The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 52

r-6 CIhMiciu Montreal. Monday. October 16. 1009 if -v T.O. takes it on chin from English Canada's foremost playwright 9 i J' jT 1 't mm taxi to pay the rent until Factory Theatre took him on as its first playwright in residence at $90 a week in 1971.

At 42, Walker has two daughters, one 22 years old. the other is 4. He still pays rent and drives a well-worn Subaru. Although he's been earning a decent living for several years, he says the big bucks only started to roll in when he cracked the American regional theatre market with his Nothing Sacred last year. He's still adjusting to the situation.

The play, an adaptation of Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, has bad major productions in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago and is scheduled to open in New York this season. i By PAT DONNELLY Gazettt Theatrt Critic TORONTO On one level. George F. Walker's Love and Anger ii a lany off-Broadway tyle comedy about a crooked ldyer who transforms himself via ill health and dreamt of mortality Into an idealistic crank. On another level the latest Walker play, which Just opened at Toronto's Factory Theatre, is severe Indictment of a city that as gone the way of all Boom-towns.

I Love and Anger starts out with a lengthy tirade from the newly converted legal sleaze, Pe-iie Maxwell (Peter Blais) as be sits, feet up, behind his battered desk in a basement office suitable only for rats. Maxwell, recently the victim of a stroke, has given away all his assets and cm-barked on a campaign to champion the poor. He calls It Phase II i A Agent praised "In those theatres In L.A. and San Francisco, the ticket prices run high and the payments are in American dollars," Walker notes. Walker says his American dream come true is partly the work of a good agent.

But it didn't happen overnight. "I've been getting produced In Oartllt. Piotr Andi Michelle Sweeney (front, centre) and Good Newt Singers at Church ot Immaculate Conception Friday night A ce.ebratBO&i of Mncan cullme of his life. His immediate client is a member of a visible minority, turned Gail (Dawn Roach), whose husband is up on a bum' rap. Who's to blame? The big cheese they call him Babe (Peter Blais) who runs the local "fascist rag," of course.

It seems that Babe's love of free enterprise has led him to dabble id the profits of crime. Next thing we know, Maxwell's ex-partner Sean Harris (Hardee Lineham), now married to the former Mrs. Maxwell, arrives to announce the launching of his political career. His rise has been made possible through his close association with Babe. This alliance of his worst enemies delights the combative Maxwell.

The persecution of those he sets out to aggravate justifies his paranoia. He declares war not just on his immediate opponents but everyone conspiring to make Toronto into a city for "baseball fans and real estate agents." film, music and dance. The Notre Dame de GrSce Maison de la Culture (through Nov. 27) and the Cote des Neiges Maison de la Culture (Nov. 2-27) are staging a delightful exhibition of African toys.

Parents and children alike will enjoy the simplicity and Innocence of the exhibits. Following is a schedule of other events in the Noir et Blanc series: Notr Dun Orto Mtwan 6 la Cut-hire, 1754 Botrat at (f7t-2W7)i Until Nov. 12 Voodoo Forger. ExhOI-Hon ol sculpture Is an introduction to Haitian art and voodoo culture. Wednesday, 8 p.m.

From Africa to tha Americas. Soprano Nicole Ducnemln and baritone Gilles Latour will be Joined by a choir for excerpts from Porgy and Bas and the musical comedy Show Boat. Oct. 26. 6 p.m.

Bert Bolden. A native of Trinidad, this master of the steel drum will perform Latin-tinged calypso-jazz. Nov. 2 p.m. Cnquat.

Musical comedy retraces trie evolution of black American music. It was first presented at me ninth Montreal International Jazz Festival. Nov. 12. 2 p.m.

Tarn Tarn Dante. Troupe of seven gifted dancers specializes African, West Indian and Afro-contemporary movement. Dec 6-8, 8 p.m. Black Theatre Workshop A Christina at Carol' ia humorous but critical look at the festive season within the framework of a black reality. Cote dee Netgea Maison de la Culture, S2S0 Cole dM Nelgea Rd.

(S72-68M): Oct. 24, 8 p.m. Lorraine Klaasen. It's interpretations of five Negro spirituals and last to perform was Michelle Sweeney and The Good News Singers of Montreal, directed by Alan Prater. The gospel hymns were spectacular vehicles for Sweeney's forceful singing.

From now until January, the city's various Maisons de la Culture will play host the remaining Noir et Blanc special events. Montreal opened its first Maison de la Culture in 1981. Jean Paquin, special projects co-ordinator with the city's Department of Leisure and Community Development, says Montreal is the only city in North America to offer venues for exhibitions and shows on such a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. The city has organized its multi-disciplinary series Noir et Blanc in collaboration with community groups and artists, he said. "In Montreal there are a lot of African groups and the African influence is everywhere.

Noir et Blanc is a homage to the African heritage in art and at the same time it acknowledges our local talent." The series includes photographic exhibitions, art exhibits, theatre, somehow appropriate that South African-bom Klaasen, who Sings many languages and has been compared to Miriam Makeoa, should perform on United Nations Day. Nov. 1.8pm Imperial Force. Sm-pieoa reggae band drew rave reviews al Wis year Flythme du Monoe festival. Dec.

