Mairi Babb

Mairi Babb is Toronto based actor, originally from Ireland, who came to Toronto via Winnipeg. She’s been seen in everything from The Rocky Horror Show, to The Pirates of Penzance, to War Horse.

You can see her now in Eldritch Theatre’s Space Opera Zero, on now until December 2 at the Red Sandcastle Theatre.

Twitter: @mairibabb1

Tickets to Space Opera Zero: eldritchtheatre.ca/tickets

Transcript

Welcome to episode 158 of Stageworthy. I’m your host, Phil Rickaby. Stageworthy is a podcast about people in Canadian theatre featuring conversations with actors, directors, playwrights, and more.

If you listened last week, you probably heard me rave about Space Opera Zero. Before I talked to Lisa Norton, who stars in that show, this week we’re going to talk to the other star of the show. But before we get to that, I want to remind you that I worked out a deal with Eldritch Theatre.

And so if you’re a listener of this show, you can get discounted tickets to this show, which has been selling out. So you only have a few more shows to be able to see this. This show closes on December the 2nd.

And so if you go to eldritchtheatre.ca slash tickets and buy your tickets and check out using the discount code Stageworthy, you’ll get cheaper tickets. And I highly recommend this show. And if you saw it, I want to hear what you think.

So remember that you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at stageworthypod. And you can find the website for this podcast at stageworthypodcast.com. And if you want to drop me a line, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at philrickaby. And my website is philrickaby.com. My guest is one of the stars of Space Opera Zero, Mairi Babb.

And Space Opera Zero is on now until December 2nd at the Red Sandcastle in Toronto. Have you guys started rehearsals for Space Opera Zero? Monday. Yeah.

But you’ve done a workshop. No. No, you were not part of the workshop.

Okay. No, I’m brand new. Because I talked with Lisa, and she was part of the workshop.

Yeah. Are you familiar with the Eldritch? I’ve actually never seen any of there. And I’ve seen all the pictures.

Yeah. And I’ve never made it to one of the shows. So are you prepared to be a puppet? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Are you prepared for some magic? Because that’s always like… Yeah, I don’t.

I mean, I think I’ll just be watching. I’m excited to get back into puppetry. Yeah.

I haven’t done any since War Horse. So. Okay.

Okay. So I’m excited. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Because I play one of the aliens in puppet form.

Is there but is there also a puppet that’s you? Are you a character? Or you’re just one of the aliens? I think I’m just. Okay. I mean, maybe I don’t know how to do it.

Like, I know there’s like a space above that puppetry happening. But I don’t know how much is gonna be like me in puppet form. Yeah.

That is a mystery to me. That’s an exciting mystery, though. Yes.

You know? Yeah. I mean, reading the script, there’s so much that I have no idea how this is gonna happen. Is it one of those things where you like you look at the script and you’re like, how is this even possible? Yeah.

Okay. It’s like reading a movie. Okay.

And somehow it’s gonna be on stage. Yeah. In a space the size of this apartment.

I mean, I think it’s at the Red Sandcastles. It’s about the length of this apartment. Yeah.

And the stage is really shallow, which is really intimate if you’re not used to it. Well, they’re doing it long ways. Okay.

So like you’ll come in and the seats will be right at the door. Okay. Yeah.

And then the stage at the back. Yeah. As opposed to the stage on the side, which I think.

Yeah. That’s usual because. Yeah.

Yeah. That can be really. I know people who’ve been like, oh, you know, I’ll go into that space.

It’ll be so, you know, the audience will be at a distance. And I’m like, you’ve never seen that space before. There’s no separation.

You’re sitting in somebody’s practically. It’s a really intimate space, which is great. Yeah.

So, I mean, you mentioned Warhorse and were you, did you do Warhorse for the entire run? Yeah, I did. I started it in Toronto in December of 2011. And then we closed in January of 2013.

And then about a month later, I joined the U.S. tour and then toured with it until September of 2014, I guess. Well, I mean, even having a show that runs for over a year is a rare thing in this city now. Yeah.

You know, it used to be, I mean, in the, you know, when we had the quote unquote glory days, when it was like Les Mis that ran forever and Phantom that ran forever. That was like the, you would expect that sort of thing, but that hasn’t happened. No, I mean, I guess Come From Away is the one that’s, it’s the closest I think that’s, I mean, it’s going to run for a while.

Yeah. You know, I think before that Kinky Boots was the, ran one of the, was the longest sit down that I can remember. Yeah.

There’s a thing that we don’t get to do much. No, I know. Well, part of it is, you know, labour costs.

That’s your thing. And our show is very expensive because of all the puppetry maintenance and everything that happens inside of the show. Yeah.

There was a lot of like extra calls for the crew and that sort of thing. I can imagine. Like lots of, lots of like, I don’t know, like emergency triage of puppets and things.

Yeah. We didn’t have too many accidents in Toronto because the puppets were fairly new. But once we got further on into the tour, the tour, like, you know, we had to stop the show two or three times for Joey just having a blowout.

Yeah. Cause they would try to go as far as they could. And then eventually it would just be like, Oh my God.

Oh, that’s I mean, again, that’s like live theatre. Shit will happen sometimes, you know? And especially on tour when we were going through lots of different climates, constantly be expanding and just get on stage and just shattered. Oh my God.

Horrifying. That’s the kind of thing they don’t really prepare you for in theatre school, is it? You know, when your puppet shatters, what do you do? You know? Yeah. Did you guys have a plan? Like did anybody say like, so if the puppet breaks, we will do this.

