Behind the scenes with Graham McKelvie

With one week left in the run of The Four Horsemen Project at Soulpepper Theatre, we touched base with the fabulous Graham McKelvie, one of our Four Horsemen performers. We wanted to see what it was like to prepare for this insanely demanding role. 

Did you know anything about the Four Horsemen poets before beginning to work on The Four Horsemen Project?

GM: No, I knew nothing of the Four Horsemen before the project. What an interesting and pleasant surprise it was for me!

What was the very first rehearsal like? 

GM: The very first rehearsal we started working on "Allegro 108" and I thought I was going to go insane and pulled big diva moments where I was all "I NEED A BREAK CUZ I'M GOING CRAZY!!!" ...... lol.... the work of the Four Horsemen is often not easy to learn as it purposefully deconstructs syntax. The journey was bewildering but really engaging.

When Ross called you to say he was remounting the show, what was your initial reaction?

GM: Of course I was quite filled with joy when presented with the possibility of a remount. It's a great time for a performer to go nuts in a way one rarely gets. And the piece is by now such a familiar thing, that it's like reconnecting with an old friend.

What did you do to prepare for this remount?

GM: Initially I freaked out when I thought of preparing for the remount, but then I realized it was all still there in my brain and body and not too far from the surface. Funny thing how a brain works.

What’s your favourite “pome” in the show?

GM: My fav pome is probably, Aleph Beth. It's a lovely play on words, and the recycling of them. But in addition it is dramatically layered in a way. At one glance, it is like a serious instructional told to listeners. And on the other hand it's almost like a soliloquy, the thoughts inside the head of someone who has thought long and hard on the subject matter,  the nature of poetry always dancing around him, which is what is happening choreographically.

Be sure to ride with Graham and our other three incredible horsemen in The Four Horsemen Project playing at Soulpepper before it closes on November 22. For tickets, purchase here.

Riding with The Four Horsemen Project

The Four Horsemen Project at Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre, is underway. Woohoo! For those of you who know only a weeeeeee bit about  The Four Horsemen Project, hopefully this will help.

The Four Horsemen Project is based on poetry from Toronto's original Four Horsemen poets, Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery and bpNichol back in the 70's. To get a taste of their work, check out this video below. It is absolutely unlike anything you've ever heard before.

In 2000, Kate Alton and Ross Manson heard a recording of The Four Horsemen (you can find out about The Four Horsemen Project: Origin Story here) and decided to create a show using four dancers reciting the sound poetry of the 70's. That creation has become The Four Horsemen Project.

Naomi Skwarna of Hazlitt recently sat down with Ross Manson and Kate Alton to talk about our revival production. Read her piece "At the Bleeding Edge of Language" here. Naomi talks with Ross and Kate about how The Four Horsemen recorded their poetry using charts. "They'd riff on a sound written in a certain cell. Then all four horses would move from left-to-right. "

Now that you're a sound poetry expert, be sure to join our Four Horsemen at Soulpepper Theatre, November 6 - 22. Tickets are available here.

The Four Horsemen Project: Origin Story

Today marks one month until the opening of Volcano’s The Four Horsemen Project in association with Crooked Figure Dancers and Global Mechanic Theatre, presented by Soulpepper. This incredible production was originally produced back in 2007 and here we Throw Back to ’07 to see how this show came to be.

Says Ross:

On August 5th, 2000, Stuart McLean broadcast a piece of sound poetry for four voices on CBC radio called Allegro 108. Kate and I were having a coffee together when we tuned in. We stopped talking. This was one of the most arresting, musical, and innovative arrangements of text for the human voice that we had ever heard: percussive, pitched speaking ingeniously arranged. The piece was so good, so radically different from anything we knew, that we both assumed it was: A) brand new; and B) created elsewhere. We waited to hear who these cutting edge artists were, and what country they were from. Stuart MacLean came on at the end, “Well, that’s one you won’t find anymore.” He’d been playing a thirty-year-old vinyl recording made by a group of Canadian experimental poets called the Four Horsemen.  We’d never heard of them. So we took some steps.

