By Michel Tremblay
Directed by Richard Monette

 

Some reviews:
"Geordie Johnson as the obsessively self-regarding, witty and pathetic Hosanna is all he should be -- wonderfully funny, rather sadly lovely and highly irritating." - The Globe and Mail 27 May, 1987

"Johnson and O'Connor both give exceptionally convincing performances and while they share the stage there is a fascinating mix of biting comedy and psychological insight into their tortured existence." "By the close, Tremblay via the talented Johnson, delivers a transformed transvestite in a full and memorable characterization." - TO Sun 28 May 1987

These are comments from a couple of articles about Richard Monette (who played the role of Hosanna in 1974 & who directed Mr Johnson in the role in 1987).
In an article from the Toronto Star (May 22, 1987), Monette talked about the differences in his performance and Geordie's:
"I called Bill (Glassco - Monette's director) 'Mr Taste and Restraint' and he called me 'Mr Popcorn'," says Monette. "I think this production is a little more theatrical because it reinforces the metaphors at the heart of the play. I told Geordie, 'I am going to give you everything that Bill Glassco wouldn't let me do!'"

And later in the article:
"It is one of the few enjoyable things about working in Canada-- goodness knows we don't get much money or fame-- that you have the chance to build the culture. Here I have a chance to pass the mantle on to Geordie. "I told him, 'There is no point in being as good as me. You have to be better, then maybe I'll get some of the credit.'

And from another article:
"He cast Geordie Johnson against type; a cleancut prairie farm-boy hardly seemed the ideal choice to play a shrill-voiced transvestite but Johnson remembers that early on Monette said to him, "If you can't be a bitch, we don't have a play," and this lead him to connect with repressed feelings that liberated his own sense of malice, providing a basis for a surprisingly vulnerable performance."

1986 Farther West            1987 I Am Yours

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12 July, 1988

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