Or did you just have to figure it out? Yeah. You just had to figure it out. And uh, you know, the, the main goal was to get through the scene until you could get off the stage, like finish the scene and, you know, mask, whatever damage as well as you can.

Um, then, you know, there was just sometimes, for example, and the thing is you can’t really talk, you know, allowed to talk in the puppet. Right. No, of course.

And, uh, so communicating is very difficult because you’re also a mic. Oh, of course. Yeah.

The breaths. Yes. And so unless you’re making a horse noise, you can’t do anything.

Oh, okay. Well, I’m just want to get your, the pronunciation of your name. Okay.

Cause I was going to say Mary, I was going to say like, I was going to say it wrong. So thank you for the correction. Um, so we, I mean, if you’ve done, you’ve done like Stratford, have you done like what’s, what’s your trajectory being? What did you do before? I grew up in Victoria, uh, went to UVic and then did a show at Barton beach for a couple of shows, like a season.

And then, uh, ended up getting a job in Winnipeg from that and lived in Winnipeg for about nine years. And then my husband and I moved out in 2009 and, um, I’ve done a few shows out here, like Drayton and that sort of thing. And then I did Rocky Horror at Cannes stage, um, in 2007.

Oh, I saw that. I was Janet. There we go.

There we go. And, uh, then when I did Charlottetown and so I was, I was living here, but not a lot in the city, just kind of all going back to Winnipeg to still do shows and that sort of thing. And then got more worse.

And then since I finished that, I’ve been in the city, uh, mostly working like a little bit at Drayton in Orangeville. Um, I just finished a show at theatre Aquarius, uh, spiders web by Agatha Christie, which is a lot of fun. And, uh, yeah, I’ve auditioned for Sean, but never quit.

Never quit. Got to the door. Um, I have to talk about Rocky Horror for a second, because I do have to, like, uh, for one thing, there’s so many things about that show that make it difficult.

Yeah. Um, first off, anybody who’s seen the movie, nobody sees the movie once they see the movie a million times, which makes it difficult to make any of those roles your own. Yeah.

For one thing, I thought that Adam Brazier did like the impossible and made Frankenfurter truly unique and his own. Yeah. Now I spoke to him and he was like, I’m built like a hockey player.

I can’t do that. Yeah. Which was great.

I thought that, that everybody did a great job considering that it’s like one of the only shows where we still have a little bit of Shakespearean audience participation going on. Yeah. What is that like to, to do that show with like audience members shouting things? Um, for the most part, it’s tons of fun and it’s really electric and, um, you feel like you’re all in it together.

Uh, but opening was really tough. It was a really tough night for us because, um, there had been a bunch of those Rocky Horror people from, I guess, Bloor West. Yeah.

And so they’d come to preview and we’ve had this really amazing preview. And then the theatre invited them all to come back on opening and it, it had a different vibe. Like they felt empowered in a way and it, like when they came on preview, it was, uh, it was a cooperative venture and they took ownership of opening.

Right. And that, that was a tough one. We were all just like, because we couldn’t get into a rhythm because they were so into it and kind of competing with us.

And, um, and so it was really, that was a rough one, but on the whole we loved it. And, you know, you’d hear different things all the time. Oh, sure.

To be alive in a different way. Um, because, you know, in a comedy, you’re always listening to the audience, but, um, you know, in a musical, you’re not usually, you’re not aware of the audience in the same way. I found it interesting watching the show.

Um, now I’d seen, I’d seen it live a few times. I’ve seen, I saw it years ago at Bathurst street theatre with Juan Cioran as a, as Rankin-Furter. Was that the one that Charlotte Moore? I don’t remember.

I, to be honest, I only remember him. I only remember him because, you know, Juan Cioran. Um, but, uh, I’ve seen it a few times.

It was like a junior production that did it. And then, then Hart House did it. And then, uh, Can Stage did it.

And, um, the, the one at Can Stage was the only time I’ve ever seen it with, um, people who are regular theatre goers and people who were Rocky horror theatre goers. And that is an unusual mix. Well, I mean, I didn’t get to the Stratford one this summer because I was out of town and I was doing my Hamilton show, but I mean, that’s even more extreme.

Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes.

So I, I would have loved to experience that and the dichotomy there. That’d be really, really interesting. I didn’t get out to see it either, but yeah, no, absolutely.

Absolutely. But it’s a weird tension because as performers, you are aware of what’s happening out there and you know, that there’s people who are like, I don’t understand what’s happening right now. And I’m just trying to follow this story, which is, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s a weird, it’s a weird, it’s a weird story.

Yes. Yes. If you’re looking for a narrative.

If you came to this show, looking for narrative, then you’re, you came to this show for the wrong reason. And then the people who, who are trying to be a part of it, but just don’t know all the rules. Oh, of course.

Yeah. Yeah. It was really fun.

And we had the best group of people too. Like, yeah, you definitely have to have, like, I know can stage did a whole lot of, they had like signs, education, things like that going up. I don’t know if Stratford did, but you kind of have to, if you really have to prepare your theatre going audience for what they’re about to experience, which is not going to be like anything else.

You said you spent a number of years in Winnipeg. Um, so what, I mean, you went to Winnipeg for a gig, what kept you there? The gigs, the gigs. Yeah.

Yeah. I working at MTC is it’s you just get so spoiled, you know, it’s not just the resources that they have. Um, you know, you get to do the epic shows that don’t come around very often.

You know, I was in their 50th anniversary season. I was, um, playing Emily in our town at night and rehearsing the importance of being earnest during the day. That’s a pretty special opportunity.