Cast of The Four Horsemen Project: Naoko Murakoshi,
Graham McKelvie, Andrea Nann &  Jennifer Dahl
Photo by Etai Erdal

Says Kate:

I don't know that anyone other than the poets themselves could truly do justice to this work, but my choreographic interpretations are all created in the spirit of play, admiration and tribute. I fell in love with the first piece we built, Allegro 108, the first time I heard it on the Vinyl Café. On digging deeper, the effect of the poetry has gone far beyond its initial fascination for me and has come to represent a whole world of possibility - of the imaginative creative power that humans possess, of what can happen when the verbal moves beyond the literal to the ineffable, of "the depth of vocalization which is possible", to quote bp.

The First Cast of Allegro 108: Jennifer Dahl, Naoko Murakoshi,
Andrea Nann, Michael Sean Marye.
Photo by John Lauener

This piece has been a labour of love, which means it’s been a lot of work, vastly complicated, and deeply rewarding. We thank the many inspiring and tireless individuals who have worked on this project. We thank our intrepid performers for their remarkable gifts and for making the near-impossible so much fun. In particular we thank Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery, Rafael Barreto-Rivera and Ellie Nichol, for making it so easy to ask for help and for their tremendous generosity of spirit in giving it. Finally, thanks to bpNichol, in absentia. We never knew him, and we’ll never forget him.

Check back with us regularly in October and November where every day will feel like a Throw Back Thursday to the original Four Horsemen and The Four Horsemen Project. Be sure to get your tickets today by clicking here. 

Family News

We're super lucky to have worked with so many amazing artists over the years - here's what a few of them are up to:

Our Associate Artistic Director Clare Preuss is in Zurich, Switzerland right now leading a very cool creation lab: https://www.facebook.com/events/327149137460162/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Itai Erdal, lighting designer on The Four Horsemen Project, was recently nominated for a Total Theatre Award at Edinburgh Fringe for How to Disappear Completely. If you're in Edinburgh this month, definitely check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6_fqQjgIEw

Haley McGee - who's starring in our upcoming co-pro with Tarragon, Infinity - will be opening Helen Lawrence at Canadian Stage in October. More info on their website, canadianstage.com

Reflecting on the art of play, creation, and imagination the Conservatory

It was a great week at this year's Conservatory!  An amazing lineup of courses attracted artists from Vancouver, Montreal, and even overseas, to learn from our industry's finest instructors.  All the way from Colombia, Mariana Aristizabal traveled to Canada to immerse herself in a full slate of classes at the Conservatory. After a fruitful week, Mariana shares her thoughts and takeaways from an inspiring experience...

I decided to come to the Volcano Conservatory without hesitation when Ross invited me for several reasons: I wanted to get in touch with people involved in theatre in Canada, to find about different ways of creating, and I wanted to get a sense of the people - in Toronto at least - that conceive and live theatre. 

During this week I've been able to get a touch of not only Canadian theatre, but also to learn about other people's vision of theatre, about creation, and about being an actor. 

Everyone that has taken part in this workshop has shown his or her self as a very generous person - willing to collaborate with others, ready to share experiences, ideas, and knowledge.

All of the teachers were very clear with their instructions, and committed to transmitting what they wanted us to learn.   They have shared their knowledge in the most generous way, and they remind us that theatre is the art of play, of creation, and imagination.

Thanks to Susie Burpee and Peggy Baker, I’ve come to realize that dance is much more than movement, and that movement itself has endless possibilities - maybe movement could be the starting point of a great creation.  With Sonia Norris I've come to realize that a mask needs all of our engagement when realizing an action with it.  And Stephen O’Connell got me thinking about collaboration and relationships amongst humans in order to create, leaving egos and personal desires behind and focusing only on the work. 

