LETTER TWO by Tony Nardi
August 27, 2009
Brett Hooton
Hour.ca
Distinguished Canadian actor Tony Nardi gets theatrically controversial once more with his Letter Two
My first mistake was asking Tony Nardi what audiences could expect from Letter Two. The question lands with a thud, and the acclaimed actor begins sputtering like an engine with the choke on. After a few false starts, he lets me have it.
"People obviously have a hard time understanding what performance is," he snaps. "And that's not singling you out. You're one of thousands who, before they enter a space, need to know what this is about, how it's being presented. That goes to the core of what the letters are."
Nardi will present the second of his three infamous "letters" at Espace Libre at the end of this month. As I was harshly reminded, these are not plays. Instead, Nardi arrives around the same time as his audience, flips open his laptop and begins reading his cutting analysis of the current condition of English Canadian theatre. Letter Two, specifically, responds to the country's damaging misconceptions about the Italian theatrical form of commedia dell'arte.
Not sure if you can stomach Nardi's stripped-down approach? Don't despair.
"You can walk out of anything," he says. "Life's too precious. You don't have to sit and watch anything you don't like. In fact, that's one of the criteria of the letters. I encourage people, if they don't want to stay, to leave."
Critics may be woefully ignorant and some audiences could pass for apathetic sheep, but Nardi reserves a special circle of cultural hell for his fellow actors and directors. Since Letter One, which inspired some dialogue, the theatrical community has gone frustratingly silent.
"The letters were a reaction to the coma state of theatrical undertakings in this country," he explains. And the ongoing lack of engagement only confirms his assessment.
My second interview blunder comes when I inquire whether the letters have led Nardi to any solutions for the systemic problems he has identified. He responds with another invective, this time against society's need for neat-and-tidy answers.
"I think part of the problem is that people want to see solutions to the extent that they have a hard time living the question. Not asking the question means that people would rather bypass its validity to get to the bottom line. But, by catching yourself midstream, you're keeping the question alive. Somewhere in there, I wouldn't say is a solution, but it's definitely a better place to deal with anything."
Letter Two
At Espace Libre (1945 Fullum)
Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, 4 and 5, at 7 p.m.