And, um, and you know, then you get to do a show like Rocky Horror. So, um, I was very, very fortunate when I lived there. I was given incredible opportunities, incredibly diverse opportunities.

Like I worked with Shakespeare in the ruins, which is like an outdoor, um, uh, what’s they call it? Promenade style theatre company. And, uh, so I did, I played Miranda and the Tempest there and we started the storm scene in a tree and then I got to do it again in MTC and I played Ariel and it, you know, just things like that where, um, yeah, I, I, I made the most of my time and, you know, working at PTE and, and rainbow, like getting to do massive musicals for 2,500 people. And then, then just sort of felt like, um, not that I’d done it all, but like I needed to be challenged more and work with new people and meet new people.

And so I came out here to just learn. I guess, I mean, the, the theatre world in Winnipeg is a bit smaller than, than, than here and more tight knit. Although the fringe is a fucking huge.

Um, and it’s, it’s fringe. I performed on the, on the MTC stage, uh, with, at, at a fringe festival. When they put the seats on the stage? No, um, they, so they had in the main space, they had blocked off most of this.

So we had about 300 seats available in that, in that, in that theatre and performed on this, this massive stage was the biggest stage we performed on in our, in our tour. And it was like also like, Oh, so now we have to try to fill 300 seats rather than like 100 seats, which is, you know, fringe. It’s tough, but a great space to, we loved the crew there.

We loved that whole space. I miss it. Like just so many great friends that I don’t get to see nearly as much now.

Of course. So when you, what was the biggest shock between, from coming from Winnipeg to Toronto? Uh, well, I think it helped that I did have friends that lived out here from working at Drayton and coming out and spending summers here. Um, I think, um, you know, coming out here without knowing it would be completely overwhelming.

Do you mean in terms of the theatre world or just? Anything, anything. Let’s, let’s, you know, let’s talk about, let’s talk about Toronto as a whole here, whatever you want to talk about. I, I love that I can take the subway in this city.

Like that was one of the things I found really challenging in Winnipeg was just getting around without a car. Yeah. You have a car, but you know, you don’t want to take it all the time.

Um, and we live sort of towards the South of the city and, uh, just public transit there was so hard. So getting here and being like, Oh, I can take a subway at one o’clock in the morning. Um, and that feeling of safety, because there’s always people around.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Um, that was something that I really enjoyed. Yeah. I was felt invigourated by, and, um, in terms of theatre, like just, just how, how many people are at the auditions and, you know, how on it everyone is in terms of like preparation, um, you know, it’s, it’s definitely people fight harder.

Is that, is that because it was in, in Winnipeg, there’s a little bit more comfort because of the smaller community or yeah. That’s part of it. And you know, a lot of times you’re auditioning for directors that you’ve worked with a thousand times.

Of course. Yeah. So they know what you can do and, um, you know, they’re, they’re willing to sit down and chat with you and just be like, okay, well just, just, just do half of the scene.

We’ll see how it goes. Um, but here I feel like you’re constantly proving yourself and hopefully bettering yourself and not, not to say that the community in Winnipeg is apathetic or anything, and I haven’t been there for a while. And so I think a lot of things are changing, new blood coming and going, but, um, yeah, there’s just a different degree of competitiveness.

Sure. Oh, sure. Absolutely.

I mean, anytime you go to, like different sizes of cities and different, different theatre communities, it’s always going to change. Um, so what, just to go, to go back a little further than Victoria or further Winnipeg, um, growing up in Victoria, what is it that made you fall in love with theatre? What is it? I’ve done theatre in my church when I was really young. My mom had directed a couple of shows and I enjoyed it.

Um, but I was very serious about my studies. It’s going to be a lawyer. And then I, um, then in grade nine, my high school drama teacher, Colin Skinner, um, cast me.

I don’t even remember auditioning, but I guess I must have, but he cast me as Sandy in which I think is, you know, the way a lot of young women stumbled into theatre. Oh, sure. Yeah.

Greasy. Greasy. I think is a gateway drug for many theatre people.

And, um, so that was my first experience on a big stage and there’s this beautiful theatre downtown Victoria. It’s one of the old and we would do our school shows in this beautiful theatre with this orchestra, you know, like our school orchestra. And, uh, um, and that was, that was the first time that I was like, Oh, what about this? This is way more fun.

So until, until, until grace ruined you, um, you were, you were thinking of being a lawyer. What is it that was drawing you to law? Was it, did somebody tell you that you can make a lot of money there? Or was it like, what was it that made you? I think I, my dad is a lawyer, so that was probably part of it. Um, I’ve always loved language and, um, debate and rhetoric and that kind of thing.

And I was thinking I’ve been good at languages from, you know, when I was growing up. And so I was like, it could do something international law. Um, and I like being smart.

I thought that being a lawyer would show that I was smart. Okay. Okay.

Um, was it difficult to make the transition from being an, I’m going to be a lawyer person to, I’m going to be an actor person. No, because I think I’ve, I’ve straddled the fence for, you know, the rest of high school. I started singing.

I was pursuing, um, a more classical singing career, not career, but taking like classical voice and applying to schools in England and that sort of thing. And then that felt really lonely. Um, and I was still doing plays.

And so it was just a gradual, um, sort of move over to theatre and, you know, like in my grade 12 year, not really having a definite plan and not being able to say I’m going off to this school. Cause I went to, I went to a private school in Victoria where it’s the kind of place that they announce where you’re going. Oh, you’re okay.

You know, this person has been accepted by these. Oh really? Okay. Yeah.

