“Hamilton” in Vancouver

Reviews

I was lucky enough to see the touring production Hamilton on Friday, June 10. I originally tweeted this out as a big thread, but I decided to repost it here for ease of reading. Some minor spoilers ahead!

The technical elements were spot on. Music, stage, choreography were all excellent. It didn’t feel like a “lesser” rendition of the Broadway recording by any means. The stage at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre might have been a bit smaller than Richard Rogers, but all the stage elements were still there, including the rolling staircase and the ever stunning rotating floor. Seeing it in person really showed the cleverness of the stage design, including the seemingly hidden stairways to allow the players to move off stage to “reappear” in the balcony. The “turntable” floor was just brilliant. Massive kudos to all the cast for making it look effortless. Dancing between to rotating plates like that was incredible.

The lighting was really effective. There was one small miscue with the chair placement for “Dear Theodosia”, which lead the spotlights to being a bit asymmetrical, but that’s such a minor detail. The sound engineering was great. Vocals were clear and easy to hear, with one or two exceptions (although it was likely just me trying to capture everything at once!)

On to the cast! Vancouver has the And Peggy Tour. I’m not going to be comparing the cast performances against the original cast (that’s not fair to anybody), but instead discussing how the characters were played and how it shifted my perception of them. I appreciated that the performers clearly had the freedom to approach the characters in their own way. Paris Nix, for example, wasn’t “playing” Daveed Diggs; he played his own Lafayette and Jefferson. More on that performance later!

There were only three cast substitutions. Alex Dreschke was in for Jacob Burns as the simpering Samuel Seabury and in the ensemble, Jordona Grolnick was in for Hayley Dorling (ensemble), and Milika Cherée played Eliza Hamilton. On Eliza, I overheard another attendee saying that depending on the performer, we were either going to get the sad or angry version. Cherée brought an excellent indignation to the role. You could really feel the frustration and betrayal she felt for always being left helpless by Alexander, especially in “Burn.”

Julius Thomas III’s Alexander Hamilton was youthful and energetic. He skewed more singer than rapper with the character compared to Lin-Manuel Miranda. That exuberance really reminds you of just how out of his depth Alexander is at times—brilliant, but still a newcomer shaking the system.

Donald Webber Jr. was, just as the role is meant to be, show-stealing as Aaron Burr. Incredibly powerful voice, and an absolute presence on the stage. I wish I could have been closer to the stage in order to see his facial cues—but I’m sure they were brilliant.

I was struck by the deep bass of Darnell Abraham, who played George Washington. His voice must have been two octaves lower than Christopher Jackson. Abraham’s timbre brought a different authority, giving the character an almost mythic stature, which is how I think he’s often depicted in other media.

Paris Nix and Rick Negron both played up the respective accents of Lafayette and King George III, so the characters both felt more comical. It didn’t quite leave as much of a psychopathic impression for George, but worked really well for his role as a tension breaker. Nix’s Jefferson also felt more comedic. It gave a much more villainous air to his antagonist role. A Disney villian, almost. This version was less sympathetic when the character does (occasionally) have some good points, but it made Alexander feel even more like “our” guy.

Brandon Louis Armstrong was excellent as Hercules Mulligan/Jame Madison. While perhaps not as gregarious and feisty as Okieriete Onaodowan’s Mulligan, Armstrong’s version left me wanting even more of the character. Armstrong’s Madison felt like more of a toady to Jefferson, rather than a peer. I think this amplified the villainous feeling of the latter too.

Andy Tofa managed to make John Laurens even more reverent towards Alexander. This Laurens felt a bit more of Alexander’s junior, rather than an admiring equal. A bit more like a little brother instead of a best friend with unresolved romantic tension. This youthfulness also extended to Tofa’s Philip Hamilton, although maybe the height difference between Tofa and Julius Thomas III and my own distance from the stage made it easier to see an adult as a nine-year-old in “Take A Break.” (The show also confirmed to me that I should get my eyes checked and may start needing glasses soon, but that’s beside the point.)

The last half of “Blow Us All Away” and “It’s Quiet Uptown” absolutely destroyed me. The feeling of loss, shame and guilt for the death of a being you’ve raised, and that loved and trusted you, was devastating in light of losing Ringo. Tears saturated my mask, and it was all I could do to not audibly weep. It really speaks to what an amazing writer Lin-Manuel is. They’ve always been heart-wrenching songs, but for pieces I’ve listened to dozens of times to still be able to create new emotional connections shows their power. Oof, Lin.

It was an altogether brilliant show. It was moving, and I’d definitely go back to see it again if I had the opportunity. It was also a great reminder to write like I’m running out of time. Huge thank you to all involved!

Thoughts about the death of Patrick Lane

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Photo by Chris Hancock Donaldson

I just found out that Patrick Lane, one of my favourite poets, died earlier today. Patrick was a huge part of why I began pursuing and writing poetry earnestly. I was privileged to meet Patrick a number of times at readings and events, but the most meaningful was when my teacher Susan Stenson brought him in as a guest speaker to my high school creative writing class. Of the poems he read, one remains fixed in my mind: “Because I never learned.” It struck me—not just like being struck by an idea, but forcibly bouldered into my sternum—the reaction was physical. I had never encountered a poem like that. There was precision, like an exacto knife leaving a perfect cross-section. There was honesty there just barely at the lip of overwhelming. There was vulnerability that I didn’t know I could, as a man, be allowed to show.

