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      in Theater

      Sharon Pollock, Playwright Who Explored Canada’s Identity, Dies at 85

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      Ms. Pollock was best known for dramas inspired by historical events that examined racial tensions and other volatile issues.Sharon Pollock, an oft-produced Canadian playwright who was known for works that explored Canadian history and identity at a time when few of her contemporaries were doing so, died on April 22 at her home in Calgary, Alberta. She was 85.Her daughter Lisa Pollock said the cause was cancer.Ms. Pollock’s works covered a wide range, but she was especially known for dramas inspired by historical events. Her best-known play, “Blood Relations” (1980), was a take on Lizzie Borden and the ax murders of her father and stepmother in 1892 in Massachusetts (Borden was acquitted). But most of her history-inspired plays involved events in Canada’s past.“Walsh” (1973), one of her first staged works, was about James Walsh of the North-West Mounted Police and his handling of Sitting Bull and the Sioux Indians who had come from the United States in the 1870s seeking refuge. “One Tiger to a Hill” (1980) was inspired by a 1975 hostage-taking at a prison in British Columbia.These and her many other historical works didn’t merely document an event; they used it as a jumping-off point to explore themes like racial tension. That was at the core of her “End Dream,” about a real-life 1924 case in Vancouver in which a Scottish nanny died under murky circumstances and a Chinese servant was charged. The charges were later dropped.“I am only interested in historical things if I can manipulate them,” she told The Globe and Mail of Canada when that work was given its premiere in 2000 by Theater Junction in Calgary. “I want to make something bigger than the mystery.”Anne Nothof, a professor emerita at Athabasca University in Alberta who writes frequently about Canadian drama, said Ms. Pollock viewed theater “as a means of illuminating the dark corners of apathy and ignorance” and used it to examine areas of history that were often sanitized.“In her plays, she provided multiple perspectives on historical events,” Dr. Nothof said by email. “Pollock was committed to creating a theater that responded to the past and the present, that challenged historical and personal assumptions.”Stephen Hair and Julie Orton in “Blow Wind High Water.” Staged at Theater Calgary in 2017, it was Ms. Pollock’s last new produced play.Trudie LeeMs. Pollock had a long relationship with Theater Calgary, where she was artistic director in 1984 and 1985 and where four of her plays had their premieres, including “Walsh” almost 50 years ago and her last new produced play, “Blow Wind High Water,” in 2017.Two of her plays, “Blood Relations” and “Doc” (1984), received the Governor General’s Literary Award, a top honor in Canada, and in 2012 Ms. Pollock was given the Officer of the Order of Canada designation “for her contributions to the theater as an award-winning playwright, actor, artistic director and teacher.” That same year, when the University of Calgary held a conference celebrating her, it was called simply “Sharon Pollock: First Woman of Canadian Theater.”Mary Sharon Chalmers was born on April 19, 1936, in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Her father, Dr. George Everett Chalmers, has a hospital in Fredericton named after him, and her mother, Eloise (Roberts) Chalmers, was a nurse. She was also an alcoholic; Ms. Pollock painted a stark picture of her early years in “Doc,” a play that had autobiographical elements, and she talked bluntly about her mother.“To be truthful, I didn’t like her very much,” she told The Calgary Herald in 2013. “She was an ugly drunk. She didn’t go somewhere nice and quiet and drink herself into oblivion. I always say that every statutory holiday she would try and kill herself. Eventually she succeeded. I think I was 17 when that happened.”She dropped out of the University of New Brunswick in 1955 and married Ross Pollock. But their relationship, she said, was troubled, and the marriage ended after about a decade. In 1966 she moved to Calgary with the Canadian actor Michael Ball, with whom she had a long-term relationship.From left, Amanda Dahl (Ms. Pollock’s daughter), Kate Trotter and Susan Hogan in “Doc,” a 1984 play that had autobiographical elements.George GammonShe began her theater career as an actress. In a 2008 interview with the The Calgary Herald marking the 40th anniversary of Theater Calgary, she recalled working with that company in its early years. She had especially vivid memories of the old QR Center, which was notorious for a leaky foundation.“The dressing rooms were in the basement, so in the spring you’d have about three inches of sewage and horrible water all through the dressing room areas,” she said.The seepage, she said, somehow always seemed to be worst when a production called for period costumes.“You not only had to watch your feet,” she said, “but you had to hold up these reams of skirt, or else you’d enter onstage with a kind of osmosis — water creeping up all over the edge of your clothes.”(Perhaps appropriately, a decade later “Blow Wind High Water” was part of that theater’s 50th-anniversary season. It was about a Calgary flood.)Ms. Pollock’s plays were staged at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, the Neptune Theater in Halifax and many other theaters, including the Garry Theater in Calgary, which she ran for five years in the 1990s. She also served in executive roles at Theater New Brunswick and other houses, though her strong personality sometimes led to clashes with board members.Ms. Pollock in 2017.via Theatre CalgaryStafford Arima, Theater Calgary’s current artistic director, experienced that personality when he staged her final play.“I fell instantly in like with Sharon’s no-filter way of communicating,” he said by email. “Her energy reminded me of a glorious tsunami wave that engulfed any space she inhabited — whether it was a rehearsal room or a coffee house.”In addition to her daughter Lisa, she is survived by five other children, Jennifer Pollock, Kirk Pollock, Melinda Tracey, Michele Pollock and Amanda Dahl; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.In a “Playwright’s Note” in the program for “Blow Wind High Water,” Ms. Pollock addressed the audience in words that might well have applied to many of her plays:“I hope you’ll experience in some small way some small parts of history that have made the place you live in the place it is.” More