5. 8 m. Anoosh. Led by Arme-nlan-bom Ftntfy. this wortdbeal group fuses the sounds of many cultures, introducing elements of the Middle East, Latin music and Western rock and funk.

La Petite Patrie Melton de la Culture, 6707 de Lorimier Ave. (S7Z-173I)): Oct. 24, 7 m. La CittOelle. Algerian fHm made in 1988 and directed by Mohamed Chowk ia the story of Kaddour, who falls In -love with a shoemaker wile and becomes -danger to the entire village.

Nov. 6. 7 p.m. La Vie Est Bella. Benott Lamy directs true Zairean Mm based on story by Ngangura Mweze, starring Maryse Leon and Benoit Lamy, with Papa Wemba and Bib) Krubwa.

Nov. 10, 8 p.m. Tsm Tam Danse. Dec. 6, 8 p.m.

La Fromager Ensorcell. This theatre piece starring percussionist Franane Manel and performers Catherine Guisse and Claude Moise is the story ol Alnca and the West Indes in song, dance and spo- ken word. Dec. 12, 7 p.m. Niger.

Jeune Papubllqua. This 58-minute film was created by the late Claude Jutra in 1960. Dec. 8-Jan. 14 Fascmante et Multiple Atrique.

Thia photographic exhibition includes the work of Claude Jutra, Samir Saddi and -Yves and Andree Prevost. Marte-Uguay Maison de la Culture, 6052 Monk Blvd. (673-204): Nov. 10, 8 p.m. Imperial Force.

By DANIEL FEIST Special to The Gazette Noir et Blanc, a series of special events celebrating African culture in North America, took a heavenly turn Friday night at Montreal's Church of the Immaculate Conception. The pews were full as about 1,000 Montrealers, young and old, took in the city's Negro Gospel Happening, an evening of traditional spirituals. The 102-year-old church was an inspiring and tranquil setting and the singers responded with a wonderful concert First to perform were les Petits Chanteurs de Laval directed by the choir's soloist Gregory Charles. Traditional renderings of songs like Go Tell it on the Mountain and Ain't Got Time to Die reaffirmed the simple beauty of a cappella. The program also included performances by baritone Claudel Al-lender, accompanied by Charles on piano, and les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, directed by Gilbert Pa-tenaude.

Following a brief intermission, Montreal vocal ensemble The Reminders jazzed things up with their the States for 10 years," he says. "There's a theatre in Seattle that bas been doing my plays for years. Americans don't think of me as a foreign playwright They think of me as an American playwright who just doesn't live there." He says his Zostrozzi, which has had over 40 productions in the English-speaking world, is his second most profitable play. "Until Nothing Sacred, it was the closest thing I bad to a pension." His Beyond Mozambique, Theatre of the Film Noir and Criminals in Love have been translated into German and French. A French production of Criminals in Love was presented in Montreal last year at Theatre Denise Pelletier.

Walker's works have yet to be seen in Montreal in English. As Walker tells it, there's no chance of him following the typical American playwright's path into film. "I've never thought of theatre as a stepping stone to the movie business. It's a separate thing." Asked if he thought Canadian theatre was undergoing a renaissance or a depression, Walker re Verbal slugging match Maxwell's only allies are his faithful but otherwise sensible secretary Eleanor (Clare Coulter) and her schizophrenic sister Sarah (Nancy Beatty). Sarah is an articulate flake who suffers from the delusion that she's black.

Love and Anger is a verbal slugging match that explodes like a farce into a circus of hysterical behavior, yet ends on a tragic note: The cast is superb. Blais has the toughest part as Walker hands him the lion's share of the play's rhetoric. Beatty is exceptionally good as the crazy lady who makes the sane people look Wits; -As a director. Walker demon Trio true to traditional chamber-music virtues Concerto BWV 1052. It was lumi- ated impressively with Feltsman in nous enough in tone and crisp enough the dirgelike final bars of the Ada- in articulation to silence purist res- gio, although this movement also re- ervations over the anachronistic use vealed a gap in pitch between the so- of a concert grand.

Turovsky cooper- lo instrument and the orchestra. Beaux Art Trie In concert at Pollack Hall, yesterday. Presented by the Ladies' Morning Musical Club. Trio In Flat, Hob. Haydn Trio In A Minor Ravel Trio In Flat Major, Op.

99 Schubert plied, I think it teeters on both, always. It's never secure enough to think anything about what state it's in." His working methods? He says he has none. "I let it stew for a long time before I actually get down to the writing." Then, when he writes, he writes fast. The first draft of Love and Anger took him eight days. His speed record was 2 days for Sack-town Rag back in his early days at Factory Theatre.