And, um, so just to, to be walking across that stage, like knowing that I was a very good student and I could have gone to a lot of different schools to say, Mario, I’ll be taking a year off to pursue artistic studies, you know? Okay. Yeah. And, and to tell my dad that I wasn’t going to go into law.

That was, my mom was always sort of, it was super supportive. Was that a difficult conversation to have with your dad? Yeah. He, uh, we’ve hashed it out now all these years later, but you know, eventually he asked me when I was going to get a real degree and, uh, you know, occasionally the word real comes up in my life.

Like, you know, so you’re not doing anything right now. You don’t have a play coming up. Are you going to get a real job? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Like it’s eight weeks. It’s always, it’s always funny. Like the real thing for people who aren’t in theatre.

Like when are you going to give up this thing and get a real job or, and you always wonder, like, if you’re in it, you’re like, what makes this any less quote unquote real? It’s still work. Yeah. It’s just unfamiliar to you.

Yeah. And he lives in England, so that’s a whole, it’s, you know, it’s a very different, he grew up in a very different culture. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, do you remember, so it was Greece that made you want to do it? Yeah.

Um, how, cause you know, sometimes people, people will do shows and they’ll be like, I can, this is sort of a fun hobby, but then there are other people like yourself who eventually decide that this is what it’s going to, this is what’s going to be my living. At what point did you make the determination that this was going to be your living? I don’t know. Yeah.

Was it almost like, as soon as you did it, you were like, I don’t want to do anything else. Or was it more of a transition? Yeah. I, I don’t know that I ever made the decision consciously.

Like now I am a theatre artist. I think I was sort of keeping my options open in school. Um, and then, um, I had some friends who went to UVic in the theatre department there.

And I was like, well, I could do that for a bit. And it’s a degree, you know, so if I then decided to go on and do something else, at least I would have like a BFA to start. And then, um, the more, the more I focused on it and, uh, I started to get paid to do it.

I guess this is what I do now. Yeah. Um, so now that you’ve, you’re, you’re, you’ve, you’ve been, you’ve been in a few places.

You’ve worked on the, on the, on the, on the West coast. Yeah. You’ve worked, uh, in the prairies and, uh, Ontario and you’ve done, done stuff all over.

You’ve toured the U S um. And Tokyo, we closed War Horse in Tokyo. In Tokyo.

What was that like? Taking this show to Tokyo. It was beyond my wildest expectations. The audiences there were unbelievable.

You never saw a cell phone because they’re allowed to take photos during the curtain call. And so whenever the curtain call started, like out would come the iPads and tablets. And it was just this sea of electronic devices because that’s when like, you know, they were allowed and, you know, and they, um, would tweet about it and Instagram it.

And so the publicity that we got from those curtain call photos was insane. And so I’m, I kind of think it’s a brilliant built-in marketing strategy. Um, but the audiences were so appreciative.

And, uh, so we had these, like vertical titles, um, as translations, because of course the writing is vertical. So on each side of the stage, we had side titles, I guess. Um, and the audiences, we did mostly matinees.

It was mostly women in the audience. Like the opening night party was a sea of men. Um, and then all of our audiences were, I would say probably 90% female and they knew the show.

Like there was one show we came out and I loved doing War Horse for the like 700 and whatever shows I did it. I just loved it every time. And, uh, you know, you come out, the panels would fly out for our final only remembered and the whole ensemble would come out and sing.

And, um, there was a woman in the front row singing along with us and I just started bawling and it like, I was just so moved. Like she was just so into it and just such a, wanted to be a part of it with us. The other thing that was remarkable was we were there in August, so it’s like 90% humidity and so hot.

And so everyone has these dabbers because you walk around just sweating the whole time. Um, and you look out, you know, when you got your little moments to look out and the, so many people just hiding behind their dabbers, just holding them like this because they’re just weeping and you know, mostly white in this dark sea, just people weeping. And, um, and they would wait at the stage door and bring gifts for us.

And like, uh, the, the girl who played Emily, someone made a doll that looked exactly like her. And, um, they, they, they love to wave. So we would just be waving all the curtain calls at our final show.

We, uh, we would applaud all the horse teams as they did their final rotation. So their final Joey, their final top thorn. So we got backstage and we’re changing and we, you know, we’re applauding the final Joey team and the audience heard that we were still backstage and they started screaming and yelling and they wouldn’t let, they wouldn’t go.

So we ran back out there and like various stages of undress and our robes and stuff, just like holding each other and crying and waving and like puppeteers jumped in the audience. We’re hugging people. And it was, it was unbelievable.

And the dressers were incredible. And that was fascinating too, because a lot of them didn’t speak much English. Um, but the beautiful customs there about whenever you get to the theatre, no matter what time of day you say good morning, because that’s the start of your work day.

Right. And at the end of the day, you say, which is thank you for your work. And you say it to each other and just, just so many beautiful, respectful moments.

And the city is just amazing. So you, you didn’t just tour the U S you toured all over. Well, we just went to Tokyo for the final month.

Um, there was talk of doing China and Thailand and that sort of thing, but it didn’t materialize. China decided to do their own, um, like fully Chinese production, um, which I think would have been amazing to see. Yeah.

Fascinating. Yeah. Uh, yeah.

Um, so now you’re going from, from that and we’re going to get into a little more intimate space to do, uh, space opera zero. Yes. And can you, I mean, we, we had Lisa on and she talked a little bit about it, but I’m curious your description having not been to the workshop and having only read the script, can you tell me what, uh, space opera zero is about? And you’re going to ask me this and I even reread it this afternoon, come up with a concise answer.