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      in Television

      How Canada Has Become a Pilgrimage Site for 'Schitt's Creek' Fans

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCanada Dispatch‘Schitt’s Creek’ Fans Arrive in GoodwoodThe hamlet that was the backdrop for the hit television series Schitt’s Creek has become a pilgrimage site for fans, to the joy and consternation of locals.Chantel Lambe, 29, in front of a building in Goodwood, Ontario, that was used as the Rose Apothecary in the television show Schitt’s Creek.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesDec. 24, 2020Updated 7:04 p.m. ETGOODWOOD, Ontario — Joe Toby was recently giving a young couple a tour of his workshop, when the man sprinkled rose petals on the concrete floor and got down on one knee.The woman was a big Schitt’s Creek fan, it turned out, and was ecstatic to get engaged in the building, which doubled as a mechanic’s garage in the series, he said.“And here I was thinking it’s just my workshop,” said Mr. Toby, a retired machine maker who uses the space to build specialty beds for disabled children. “I guess it is special.”A satire about a fabulously wealthy family that loses all its money and is forced to settle in a town the patriarch bought as a joke because of its name, Schitt’s Creek has become a cult hit for its quirky humor, haute couture costume design and the fictional town’s unlikely embrace of gay love. It won a record nine awards at the Emmys, including one for best comedy.Nowhere has its sudden popularity been felt more intensely than Goodwood, a sleepy commuter hamlet 28 miles north of Toronto that was the main location for filming over six seasons.The hamlet feels like a postcard from antiquity, with heritage homes on less than a dozen streets and farmland on either side. The last census put its population at 663 — mostly retirees and young professionals with families who commute to the city for work.Downtown Goodwood, with the building, right, that doubled as Café Tropical. The blue building served as Bob’s Garage.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesBefore Schitt’s Creek, Goodwood’s claims to fame were decidedly more pedestrian — potatoes grown on nearby farms, and the surrounding gravel pits, which produce the raw material to build highways and downtown buildings.Now, it has become a pilgrimage site of fans, who call themselves “Schittheads” and arrive in droves to the hamlet’s main intersection to take selfies in front of the buildings that served as the series’ set. Some arrive in character, dressed as Moira, the dramatic matriarch who has named her precious wigs like children, or Alexis, the socialite daughter. They spend money at the local bakery and general store, but also peer into windows, clog parking spots, and in a few cases, walk into homes, locals say.“They are rude,” said Sheila Owen, whose house doubled for the home of the supporting character “Ronnie.” “They come and expect us to be the same people portrayed in the show — that we are hicks who are stupid.”That feeling is not universally held. Eleanor Todd, 87, got dressed up with her granddaughter to stroll up to the now-famous corner and take photos like all the tourists. It’s the busiest that intersection has been since Goodwood’s glory days, when it boasted two hotels, four general stores, a skating arena and both a cobbler and tailor. That was in 1885.“I’m getting a kick out of it,” said Ms. Todd, a former teacher who wrote and self-published the hamlet’s authoritative history, “Burrs and Blackberries from Goodwood.”Joe Toby, a retired machine maker, speaking with Schitt’s Creek fans outside his workshop, which was the set for Bob’s Garage. Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesDevelopment in the hamlet has been greatly limited because it sits on ecologically sensitive land, the Oak Ridges Moraine. As a result, it has retained its quaint smallness and avoided the sprawl afflicting so many towns in southern Ontario. That’s what attracted Schitt’s Creek creators, Eugene and Dan Levy, according to their location manager Geoffrey Smither.“They liked that feeling — here’s the town, there’s the country,” said Mr. Smither, who toured 28 small towns scouting for the perfect backdrop to the show. “None of them arise and depart like Goodwood.”When he appeared before the local township councilors to ask for a filming permit, they burst out laughing and agreed.