Meghan Gardiner is both a performer and a talented playwright. Her one woman show Dissolve continues to tour after eleven years (currently starring Emmelia Gordon), and right now she is writing new plays for both the Solo Collective and Shameless Hussy Productions. In 2012 she won the Sydney Risk Award for emerging playwright at the Jessie Awards. She makes her Firehall debut as Penelope Pennywise, the bathroom gatekeeper.
What is Urinetown?
Urinetown is our punishment for being greedy… But we don’t realize it until it’s too late.
Tell us about your character
Pennywise has seen better days… She is an employee of Urine Good Company but due to some questionable behaviour, was given the lowest job on the totem pole: the gatekeeper of public amenity number nine. I think Penny is a romantic at heart and had moments of optimism in her life, but times got hard and cash got tight. So now the toilet is definitely half empty…
What is your secret superpower?
Writing blog entries in my sleep. I continually wake up amazed.
When I’m rich and famous I’ll….
Buy empty warehouses, barns etc and turn them into state of the art theatres. Then I’ll charge companies one dollar to rent them for their productions. I’ll also donate as many millions as I can to women’s shelters and organizations that combat cruelty to animals.
What is your favourite expression for going to the toilet?
First let me say that I don’t use this expression, my husband does. And I don’t know if it’s my favourite because it’s kind of… well… gross, but I hear it a lot. And so without further adieu “Drop the kids off at the pool”. Oh and I also hear “see a man about a horse” a lot, and between you and I and the interweb, I don’t really get it.
Capitalism, socialism, totalitarianism, activism, realism, postmodernism. Choose an –ism and tell us why. Well I really want to say VEGANISM, but then I don’t want to get into a debate or sound preachy, so I won’t use VEGANISM, I’ll find something other than VEGANISM to say. Hmm… thinking…
What is the biggest environmental challenge we as Canadians face? I think perhaps acknowledging the fact that we have huge environmental challenges to overcome….
You can find Meghan on twitter @Meghan_Gardiner and on stage at the Firehall from November 1 – 29 in Urinetown: The Musical. Click here for more info and details on tickets.
Great news! Canadian comedy icon Bruce McCulloch is returning to Vancouver for the launch of his new book about his rabble-rousing ‘young punk’ days in Cowtown and growing up to be a (big) Kid in the Hall. What’s equally exciting about Brucio coming to town is that it’s led us to join forces with the wonderful folks at The Cultch. That’s right, for the first time EVER in Firehall history, we will be co-presenting a show with The Cultch at the newly re-appointed York Theatre in East Van on October 27.
You may know Vancouver actor Emmelia Gordon for her role in Meghan Gardiner’s one woman show Dissolve or from her Fringe Fest show The Progressive Polygamists. But she is soon to become known as the unlikely MP who accidentally won the riding Cormier-Lac Poule, Jisbella Lyth. Just like the character she plays in Michael Healey’s PROUD, Gordon has some strong views on politics. We talk to her about playing politics, women in power and what she really thinks about Stephen Harper.
I met John Hirsch in Winnipeg when he was a student at the University of Manitoba, first as an undergraduate and then as a student for the M.A. in English. Later he involved me in plays he directed, first in a small roll in AN ITALIAN STRAW HAT at Theatre 77, which was evolving from the Winnipeg Little Theatre on the way to becoming the Manitoba Theatre Centre. After that he directed VOLPONE and devised a role for me and another person as two beggars who on stage throughout the play were observers of the decadent world of Ben Johnson’s play. We had no lines. At the end as the lights went down we were digging around in the filth the play suggested. Both experiences, that is watching him direct and explain the meaning of the plays, helped me in teaching French Literature at the University. It was so rewarding to rehearse, see a play take shape, and then watch the performance from the wings, such a different experience from watching a play, suspending disbelief as part of an audience. I also had a small part in OUR TOWN that he directed at Rainbow Stage in Kildonan Park. John and I were friends and I often was invited to Sunday dinner at the Shacks, the family that took him in when he arrived in Canada after World War II, with whom he lived as long as he was in Winnipeg. In 1963 I moved on to the University of Western Ontario and John was in and out of nearby Stratford. I saw him often. On two occasions I remember being at the home of the Director of the Stratford Festival, which he had become, after performances with members of my family The atmosphere was warm, the discussion lively. Once he turned up at our home in London, Ontario with the actress Frances Hyland, and they spent the evening. Once in Stratford in informed me that Air Canada was having a seat sale and told me I should take advantage of it and visit Winnipeg. I could stay in his room at the Shacks’, which I did. I saw for my self the heritage John Hirsch had left and the fruition of the professional Manitoba Theatre Centre. Of course he had left a heritage that went far beyond the Winnipeg we had known.