He says Love and Anger represents no great departure from his other works, only it's "a bit angrier." "You put your profound anxiety on the stage and see if you share it with the audience. That's where comedy comes from from shared anxiety." "fJ? win it" By ARTHUR KAPTAINIS Gazetta Music Critic The Beaux Arts Trio has come to symbolize a number of traditional chamber-musicianly virtues, tonal polish and balanced internal conversation high among them. Both qualities were apparent yesterday in Pollack Hall, where the famous piano trio opened the Ladies' Morning Musical Club season. But the threesome's dominant message remains earthy affection for the standard chestnuts they have played for years. In their fast movements there was freshness and ebullience, in their slow movements compassionate warmth that sometimes bordered on schmaltz.

An academic might have censured a few of their insights as bourgeois, but the style had an enormously winning effect on the sold-out house. The longest work on the program was Schubert's tuneful Piano Trio Op. 99, reportedly played from a new scholarly edition. The outer movements ambled ahead with an appropriately youthful gait. It was characteristic that the Beaux Arts players slowed up indulgently for the Landlerlike trio section of the Scherzo.

The slow movement also was daringly broad, although the forward motion was steady. Cellist Peter Wiley played the great second subject of the opening movement nobly and violinist Isidore Cohen, if often wide of the mark in terms of intonation, obliged listeners with his silky tone and affectionate style. Menahem Pressler made Schubert's treble-heavy piano part sparkle without bullying the ensemble. ORROW 30 p.m. strates a keen appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of his own play, although several passages could use some objective editing.

He keeps the pace brisk, the tension high and the punch lies punching. The man sitting on the garage-sale sofa in the lounge of Toronto's Factory Theatre doesn't fit the image of being Canada's top English-language playwright. The winner of two Governor General's Awards and four Chalmer's Awards wears a beard, a battered felt hat and an old khaki jacket. George F. Walker actually gives the impression of being shy.

He speaks quickly and softly as though he's on the lam. He earns over six figures, he says, adding that it only helps to offset 15 years of accumulated debt. Ask him about his career and he tells you, "I don't have a career. I just write plays. You just do your work.

Sometimes they give you awards, sometimes they ask you to leave town." i Born and raised in Toronto, Walker bypassed college and went straight into marriage at 18, fatherhood at 19. He drove I Jji HMfMtattttaifM Hif In the first half the players addressed Ravel's Piano Trio with almost expressionistic emotional urgency. The passacaglia and the slow sequences of the opening movement were taken at a crawl and the finale was treated as an exercise in Franckian heroism. This was strong stuff a bar at a time, and I enjoyed it. But Ravel's cool logic and impeccable architecture were done less than full justice.

Haydn's Trio Hob. made a pleasant if predictable opener. Pressler attempted to lend it a dash of sophistication by spinning out its frothy decorations at subdued volumes. Nevertheless, a more aven-turesome repertoire choice would have added depth to this rather war-horsey program. Yuli Turovsky and I Musici de Montreal opened their subscription season last night at Salle Claude Champagne before an impressive cast of VIPs, including Mrs.

Robert Bourassa. The celebrity that counted, however, was Vladimir Felts-man, the Russian emigre pianist who now enjoys a full-throttle North American career. Feltsman gave a cool and masterly account of the Bach Keyboard iMij.pauwmiri,i sjhjm ion JUS JH" i 'i 4 fv I inn -1 'ii i -rf jj GEORGE WALKER Sharing profound anger Playing clarinet is an obsession, Woody Allen says We've added an Oyster Bar (fvlon. to Wed.) to our complimentary Hors d'oeuvre EYE ON ENTERTAINMENT at Happy Hour 5-7 pm Registered Trade Mai ol Cheers Management Inc. AMERICAN PUB 5th Anniversary Celebration October 16-17-18-19 Featuring Norka Image Awards.

He said the event was inadvertently left off his calendar and he didn't hear about it until he returned late last week from a trip to Hawaii. MIAMI (AP) The show goes on for pop music star Elton John after fatigue and illness forced him to cancel an appearance last week. John spent several days of rest preparing to resume his 35-concert North American tour Friday in. Miami, publicist Dione Dirito said. The veteran British rocker cancelled a performace in Tampa on Tuesday because of exhaustion and influenza.

A show rescheduled for the following night also was called off. "He's better and the tour is continuing," said Dirito. NEW YORK (AP) It's a smoke-filled nightclub, crowded with small tables covered with checkered table-clothes, when the diminutive Woody Allen appears with his beloved clarinet in hand. It's not a scene from his next movie but a weekly jazz jam session featuring the Oscar-winning For the past 18 years, Allen has appeared regularly on Monday nights at Michael's Pup in Manhattan play such New Orleans tunes as In the Shade of the Old Apple Trea AHeg says he is grateful for the influence music has had on his life. "It's the best life I can think of if you're a really talented musician because communication in music is so emotional in every way," Allen said in the Oct.

23 issue of Time maga- The Cheers "Library-is available for all types ot Private Functions. HAPPY se? HOUR zine. Playing and practising the clarinet is an obsession, he says. Allen missed the 1978 Academy Awards in which he won an Oscar for the movie Annie Hall so he could make his weekly gig. SIMI VALLEY, Calif.

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