And I don’t know. Um, so it’s, it’s about this earthling astronaut, this woman who, um, ends up on my planet. I’m a princess Jinora and, uh, the two of them fall in love and it’s about the trials and tribulations of them trying to be together, uh, coming from such different worlds.

And, um, and then it’s about what you’re willing to do for love and what, how you’re affected by it and how the choices that you make affect you and change you. Um, yeah. I got to say that one of my favourite things about, about genre science fiction, especially is that you can do something that’s about, um, how people come together when they’re from such different worlds.

And it’s not preachy because in science fiction, they’re litreally from different worlds and you can just tell the story, but it has a relevance to the world that’s, that’s deeper than just like alien and human, which is a fascinating thing. Yeah. And there will be puppets and magic and strange, interesting things.

Some music. Music. Yes.

Will you be singing? Yes. Okay. Okay.

Well, Lisa mentioned that she was actually afraid to sing. I didn’t know that. Yeah.

She’s, uh, she’s, she’s going to be fine, but that it’s, it’s a, it’s a new thing for her. Right. And if you don’t do it all the time, it is a very vulnerable thing.

Singing. Yeah. Yeah.

I’m terrible at musical auditions. Really? Yeah. Just the worst.

Um, I would say that 90% of the musicals that I’ve got have been in spite of my audition because I’m just a useless bag of nerves, but if I’m on stage, I’m fine. What is it about the, I mean, is it the fact that the audition is, you know, whether you’re going to get the job or not, or is there something about singing a new song? What is it about auditions that, that gets you that performing doesn’t. I’ve, I’ve tried to meditate about it and I’ve considered like hypnosis and that kind of thing, because it’s, um, I, I obviously don’t have a handle on it.

Um, I think it’s always even harder if I know the person that I’m auditioning for. Um, I think it’s, it’s about being good enough. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and I sometimes, and that’s the thing, if I don’t really care about the show very much, then I’m like, yeah, I can, I got this. Um, but if I care, I have to be good enough.

And then I just seize up. I mean, it’s a thing that we do to ourselves, right? When we go into the audition room and we’re, we put undue pressure on ourselves and sort of self-sabotage because we want it so much, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm. Did you, did you go to theatre school or did you jump straight in? I did the degree. Yeah.

I did a BFA in honours acting. Um, so it was a four year thing. And they have this main stage side of things where, um, you know, you have all your acting classwork and everything, but you can also be cast in these main stage shows.

Um, and I was lucky enough to do a lot of different shows because at the time, and I don’t know if it’s changed, um, you could finish, you could graduate without having been in a main stage show. And I think they changed it either my last year or the year after where you had to have like a couple of credits, but that didn’t mean that you had to have played a lead role or anything. Um, but like the facilities at UVic are amazing.

Like there’s a beautiful Prost theatre and a thrust as well, which are two different styles of performing, which is important to get under your belt too. Cause you never, if you only ever worked on a, on a, on a proscenium stage and then you’re, you’re thrown onto a, onto a thrust, it’s a difficult thing to figure out. Yeah.

What did, did, I mean, having done that, do you ever walk into a situation where you’re the only person who knows how to, how to perform on a thrust? I don’t know that I’ve worked on a real thrust since, since school. It’s been mostly Prost stuff. So no, no, I’ve never.

Okay. Do you, do you feel like if you were thrown onto a, onto a thrust, you’d, you’d remember? I think so. Yeah.

Cause most of the shows I ended up doing were in the thrust theatre and, uh, and I love it. Like, uh, it’s one of my favourite ways to work because you are so in it, but you still have the safety of like one wall that you don’t have to keep happy all the time. Were there particular kinds of shows that they did on the thrust or were they, was it just like hit and miss whichever? Yeah.

It was, it was really varied. Um, you know, we did a Noel Coward, um, on the thrust, um, but also more contemporary things. Like we did Shakespeare on the thrust, which was perfect and great.

Um, but what else did we do? Oh, we did like Norm Foster’s the Melville boys on a thrust. Wow. Yeah.

That’s awesome. Yeah. Did you, in theatre school, did you get the opportunity to, aside from the Melville boys work on a, on a lot of Canadian stuff or is it, cause I find generally in a lot of theatre schools, you don’t work on a lot of Canadian stuff.

Yeah. We, I did escape from happiness. Okay.

Uh, Bob White from ATP came out to direct cause they have guest directors there. Um, and that was amazing because he was Georgia’s dramaturge for ever and like worked on a whole bunch of premieres and so to have his insight into that. And like, I have to say that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had.

Just, I love that show so much. Like knowing that my mom was going to come, my mom and grandma were going to come and I was going to say fuck like seven times. Was that, I mean, was that a source of anxiety or secret joy? Oh, it was total secret joy.

And I would destroy a pot at the same time. So yeah, like all of my pent up rage, they got a glimpse at the other side of me that they didn’t get to see very much. That’s always fun.

The, the things that you get to do on stage in front of your parents that you would never do. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, like this show, it’s like, so I’m going to come, right? I’m like, yeah, yeah. You’re going to come. What is it? I mean, does your mom live in? She lives in Niagara Falls.

Okay. Um, is there something in the show that you’re like a little nervous for your mom to see or is that, um, I just don’t know that it’s her cup of tea. Okay.

She’s not much into science fiction. Um, uh, yeah, there’s, you know, a lot of phallic things in the show. She’s not exactly, um, you know, yeah.