I’ve spent most of my life since that visit pursuing poetry. After graduating high school I wrote feverishly, challenging myself to write fifty poems in the six months I was in Ottawa—one of those poems, eventually titled “Thanksgiving Feast” would go on to be my first major publication in subTerrain. Thinking of that poem now, I can see the lines tracing back to Patrick—precision, honesty, vulnerability. I focussed most of my BFA studying poetry, and as much I learned from all the writers around me, I think in many ways my poetry has come to strive even more than ever for those qualities. I’m now in the first year of MFA, having just submitted a proposal for what I hope to be my first poetry collection. I honestly don’t think I’d be where I am if it wasn’t for Patrick sitting at the front of that room eight and a half years ago. Maybe I’d have gone on thinking I was going to write fiction, or maybe I would have dropped out of university after two years of Poli Sci.

Biographically speaking, Patrick had a hard life. He was open about his trauma and later substance abuse. I think it’s also important to acknowledge that he did a lot of harm too, in his early life but his middle years too. Having met some of his children, I know it was not an easy go for them. And he was definitely a part of CanLit’s old guard. When certain lines were drawn, I can’t say I was on the same side as him. Our heroes are never perfect. I loved the poet, but it wouldn’t be fair to anyone to idolize the man.

When I first spoke one-on-one to Patrick, after Planet Earth Poetry at what was then the Black Stilt in 2011, I thanked him then for coming to our class. He asked me how old I was (18), and told me he was the same age when he started writing poetry. The last time I met him, just over a year ago, was at his book launch for “Deep River Night.” He asked me if I was a writer, because I mentioned my admiration for the tenderness and compassion with which he wrote the characters. I told him I was, and that it was his visit to my classroom that made me start writing poetry. He told me I should come write with him at one of the retreats was involved with, and I wholly regret not following up on that, although I think the fear of him rejecting my work was a big factor (again, it’s hard to meet your heroes). But both times I walked away thinking, “this matters. Poetry matters. It matters that I’m doing it.” He had the ability to impress that upon you even if it felt like the rest of the world disagreed.

Thank you, Patrick, for your work, your teaching, and the inspiration you left many of us.

 

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Pre, Post and Everywhere in Between: Working on Knot For Sale

Film

As I have mentioned in an earlier blog post, I had the opportunity this fall to be the assistant director for Knot For Sale, which is the latest project from UVic’s Writing 420 filmmaking class. I was also lucky enough to be given the reins to co-direct the 2nd unit of Knot for Sale, along with Rylan Gladson (with whom I worked to create Trust.) Either of these roles could have been totally overwhelming alone. I was involved in pre-production, first-in-last-out on set, literally ran from set location to set location, and I’m editing the “flat” version of the film. Unable to really ever push the pause button, I was in the exact role I needed to be in.

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Why Accessibility Moves VR Past Being a Gimmick

Film

I recently had the amazing opportunity to be the assistant director for a short 360˚ film titled Knot For Sale through the Writing 420 filmmaking class at the University of Victoria. A 360˚ film is made with a series of cameras that capture all angles around a single point, and is then viewed using a virtual reality headset.

A question the class was posed on the first day was whether virtual reality is a “a gimmick or game-changer.” Go search those terms and you’ll find dozens of articles asking the exact same question. That phrase pops up perennially whenever some new tech bursts onto the scene. Remember when 3D TVs and curved screens were going to become the fixture of every home? And then they weren’t. Google Glass has mostly met a similar, whimpering fate.

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Rise of the Postcard

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Recently, a class at UVic has had me writing a lot of flash fiction stories. What I’ve discovered, is that I’m far more potent when writing postcard stories over a three to six thousand word story.

While the word count seems to vary from place to place, postcard stories generally fit on one or two pages. It makes for a hefty limitation. Trying to explore a character’s mindset without being explicit can take pages of work, and even a spare description could eat up one’s entire word limit. Such a limitation demands concision, density of language, and a plot that leaves a large space for the reader to ponder.

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Review: That Night We Were Ravenous, by John Steffler

Reviews

2209993John Steffler’s fourth book of poetry, That Night We Were Ravenous, stands as an excellent example of Steffler’s poetic style. At times comical, and others deeply contemplative (usually a mix of the two), That Night We Were Ravenous often focuses on themes of location, both their natural aspect and the human elements of their constructed identities (perhaps best shown in opposition in the title poem).

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Ideafest 2013: Games without Frontiers

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The introduction for Games Without Frontiers showcased the capacity of video games to create positive social change. There were four development groups, not including UVic’s David Leach (Director of the Professional Writing and the Technology & Society Minors), presenting to the audience of about forty. The first presenters created the game Tatulut te Tumuhw: Learning the Land Treaty, which recreates at process of land treaty negotiations in the traditional Hul’qumi’num land (Cowichan–Chemainus). The purpose of Tatulut te Tumuhw is to educate the audience on the cultural sensitivity, as well as the complexities, of land treaty negotiations, as well as teaching the Hul’qumi’num culture and history to settler and indigenous peoples alike.

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