pas s'attendre à ce que le comédien torontois Tony Nardi vienne présenter à Montréal sa Letter Three sans porter une attention particulière au discours critique qui l'a suivi. Sans surprise, j'ai reçu cette semaine une longue lettre dans laquelle il s'attaque au critique du Globe & Mail Kelly Nestruck, se désolant que Nestruck ait volontairement ignoré une grande partie du contenu de sa Letter Three et qu'il n'ait pas vu la théâtralité et l'utilité de la violence verbale dans sa performance.

 

Tony Nardi, a Dora- and Genie-winning actor born in Calabria and raised in Montreal, wants to blow up English-Canadian theatre as well. Also presented as part of the FTA, … And Counting (Letter Three) is his suicide bombing of “the amateur theatre we call professional” that “patronizes patrons.” In it, Nardi compares the health of Canadian culture in general to a person who has been buried alive and is eating parts of himself while awaiting a rescue that might never come.

 

Chaque fois qu'on parle de l'acteur canadien anglais Tony Nardi, on souligne ses origines italiennes. Je me suis demandé quelques fois d'où vient cette insistance à souligner cette particularité culturelle, alors que Nardi est un vrai Torontois, qui a vécu presque toute sa vie au Canada. Mais il est vrai qu'il n'a rien du flegme brittannique de certains de ses collègues canadiens-anglais. Chez lui, le geste et l'énergie sont d'une indéniable latinité, et sa colère gronde au rythme du tambour battant. Ceux qui ne voient pas de théâtre dans la série de lettres qu'il lit, ou plutôt qu'il performe depuis plusieurs mois entre Toronto et Montréal doivent être sourds ou aveugles. Sa Letter Three nous arrive en plein cœur du Festival TransAmériques; une occasion formidable de la faire entendre à un plus vaste public.

 

J’ai eu la chance de voir ce soir l’excellente production “…
And counting (letter three)” écrite et livrée par Tony Nardi ainsi que l’échange avec le créateur, animé par Robert Lalonde. J’en aurais long à dire, mais à une semaine de la première de ma propre production au M.A.I., l’énergie se fait rare. Quelques réflexions me hantent cependant, alors je les couche ici en vrac avant d’en faire autant de ma personne (me coucher en vrac, ça promet!).

 

Sous le titre "...And Counting!" (Letter Three), l'acteur canadien Tony Nardi livre, à l'occasion du Festival TransAmériques, une troisième lettre dénonçant l'inertie, l'asservissement et la pauvreté du milieu théâtral de son pays.

 

POUR LA PREMIÈRE FOIS DEPUIS LA FONDATION DE LA REVUE, en mars 1976, Jeu publie aujourd’hui un article en anglais. Cela mérite des explications. Une présentation de Tony Nardi, à qui nous avons offert la Carte blanche de Jeu133, éclairera ce choix fait par le comité de rédaction.

On dirait bien que c'est le tour de Pat Donelly, journaliste théâtre du quotidien The Gazette, de prendre les coups de Tony Nardi. L'acteur et metteur en scène, dont je vous racontais ici-même la virulente prise de position contre le théâtre canadien-anglais, répond ce matin à la critique de Donelly à propos de sa Lettre no 2 (Letter Two). Une nouvelle charge que vous pouvez lire au complet dans la section commentaires de mon billet précédent.

 

Thus far, my weekend cutlural trajectory has included an Australian film at the World Film Festival (Van Diemen's Land), a one-man show by actor Tony Nardi titled Letter Two at Espace Libre, and a cabaret-style play, Coma Unplugged, at Théâtre du Rideau Vert. Each had its moments, its flashes of insight and glimpses of intention. But none of the three succeeded as a whole.

 

Tony Nardi is back again, with his Two Letters ... And Counting! show, which is more or less a solo rant by a disgruntled actor who tears into the Canadian theatrical establishment with the dual war cries of "Mediocrity!" and "Inauthenticity!". Theirs, not his, I'm assuming.

 

Le théâtre : art bourgeois, sclérosé, réservé à l’élite, ennuyeux, trop pointu? Voilà du moins quelques clichés tenaces qui lui sont accolés. Dans sa pièce-pamphlet-charge théâtrale Letter Two, le comédien et créateur italo-canadien Tony Nardi nous rappelle, avec fracas et une passion peu commune, à quel point le théâtre est plutôt l’art vivant par excellence, même s’il considère que les metteurs en scène canadiens-anglais (qui n’en sont pas pour la plupart, selon lui) sabotent plus souvent qu’autrement la matière première de cette vie en action : les comédiens.