You know, the interesting thing about the Eldridge theatre audience is that they’re predominantly not a theatre going audience, which is a rarity in this industry, especially here, but I’m sure everywhere that people who come to see Eldridge shows are not people who go to see things at factory Tarragon or Pass Mariah. They come for Eldridge and they come like they’re more genre people. They see movies, they don’t see theatre.

And it’s interesting that there’s an audience that, that Eric has built. Um, that’s hungry for what he’s doing. Yeah.

Yeah. He was telling me that summer when we met to discuss me, if I was going to do this or not. And, uh, and yeah, I just, I find that fascinating that he’s just found this little group of people in the East end that, um, because you do sort of see the same people at all the theatres in Toronto.

And so I’m fascinated to, to like meet a whole bunch of new people and new audience members. There are people who come from, like, I know when I saw, uh, the harrowing of Brimstone McCreery, there were people who were coming from Barry. Like, it’s not just like, like people who have seen Eldridge shows are hungry for what he, like, if he hasn’t announced something as it starts to get into fall, apparently there are emails coming in.

So what are you doing this year? What are you doing? Because they know that in the fall he usually does something. So they’re like hungry for it, which is like, I don’t know. He’s got a, he’s got a bottle that or do a workshop about like outreach because the audience that he’s reaching is actually the audience that so many theatres want.

Right. You know? Yeah. People who aren’t necessarily like artsy and educated in that way, you know, to appreciate what a good play is like, just like actual real people who just want to have a good time and hear a good story and have a great adventure.

Yeah. And it’s interesting because like he’s offering something that you can’t, and this is the thing, it’s the thing that everybody’s like, how do we get people off the couch and away from the Netflix? And if you offer something, you can’t actually see on Netflix and magic and yeah. Done it through following his passion, which is everyone’s dream.

Absolutely. He hasn’t compromised anything, but he just, he writes what he wants to do and he does it. Yeah.

It’s amazing. It is amazing. It is amazing.

And the audience is there for it, which is, which is great. And I’ve, I’ve, I mean, Hey, the first show I saw of his was the Herring of Grimstone and Gritty. And, and, uh, my friend and I ended up, he had in his contraption stage thing, it was sort of like a bar slash area.

There were two seats on either side and apparently we were sassing him too much during his pre-show. And he put us in those two seats on either side, which meant that like, we were, when he did magic, it was like closeup magic. Oh my God.

And it was like, just, I thought, oh, well the show’s ruined now because we’re so close, but it was not, it was an incredible experience to, so anybody who’s going to an Eldritch show, if you see Eric out there, sass him, he might put you really close. Just saying, just saying he probably will not appreciate that, but sass him. Um, is there, I mean, you’ve having read the script, but really sort of, um, not having been involved in the, in the earlier workshop and just sort of like just trying to imagine how this is all going to come together.

Is there something that you are completely excited or terrified to do in this show? Uh, the whole thing just seems like magic to me. Like I, I honestly, I I’m excited to do all of it. I’m excited to see the spaceship crash.

I’m excited to see the ray guns, you know, I’m excited to have my head spin around and like all these things that I’m just like, I have no idea how any of this is going to happen. And it’s, I’ve talked to Dylan, our director a few times about, you know, the, the things that he wants to go for in the story. Like he wants to be really anchored and honest and committed.

Um, so we’ve had like those kinds of actor director kind of conversations. Um, but even talking to Dylan, he’s like, yeah, most of my discovery of like what the design is, is through following Mel on our Instagram. Like, you know, I’ll ask questions and then, you know, the best way to see it is just on Instagram.

And so I think, I think it’s going to be really collabourative and, and, um, yeah, I just think the whole thing is going to be magic. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s the design elements in an Eldridge show are always pretty fascinating.

And, um, because suddenly there are these puppets that just sort of appear and, um, you don’t know what they are. And like you said, there’s some, a lot of phallic things in there and, and there’s, uh, monsters and aliens and spaceships and yeah, which is like the, to do that, to do genre like that in live theatre is a pretty, pretty rare thing. So yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Cause usually it’s just the small living room stories that we really obsess over.

Yeah. I’m kind of tired of living rooms, you know, I walk into a theatre and there’s like a couch and a thing. And I’m like, oh, for fuck’s sake, you know, it’s rare that I see that.

And then I walk out going like, that was a show that I’ve never seen before. It’s happened once or twice, but like, you know, to walk in and not know what’s going to happen or not know where it’s set is like a gift. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, so you’re excited for all that. What scares you about it? I don’t know.

I don’t, I don’t usually go into shows scared about things. Um, yeah, I actually, when I did one of my first musicals in Winnipeg, um, someone asked me that in an interview and I was like, I, you know, because I hadn’t done a lot of musicals in Winnipeg, no one really knew I could sing. And so it was like this coming out and he was like, really worried about the singing.

And I was like, well, no. And just sort of kept harping on. So what, what do you think is going to be the hardest thing? What do you think is going to be the most challenging? And, and I, I’ve always just sort of gone into things being like, yes.

And there’s nothing that worries me. Like I, I trust the people that I’m working with. Um, and, and I’m, I’m, yeah, I’m just totally open.

I’m not scared about anything. I’m just excited. That’s good.

I’m often scared before I start a thing. Well, on the first day I’m always like, I don’t, I don’t deserve to have this job. I’m a fraud.

I tend to be like, I don’t even know if I can do this, but I think the times that I’ve been the most scared going in are the times when it’s been the most rewarding where, um, it’s been most challenging, but also the most successful because I think the fear made me work harder. If I go in, I’m like, Oh, I can do this. It’s like, you don’t quite put as much in if, if you, if, if you have all of that confidence.

