Guy Sprung
If it were easy, it would be irrelevant.
(NB: This website is under construction, a work-in-progress, sorry for all the information still missing. GS)
Theatre.
When I graduated from McGill in 1970, Brecht’s conjunction of entertainment and politics was the theatre I aspired to, “Theatre for the people” was my motivation. I was a member of a generation that wanted to change the world. Theatre was a weapon to challenge the status quo and influence the evolution of society. Through 50 years of creating, my craft evolved, my experience and my colleagues shaped the work, but I never lost my faith in that mantra.
Theatre - Watching fellow humans becoming characters live on a stage, we become those characters through an out-of body, split-brain experience. A community of Homo Sapiens Sapiens together in a performance venue, sharing our breath, smell, sweat and emotions. As we watch fellow Sapiens acting, we observe, reflect and with our animal empathy engaged, we question our Selves, our behaviour, our existence. “Behaviour” - be-having through action, -to have being, through acting. Homo Sapiens Sapiens, living moments of laughter, tears, anger, memories, diversion, inspiring and conspiring, breathing together with fellow human animals to engage in the world we inhabit.
A communal activity that addresses human beings as members of a community. This is Theatre.
With no real money to be made in Canadian theatre, outside corporate interests don’t bother to own/control/program our theatre business as they substantially own/control/program our movie, gaming, sports and streamed video industries. No wonder theatre is the quintessential Canadian performance art.
This website has collected fragments of the post-Sixties journey of Canadian theatre from the perspective of a battle-scared theatre warrior after 50 years in the trenches. I’m retired now, at least from running theatres. (I have run five different theatres over my career…so far.) I grow potatoes, my vegetable metaphor for Life. Make my own maple syrup. Try and feed the family with healthy food.. Digging potatoes and boiling maple sap leave me the head space to chew over questions, the nagging questions, that keep me awake at night. From the 1960’s to the 2020’s - from what?/where?/ to what?/where? Was theatre of value? Did it reflect/question the evolving universe with any lasting impact? Did our theatre contribute to any deeper understanding of the mystery of the craft of acting? Did we wrestle with the enigma of how to improve actor training? Questions, questions. Has the baton been passed and where is it being carried to? This searching has driven me to try and rescue my past from the nooks and crannies of Memory, with the help of boxes of inconsistently collected archives, reviews of my shows, plays, photos, posters, documentaries, supplemented by letters, poems, prose, articles I wrote all enhanced with many conversations with colleagues from the past…I am assembling this detritus after having a chunk of cancer exorcised from my bladder. If you are going to have cancer, bladder cancer is the one to have, says the doctor. Had a distinct bulge on the right side of my lower tummy. The tumour no doubt. Now, with the tumour cut out, my belly is flat and I can blame my lousy balance while playing hockey on having to re-adjust to less weight on my right side. Good excuse. We will see how long I last. Fate? I have no right to complain, I had a good life. But it sure puts a new perspective on time. Makes the need to revisit the past more urgent.
Hence the building of a website that exploits one theatre artist’s personal journey as a tool, a metaphysical crow-bar to pry open a questioning/understanding of the path theatre in Canada has taken over the last half century. How do the pieces fit together? What picture do they reveal? Where has Canadian theatre been? Where is it heading? What can/should theatre be for the Québec/Canadian cultural scene? Lots of questions. Welcome to the jigsaw puzzle of one human Life structured to allow you to hopscotch your own journey through time, exploring as your curiosity guides you. The drop-down menu bar at the top will help you chose the periods, plays, documentaries, reviews, writings, people, politics in any sequence you chose. As you time-travel, you will hit links that give you the option of cross referencing sideways to relevant material that may enhance the particular segment you are visiting.
Unfortunately, still have to earn enough to pay the Hydro bills. Need to take the occasional acting gig -and get shot by Juliette Lewis, or fix Alan Cumming’s broken truck in feature films.
If you have any insights to share with me, or factual errors to draw my attention to, or any qustions… please get in touch. Archival material can be accessed at Library and Archives Canada Collection Reference: R15968-0-0-E