by Tony Nardi


LETTER ONE

 

With Tony Nardi

(Film Version in English)

Saturday June 30, 2012 at 12:30pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 3

Screening will be followed by a debate/panel with Nick Mancuso, writer Jim Purdy, director Jerry Ciccoritti, screenwriter Frank Borg, and Tony Nardi, moderated by Laura D'Aprile.

 

At Montreal fest, a Dragonfly and Tony Nardi return
Festival TransAmériques
by J. Kelly Nestruck

June 6, 2010

Tony Nardi, a Dora- and Genie-winning actor born in Calabria and raised in Montreal, wants to blow up English-Canadian theatre as well. Also presented as part of the FTA, … And Counting (Letter Three) is his suicide bombing of “the amateur theatre we call professional” that “patronizes patrons.” In it, Nardi compares the health of Canadian culture in general to a person who has been buried alive and is eating parts of himself while awaiting a rescue that might never come.

Nardi has previously espoused a similarly cheery outlook in two previous Letters, the first of which he wrote after being offered an insulting Italian-Canadian role on a TV series, the second being a rant against a commedia dell’arte production he loathed and two Toronto critics (including one from The Globe and Mail) who praised it.

… And Counting (Letter Three) is a post-mortem of sorts, inspired by his frustration trying to get funding for the first two letters. In a rant full of literary allusions and profanity that he reads off a laptop in a volcanic, near-violent performance, the gifted actor asks many provocative questions. Is it better to be an artist in Canada or to work for an arts council? Are the most successful artists in Canada really the most successful grant writers? Are the skills required to write a good grant application actually the opposite of what you need to be a good artist?

Nardi raises important points, then buries them in bile. Everyone he encounters in the “letter” – journalists, bureaucrats, artists who work within the system, community leaders, audience members – are painted as ignorant, self-serving, mealy-mouthed or some combination thereof. He, on the other hand, is the only intelligent guy in this world, the only true artist.

… And Counting (Letter Three) is also often inaccurate and frequently contradictory. For example, at one point, he berates this newspaper for not covering the Genies (not true), while at the same suggesting that there is nothing at the Genies worth covering (so why should we?).

Is Nardi playing an exaggeration of himself in this rambling rant? In a Q&A afterward, he seemed calmer, more interested in discussion. If his intention is to provoke, it works – I had to restrain myself from heckling or walking out.

Ultimately, for me, this non-play completely backfired. And I doubt I’m the only one who thought, well, if the arts councils refused funding to Nardi’s self-righteous, hateful two-and-half-hour diatribe then maybe they’re not so screwed up after all.



 




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