Yeah. So that makes sense. That, that totally makes sense.

And I don’t know that I go in with like a, like, and I got this kind of attitude, but it’s, I’m always just like excited. I think we, a lot of us show up on the first day of rehearsal, wondering like, am I going to show up and they’re going to be like, Oh, we met somebody else. Oh, Oh, it’s you.

We were expecting, Oh, okay. We’ll see. You know, and then three days in you’re like, okay, we’re done all the talking and now it’s the acting.

Is this where they change their minds? Yeah. I’ve got away with it so far, but this is the time now we’re done with all the, we’ve had our presentation. We did a read through, we did all the talking and now it’s the acting part is now is now when they’re going to be like, no, we, we, we, we were, we need to go in a different direction.

We thought you were funnier, which is like the last thing that you ever want to hear. Yeah. Um, when you, you mentioned that your dad’s in England and your mom’s in Niagara Falls.

Did your mom, when did your mom sort of follow you from the West coast to Niagara Falls or did she? Yeah. Um, so she and her parents and moved to Victoria from England when I was five. My dad stayed there.

He’s remarried. Um, my mom never remarried and she and my grandmother stayed in Victoria. Um, and she said she would never come to Winnipeg.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Just the winters.

She just, you know, she came to visit a few times in winter. Cause that’s when you tend to do theatre. And, uh, it was just not for her.

And I totally. Well, if you are used to a BC winter, Winnipeg winter is a bit of a shock. Yeah.

Yeah. I never got used to it. No, ever.

No. Huh. It was always just like, I remember like it would snow on Easter and I would just like go back to bed and cry.

Um, so that’s one of the things I love about here is Matt, my husband, like he has trouble with the gray here because it’s always sunny in Winnipeg in the winter. Sure. Yeah.

But for me being a coastal girl, I don’t mind the gray. I just can’t be that cold. Um, yeah.

So my mom said, no, never moving to Winnipeg. And then when we moved out here about a year after she said, would you mind if I moved? I was like, Oh, please. Because you know, it’s so expensive to fly within Canada and being an only child worrying about her being and living on her own after my grandmother passed away.

And, um, you know, she has friends and everything, but it’s certainly a lot better to have her closer. And when I work at lighthouse theatre, which is in Port Dover, they do a tour to showboat, which is Port Colborne. And so in the summer, I usually end up living with her for a couple of weeks.

Yeah. Um, so your mom was, was your, your mother unwilling to do the Toronto thing or was like, is Niagara Falls more her speed? She, I don’t think she wanted to live in such a big city. Okay.

Um, we lived sort of outside of Victoria in the country. Um, and I think coming to visit me in the city more and more, she’s like, Oh, I think I could have lived here. But like she bought a $150,000.

So, you know, it’s a bit different. Um, and she’s involved in the arts there and the politics there. So she’s very busy.

What’s always funny when, when people come from, you know, I know people, they live in Barrie and their idea of going to Toronto is they go as far as Yorkdale mall. And that’s as far as, cause they’re kind of afraid of Toronto. Um, so Yorkdale, the highways there quick getaway is a mall, you know, it’s safe.

Um, and so like that’s as far as they go. Um, but when it’s what you don’t know, it’s a, it’s a frightening thing. Yeah.

And I think she expected it to be a lot less personal than, than it is. Um, but when we first moved to Toronto, we lived, um, at young and Wellesley, um, on St. Joseph street, and there’s tons of actors in the building and, you know, we would know all the people around and, um, and she was really like, Oh, you, you have a community here and now we’re more of the East end and we live on a wonderful street where we know most of our neighbours and there’s like two street barbecues a year. You know, it’s even more connected than she’s ever been in her adult life in smaller towns.

Um, when you did, we talked to briefly about you coming from Winnipeg to Toronto. Um, what did you like, you went from Victoria to Winnipeg and then coming to Toronto, what did you expect Toronto was going to be? Was there a culture shock for you from Winnipeg to Toronto or, or was it, um, Uh, not really. Cause I had visited, so I sort of knew what to expect.

I, I think, I think maybe I thought I was going to go out more than I actually do. I think people often do. It’s like, it’s like when you, when you visit, when you visit New York, I know people in New York, but when I visit New York or something, you know, the place, you know, you go out and you do things.

And then when you live there, you’re like TVs on, you know, whatever, you know, you know, you never, when you live in a place, you never quite go out as much as when you visit. Yeah. Um, but I think that that’s sort of the only thing that, yeah, I just sort of imagined myself like constantly at concerts and, you know, at the opera and this, that, and the other, but all the cultural things that we have, the opera is always sold out and a gajillion dollars.

It’s so expensive. You know? I mean, people are like, Oh, theatre is so expensive. I’m like, try the opera, you know? But, but, you know, they have a discount if you’re 25 and I’m like, excuse me, I’d like to, like, I’m still, I’m way over 25 would like to see an opera once in my life, but I can’t afford the ticket.

Like, you know, like, come on. I guess they’re, they’re sort of like, they’re trying to, trying to draw in sort of like the hip ticks that, that, uh, Tapa does that trying to draw in, get them when they’re young, you know, but also, you know what, get them, get them when they’re not as young also, because we also would like to go and see things. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, do you, do you, is there, do you know what you’re doing after space opera zero? Do you have like stuff planned for, uh, the spring, the summer, the, into the, I don’t have anything, um, until end of May when I am directing my first show. Oh, okay.