To finish I would like to thank you for making this possible, thanks for this wonderful experience!

Mariana Aristizábal

A Moveable Beast Workshop Update

Clare Preuss is Volcano's Associate Artistic Director, and the Assistant Director of A Moveable Beast. She's sent us a few updates from the rehearsal hall - have a read! And don't forget to check out the PWYC performances running Aug 1-3, 2014.

On day one, performer Neema Bickersteth, and musicians Greg Oh and Deb Sinha, reviewed all the music in the piece and caught Greg up on the project as he is replacing Reza Jacobs (who’s partner just had their baby) as piano player for this round of the project. The music spans a wide range of styles and Greg’s ability to ingest this work so quickly is admirable!

In the afternoon, the whole team gathered to devise a new, symbolic projection sequence to suit Neema’s stunning performance of John Cage’s haunting piece – A Flower. I love how Kate Alton’s choreography integrates so seamlessly with Cage’s music. Neema has a way of performing the song while dancing that leaves me transfixed. I’m happy that the new projection scheme supports the surreal nature of this penetrating piece.

Day Two:

The whole team, including projection artists Momme Hinrichs and Torge Moller (from fettFilm in Germany), engaged in a three hour talk-through of all projections in the show. This piece has a lot of projection and there is a level of rendering work that exceeds anything Volcano has attempted before (one five minute sequence, for example, could take three or four days to render). We’ve had to let go of some ideas that just aren’t feasible, and have become more precise about exactly what will be built in the next two weeks.

In the afternoon, the whole team began to work through the show with all its current elements. There is a lot to put together! The piece has so many elements to integrate. I’m keen to see how things flow once we add the many period costumes, some of which are changed on stage as part of the choreography. The costumes span fashion eras and we had a discussion later in the afternoon about Neema’s costume for the John Cage piece. I like the Katharine Hepburn wide pant look. Some agree and others in the room seem keen on the Audrey Hepburn pencil pant silhouette. I wonder which Hepburn will win? Perhaps they are placing their bets from the afterlife.

Days 4-6:

It’s quite amazine to watch Neema rehearse these elements of the show as they take so much energy and focus and precision! There were numerous times during the particularly complicated and virtuosic Recitation pour voix seule No. 10 by Georges Aperghis that Neema literally collapsed (playfully) to the floor mid-rehearsal – it takes so much stamina to get through that sucker!

Another challenging part of this process has been the timing of all sequences for our video masters Torge and Momme. Choreographic and musical work is still in development, yet it is imperative that the video team receives precise timings ASAP in order to complete their animated projections. We are doing our best to balance the needs of all artists involved.

* * *

We are halfway through the second week of A Moveable Beast rehearsal and in the thick of creation and clarification. This piece truly is a mix of projection installation, dance, opera recital, and a one woman collectively created play. What a layered and challenging piece. I suppose that’s why it’s a Volcano project – Artistic Director Ross Manson and company are well known for big risks and bold art, and A Moveable Beast is a great example of this.

Clare Preuss, Assistant Director

The Work-in-Progress Showings of A Moveable Beast take place August 1-3 at The Theatre Centre. PWYC at the door, and reserve your spot in advance at amoveablebeast.eventbrite.com.

Belarus Free Theatre in Toronto

The 2014 Volcano Conservatory kicked off on Monday, with Belarus Free Theatre co-artistic directors Natalia Kaliada and Nicola Khalezin headlining the program. We're super excited to be able to offer this rare training opportunity to Toronto artists.

Q on CBC Radio hosted Natalia Kaliada on their program to share the incredible story of the company. You can listen to audio of the interview at cbc.ca.

Or, if you'd prefer, come hear their story in person! Volcano artistic director Ross Manson will host an intimate conversation with Natalia and Nicolai at The Theatre Centre on Saturday, July 26. It's a free event, but seating is very limited. Email natasha@volcano.ca to hold your spot.