“It was going to put us on the map,” said Bev Northeast, a former longtime councilor who lives in Goodwood.Locals says fans started to appear in 2016, a year after the show premiered on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster, but really ramped up after Schitt’s Creek was taken up by Netflix in 2017. By the summer of 2019, two chartered buses arrived to the intersection, spilling out people in matching T-shirts and lanyards that said “SchittCon.” (That’s short for Schitt’s Creek Convention.)Schitt’s Creek, created by Eugene, left, and Dan Levy, swept the Emmy’s in September.Credit…The TV Academy and ABC Entertainment, via Associated PressBut no one was prepared for the deluge of fans that descended after Schitt’s Creek swept the Emmys in September.So many people streamed into the local bakery, Annina’s, that the owner, Marco Cassano, hired two security guards to do crowd control. Since Annie Murphy — who plays Alexis, the socialite-daughter-with-a-heart-of-gold — told the late-night talk show host Seth Meyers about the bakery’s delectable butter tarts, he’s been fielding orders from across the United States.“It’s meant I stayed open throughout Covid and kept most of my staff,” said Mr. Cassano, who catered for the crew over five seasons.Across the street, Mr. Toby was inspired, by the crush of Schittheads asking for tours of his workshop, to build a donation box by the front door. In one weekend, he raised $270 for the local hospital and historical center, he said.“For years, I was the best kept secret in Goodwood,” said Mr. Toby, 75, who is a natural storyteller and enjoys holding court. “Nobody knew what I did in here.”Samantha Kenyon, 24, center, serving customers at Annina’s. The bakeshop has seen a surge in sales since the cast member Annie Murphy talked about the store’s butter tarts on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesHe knows some of his neighbors feel differently, and in part that’s because of the pandemic. In the window of the building across the street, a residence that was transformed into a cafe for the series, a handwritten message is taped in a window: “Please stay off property during pandemic, we are immunocompromised.”At the beginning of the pandemic, the show’s co-creator Dan Levy pleaded for fans to keep away. “The towns where we shot Schitt’s Creek were so lovely and accommodating to us,” he tweeted. “Please show them the same respect. Visiting right now is a threat to the residents’ health and safety.”That didn’t stem the pilgrimage any more than the mounting layers of snow.Marilyn Leonard owns the building that for more than a century, was Goodwood’s general store. In Schitt’s Creek, it was transformed into the hipster “Rose Apothecary,” selling body milks and cat-hair scarves. Ms. Leonard decided to shut it permanently last month.“It’s too exposing for me,” said Ms. Leonard, 74, who plans to convert the space into an appointment-only gallery. “I need to stay away from people.” Marilyn Leonard inside her building, which was used for the Rose Apothecary in the show.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesThe motel that served as the set for the family’s new residence in the series is not in Goodwood, but in Mono, about 50 miles west. One day, so many people crowded around the motel that the owner called the police.“At least 100 cars an hour were trying to get in,” said Jesse Tipping, pointing out that his motel, which hasn’t been operational for years, has garnered dozens of satirical reviews on Google maps. “ At one point, I saw somebody on the roof. They were stealing numbers off the doors, taking the welcome mats.”Mr. Tipping, who is currently selling the motel, said he asked Dan Levy about selling paraphernalia at the site. The show, however, has signed an exclusive merchandise agreement with ITV Studios in London.That means no one in Goodwood is getting rich off the sudden fame. Plans to run a Schitt’s Creek tour on the local heritage railroad were scuttered by the pandemic. The 145-year-old yellow brick town hall, which hadn’t hosted a council session in almost 50 years, would have the perfect place to host tours, conceded Dave Barton, the mayor of Uxbridge Township, which includes Goodwood. Unfortunately, the township sold the building a year ago to a couple who is converting it into a private home.“Nobody expected that Schitt’s Creek would be the most famous Canadian show in forever,” Mr. Barton said.Simona Taroni, left, and Rebecca Farronato taking a selfie in front of a motel in Mono, Ontario, which served as the Rosebud Motel from the television show Schitt’s Creek.Credit…Brett Gundlock for The New York TimesAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More