Okay. So we should talk about that. What are you, what are you directing? I’m directing, uh, do you know, Kate Lynch, um, an actor from the festivals? Um, she’s written a play called early August and it premiered at Blythe in 2012 and I’ll be directing it at lighthouse.

Nice. Yeah. How do you feel about directing for the first time? It’s terrifying.

Absolutely terrifying. I, uh, I just finished working with Marcia cash on spider’s web and, uh, just spent most of the rehearsal process going, Oh, Oh no, she knows what she’s doing. I don’t know what I’m doing.

I’m not prepared for this. Did you ever talk to her about, about the directing process or were you a little bit? Yeah. She’s, she’s so good.

And, uh, I just have to remember that she’s been doing it for 20 years. Um, well maybe not that long. Sorry if I made her older.

Um, so, you know, she’s developed a process. Um, I took the, um, Richard Rose directing course at the Tarragon earlier this spring. And, and that was a great thing to take away.

He was like, I’m just going to tell you my process. It was an incredible couple of weeks, very intense, completely overloaded my brain. Um, but he was like, you will all find your own process.

And, um, so I just started some preliminary set design discussions with my designer, which is exciting. But also like, I’ve already had to make a difficult decision that I’m like, I’m going to make it wrong and it’s going to affect the entire thing. But, uh, um, yeah, but I, so far I’ve, you know, I’m hoping to work with people.

I have two people on board already that, um, I trust and I adore. And, um, you know, I just need to find three more people who are, um, as open and, uh, generous as my two initial Guinea pigs. That’s, I mean, that trust is like the biggest part of the theatre process.

Right. And as a director to bring on a team, you can’t micromanage them. So you have to, there’s a lot of trust there.

They have to trust you. Everybody has to trust each other. It’s a, it’s a giant trust exercise and one bad piece can make it all fall apart.

Um, not to like put on the pressure to be like careful that everything will fall apart. Um, cause I’m sure you’re doing enough of that yourself. Um, did you ever was directing something that you thought you always wanted to do or how did this come your way? I’ve been sort of out an outside eye on other productions, like as a dialect coach or a voice coach.

Um, I worked as a Shakespeare text coach with Shakespeare in the ruins a few times. Um, and I’ve coached people for auditions and then on the war horse tour, I was the assistant puppet captain. So I got to sit out and give notes on that sort of thing.

And so doing that, I started to be like, I enjoy this and I enjoy creating moments with people in a way that you don’t necessarily get to do as an actor. Um, and then you just, you see shows that you’re like, Oh, that was terrible. And I think I could have done a better job.

And so I just sort of was like, well, I got to put my money where my mouth is instead of just complaining about all these shows that I have problems with and I have to step up and go, here’s my offering. Um, and not that I think it’s an easy job, but, um, yeah, so it’s, it’s not something that I wasn’t like a goal, like I’m going to be an actor and then move into directing. It’s just sort of been a thing that’s just been outside of my head poking at me for a while.

And I don’t even know, I don’t even know if I’m going to like it because I do enjoy being on stage so much. I can’t see myself ever just not being an actor anymore. Um, I don’t know this whole thing, like the whole next few months, you’re just going to be such an incredible learning curve.

Yeah. Well, I mean the, the whole, like, you don’t know if you’re, if it’s something you’re going to like, like the only way to know if you’re going to like it is to do it. And it’s like, that’s a, it’s a, it’s a big commitment because there’s like several weeks and there’s a lot of, a lot of stuff.

So it’s a, it’s a big, like, I wonder if I’m going to like this. I know I will devote like six months of my life to this thing to figure out if I like it. Yeah.

Um, are there like, as you’re trying to, to, to figure out what your process is, are you using the Richard Rose stuff or is it just like picking and choosing? Are you just like, you’ve, you’ve done that and now you’re, you’re going to go with your gut? Well, he, his mind works very differently from mine. He’s just like, he’s on another level. Um, and I think he’s in terms of like the design, I think he’s maybe a bit more involved.

Um, and that also could come from his years of experience too, because, you know, he was talking to us about working on the design for the message, the Marshall McLuhan show that he’s directing and, you know, he was reading the script and he just kept seeing this vortex. And so he really went into the design meetings with that as something he was going to bring to the forefront. Um, so, so far my process has been different because I’m doing a much less conceptual play.

Um, but, uh, and I’m also, I don’t think I see space the way he does yet that I’m not as comfortable picturing it. And so I think at least as being my first time out relying on my designer a lot more and his many years of experience, um, it’s Bill Chesney. Um, he designed a comet in Moominland.

I don’t know if you know that show, but it’s a kid’s show about this, these Moomins and that it takes place in a tent and the children sit in the middle of the tent and the show happens on tables as the, the Moomins journey around the children. It’s just magic. It’s absolute magic.

And he’s designed a bunch of Port Dover, um, and he’s so great. And so I’m really relying on him because he knows the space so well. Um, and he knows what works on stage and what doesn’t.

And, um, also I’ve asked him to help me become an effective communicator with a designer because that’s a whole different skill to use. So, um, so that part’s very different from Richard’s thing. But one thing that he did say was like, the first time you read a script, write down the central image that is clear for you.

And that was a really great way to approach a play and just say like, what part of this does it speak to me? Awesome. And that, that opens in, uh, in, I think it’s June 14th, uh, in, in Port Dover. And you like start diving in, you said May? Yeah.

May 20th. Okay. Well, we’re basically at the end of our time.

So thank you so much for doing this. It was so fun to talk to you. Awesome.

Thank you. This has been a Homebody Productions production.