 

Selon Tony Nardi, il y a quelque chose de pourri au royaume du théâtre en ce pays. Devant l'ignorance crasse de certains critiques et la complaisance d'un milieu souvent plus motivé par la protection de ses acquis et l'obtention de prix prestigieux que par la création artistique et la rencontre d'un public, l'acteur canadien d'origine calabraise a pris la plume, tel Martin Luther devant les vendeurs d'indulgences.

 

I did not know the real meaning of tour de force until I caught Tony Nardi’s Letter Two at Espace Libre. Nardi has transformed letters – written in reaction to the stereotypical portrayal of Italian- Canadian characters in a Canadian TV series, and reviews of a production of a Goldoni play that perpetuated clichés about commedia dell’arte – into a work of art.

 

Avec Lettre nº 2, Tony Nardi dit bien haut ce que plusieurs semblent penser tout bas à
propos de la sclérose et du formatage générique des arts de la scène, entre autres errances identitaires canadiennes.

 

Pour encore trois soirs à l'Espace Libre, l'acteur canadien d'origine italienne Tony Nardi sert un virulent plaidoyer contre la complaisance du milieu théâtral, l'ignorance de la critique, l'incompétence des metteurs en scène et j'en passe.

 

?“If we took a match to theatre in Canada, if we burned it down, I don’t think people in this country would miss it.”?

But tell me what you really think, Tony Nardi, don’t hold back...

 

My first mistake was asking Tony Nardi what audiences could expect from Letter Two. The question lands with a thud, and the acclaimed actor begins sputtering like an engine with the choke on. After a few false starts, he lets me have it.

"People obviously have a hard time understanding what performance is," he snaps. "And that's not singling you out. You're one of thousands who, before they enter a space, need to know what this is about, how it's being presented. That goes to the core of what the letters are."

 

Tony Nardi is a rare creature in Canadian theatre—one willing to stick his neck out to be chopped off by bureaucrats (non-artists, for the most part) who control the purse strings
in the arts, directors, artistic directors, critics, academics, the media, cultural czars, politicians, and even certain community leaders (including his own ethnic Italian ones).

 

"People have got the idea that art is for tourists," Newton says, in clear bemusement. "Art is for ourselves."

THAT'S A THEME writ large in the thinking of Tony Nardi, who lately has been stirring things up in theatre with three monologues whose questions go to the very heart of the challenges Nardi sees facing Canadian culture.

 

What is the Canadian film, television and theatre community going to do about the brilliant but very difficult Tony Nardi? The 49-year-old Calabrian-born, Montreal-raised, Toronto-based actor and writer, a two-time Genie winner and unquestionably one of our finest talents, has spent the better part of the past two years (and, not incidentally, his RRSP savings) mounting what are surely the most provocative pieces of performance art ever staged in this country.

Passionate, often angry, he replays meetings and phone calls with sometimes recognizable figures in the theatre and Italian communities, people he’s intentionally caricatured and expanded to make bigger than reality.

Nardi, whom one Toronto journalist recently described as a man who could become our "most famous agitator outside of Don Cherry," cannot resist a chance to express his opinion.

Tony Nardi (Two Letters/Nardi production): In what was essentially a sequence of two monologues of volcanic heat, Tony Nardi delivered a stunningly powerful and valid indictment of Canadian theatre and culture…

He is not a newcomer. Tony has earned his status as a stage and film professional ever since he first stepped on stage in Montreal, his Canadian hometown. In 1979 he wrote his first play, La Storia dell’Emigrante, in collaboration with Vincent Ierfino. It was produced by Italian Canadian actors and played to sold-out house, to critical attention from both the English and the French language media. The play was mounted again in Toronto at the Multicultural Theatre Festival in 1982, where it won the award for best original Canadian play.

A couple of months ago I went to the most unusual theatre event I have attended – ever. It featured no sets, no costumes and an actor “reading” from his laptop, for two hours (with one short break), two nights in a row. Madness, I hear you say!

"What Tony read that afternoon took my breath away. It was not only some of the best writing I'd heard in a while but the clearest and most passionate indictment I've encountered of what's wrong with film, television and theatre in Canada."

Actor Tony Nardi didn’t set out on a mission to shake up Canada’s theatre establishment; it just happened. The impetus? In 1994 and 1995 two comedies were being produced for television and he was offered parts. The roles: Italian guys.

