Toronto’s Nightwood Theatre has a very clear mandate: to “forge creative alliance among women artists from diverse backgrounds in order to develop and produce innovative Canadian theatre.” The company’s upcoming fundraiser production of The Lawyer Show, which casts 28 members of the legal community as actors in an updated version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a natural extension of this mandate. While the cast is made up of both women and men, this production combines the talents of professional directors, designers and coaches with those of a diverse group of lawyer-actors to produce a truly original Shakespearean show.
The concept of creating a “lawyer show” isn’t new — Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre, the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa have all produced one — but Nightwood is the first Toronto theatre to jump on the bandwagon, and it’s a brilliant move. The show raises money for Nightwood by requiring cast members to purchase a certain number of tickets, which they then re-sell to family and friends. Everyone wins: Nightwood raises much needed cash, and the lawyers get a chance to shine on stage.
While this might sound like nothing more than a crass effort at fundraising, there is more to this endeavor than meets the eye. Nightwood’s award-winning artistic director, Kelly Thornton, is charged with the task of directing The Lawyer Show’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and she couldn’t be more enthusiastic about its value. After auditions were held, lawyers thanked her profusely just for the opportunity to try out for a role. During the audition process, Thornton pushed lawyers to be as silly as possible, and it sounds like they were all grateful for the artistic release.
If people are that excited just to audition, imagine how fulfilled they’ll be after rehearsing for the next two months, or after each performance in front of an audience. “Community theatre is rewarding — I get a hit off watching non-professional actors’ joy at performing” Thornton confessed to me last week, over a coffee at Balzac’s in the Distillery District. Thornton believes lawyers will carry that charged, joyous energy right into their offices and legal practices, elevating their work with renewed spirit.
Lawyers are also natural actors. “The most important quality of an actor is intelligence,” Thornton says. “Lawyers are naturals because they can think analytically and abstractly.” Case in point: even the more inexperienced actors in the cast have a strong handle on the text and are able to speak and communicate Shakespeare’s words in a believable way. Other cast members took drama classes when they were younger. Thornton actually cast a former University of Toronto Schools drama student of hers as Nick Bottom in The Lawyer Show.
There is, of course, an element of teaching involved in directing non-professional actors, regardless of their natural ability or previous experience. The challenge inherent in directing a cast as large as this one lies in Thornton’s ability to guide people through both the physical environment of the stage as well as the complex language of the text. To meet this challenge, rehearsals take place three nights a week and generally consist of an hour with Thornton, blocking on stage, followed by text coaching with professional actors Christine Brubaker and Pragna Desai in the Nightwood office. Shakespeare is difficult for most people to grasp, so having the help of professionals coach the lawyers on meaning, clarity and rhythm is invaluable.
It’s clear that Thornton is committed to giving her lawyer-actors the tools to succeed. The Lawyer Show’s cast members need to feel secure in order to shoot for the stars — which is exactly where Thornton is aiming. Her concept for the show is part of her plan to reach celestial heights. Rather than putting on a traditional Elizabethan production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Thornton has set The Lawyer Show’s rendition of Shakespeare in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s: a relatively contemporary time fraught with gender constructs that fit the theme of the play (a daughter trying to break free of her father’s choice of a future husband). This is also a fun period to play around in: beatniks, debutantes and nerds abound as reinterpretations of the play’s fairies, lovers and mechanicals. The whole thing will have a beat feel to it; a jazzy edge to which, the producers hope, everyone can connect.
That’s shouldn’t be a problem, judging from the effort Nightwood is putting forth to create a professional theatre experience that will benefit participants just as much as the company itself. And for the legal community, allying with Nightwood is a win; its goals as a theatre company include eradicating discrimination, celebrating the excellence of female practitioners, placing a premium on mentorship and using theatre as a tool of empowerment. Sound familiar? The legal profession certainly prides itself on bolstering similar principles, so it’s not actually much of a stretch for Toronto lawyers to support an arts organization like Nightwood.
You can play your part by attending one of the three performances of The Lawyer Show, June 11 8 p.m. and June 12 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs. For tickets, call Nightwood Theatre at 416-944-1740 x5. And stay tuned to Precedent for more behind-the-scenes details about the production.
Leanne Milech is a lawyer turned freelance writer. She reviews theatre, publishes children’s books and spends her free time hunting for Toronto’s best cultural escapes. Her column appears every Friday here on lawandstyle.ca.