| Saturday, November 24, 2007 |
| Outrageous fortune |
Now I know how all those Harry Potter uberfans felt when they finished Book 7: Joe and I have reached the conclusion of "Slings & Arrows," a Canadian TV show we've been watching on DVD. There were only 18 episodes made, comprising three seasons. The program is centered around a southern Ontario Shakespeare festival that might remind theater buffs of Stratford (which I attended once on a high school class trip); we get to know the actors, directors and behind-the-scenes people, who are all neurotic in their own ways. The main character is Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), the festival's artistic director, who is a bit mad -- he inherited the position from the late Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), a man with whom he had a long and complicated history, and frequently sees (and argues with) Oliver's ghost. Then there's Geoffrey's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Ellen Fanshaw (Martha Burns), a 40something actress who has devoted her life to the Shakespeare festival at the expense of her bank account; Richard Smith-Jones (Kid in the Hall Mark McKinney), the "bean counter" charged with making sure the fest turns a profit, and appeasing corporate sponsors; Anna Conroy (Susan Coyne), Richard's long-suffering assistant; and many more. I know these people are fictional, but, well, they became so real to me!
Each season of "Slings" is centered around a different Shakespeare tragedy. In Season 1, Geoffrey stages "Hamlet" with a Keanu Reeves-like screen heartthrob in the title role; Season 2 is about "Macbeth," and while Geoffrey is struggling with the cursed play, Richard hires a ridiculously cutting-edge ad agency called Froghammer to "rebrand" the festival; and Season 3 features "King Lear" with a onetime mentor of Geoffrey's in the lead -- but he's so old and frail, will he survive 'til opening night? The show manages to be both hilarious and poignant, and is as well-acted as you'd expect from a program featuring loads of real-life Stratford Festival veterans, along with bright young Canadian stars like Sarah Polley and Rachel McAdams.
Because "Slings" aired on a niche cable channel in the U.S. (Sundance), a lot of people haven't even heard of it, but those who have seen it tend to adore it -- the New York Times called the show "charming and complex and lovely," and it swept the Canadian Gemini Awards (their equivalent to the Emmys). When I mentioned it to my book club, no one knew what it was except one other person, who, of course, said she loved it. It's available from Netflix, and if you want to enjoy several hours of great entertainment, it's worth adding to your queue. |
posted by 125records @ 10:46 PM  |
|
| 1 Comments: |
-
That sounds like a great show. I'll keep my eye out for it at the library.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
| About Me |
Name: Sue
Home: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
About Me:
See my complete profile
|
| Previous Post |
|
| Archives |
|
| Links |
|
|
| Powered by |
|
|
That sounds like a great show. I'll keep my eye out for it at the library.