"...there is far more theatricality in his presentation than in many plays, because the actor knows exactly how to dramatize his material, offering episodes and anecdotes as he mimics voices, ratchets up his vocal range, and shows just how vital it is to feel for an idea, to live your life as if it depended on the expression of that idea... Two Letters spurred me into articulating certain things that have been percolating a long time in my mind...In England, Italy, Germany, et cetera, Two Letters would be front-page news on the arts or culture page."

"Does art matter? Nardi is married and has a young son, but he cashed in his RRSPs to stage Two Letters. Do the "Letters" matter? Nardi is taking another risk. He is performing them again at the Artcore Gallery in March and April; go to www.twoletters.ca for more information. Can he afford to do this again? He can't afford not to do it again. Dare you go? I dare you
to go."

"A decade later, Nardi is still forging his own rigorous course through Canada's occasionally bleak cultural landscape. In particular, he has spent much of the past year on a unique production - not a stage play, exactly, but his own solo reading of two letters he was moved to write about the Canadian performing arts scene. One was a response to reviews of a 2005 production of Carlo Goldoni's The Amorous Servant, sent to theatre critics Kamaal Al-Solaylee of the Globe and Mail and Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star. The second, on the subject of racist stereotyping, went to the creators of the television comedy Rent-a-Goalie."

 

In two letters, Tony Nardi proves he's mad as hell and isn't going to take it any more.

“Boredom in theatre is not strictly a Canadian concern. We’re just better at it than most.” Tony Nardi’s two-part lecture series, Two Letters, is a must-see for anyone in Toronto concerned with the future of theatre in the city — and if you’re reading this review, that surely means you.

" Dal 3 marzo al 15 aprile riprende lo spettacolo di Tony Nardi, dal titolo Two letters. Questa volta al Distillery district, una delle aree piu' suggestive e creative di Toronto. "

Daniela.Sanzone@rci.rogers.com

“ About 35 people were there yet it had, and this sounds pompous, the feel of something important, far more than a movie, concert or game with thousands present. I think that’s because people go to such an event not to be entertained but to be engaged (which can also be entertaining).”

 

“ Nardi’s performance … was quite the firework display…The final section of his letter was a kind of dream sequence in which a teacher of commedia went on trial. Nardi jumped between judge, defendant and other participants, bringing stock characters to dizzying life at a pace that now seemed the product of inspiration rather than panic. It was planned and written, but had the manic flavour of improvisation. I think it was commedia; it was certainly virtuoso. If he wants to help our theatres and himself – well as that other commedia descendant Mr. Punch used to say – that’s the way to do it.”

 

“ …Nardi confesses he chose his craft as a young man, as a means of exploring greater truths in society…. Nardi’s opening Letter serves as a stinging indictment of the nation’s theatrical soul…While the theme of mediocrity and how it relates to Canadian drama, onstage and onscreen, has left many with their jaws dropped and others in tears, Nardi says that many walk away with their own particular interpretation…. a lawyer sees parallels to the world of justice while another sees connections to the media in this country.”

 

 

"Last week news reached the Stage Latest International Offices about a Toronto actor who is actually more fed-up than myself about this sham of Canadian creativity in the theatre, and actually is doing something about it."

“…What he’s really angry about is that contemporary film and television in Canada increasingly operates by this kind of stereotyping, and that it, among other things, contributes to making our characterizations of reality smaller and slower than we know they actually are… Nardi presents his subject matter with an élan that echoes, alternately, the great Italian playwright and puzzle-maker Luigi Pirandello and, more oddly, Sam Coleridge sitting on the cliffs of Dover in 1798 wondering what, exactly, the French Revolution was about to rain down on the English… And he (Nardi) tells, as Coleridge once did, “most bitter truth, but without bitterness.” … He certainly got me thinking, and judging from the discussion forum that went on more than a half-hour after the two hour performance ended, I wasn’t the only one he woke up.”

 

“ The questions that troubled him so deeply have to do, not just with identity and cultural stereotyping, but also with the nature of storytelling.…Not much in life is certain. But when we take each other for granted, when we stop asking questions, and when we presume to know what we do not and cannot know, then we all lose. Nardi uses dramatic acid to burn the rust off truth, and to blister complacency until it turns into awareness. He takes no prisoners.”

 

“…Nardi - one of the country's finest actors - is taking to the stage in what amounts to an Émile Zola style J'accuse, a one-man show that constitutes an indictment of Canada's performing arts, or at least those aspects of it that Nardi knows best… At the heart of his broad critique is the claim that Canada's English-language theatre is largely irrelevant -- populated by mediocre directors and a talented but cowed pool of actors who have become compliant pawns, afraid to challenge the system for fear of losing work. What does Nardi expect from this exercise? Provoking a lively debate would satisfy him.”