Johnson divines Hosanna's heart
by Jon Kaplan
NOW
21-27 May 1987
NOW
21-27 May 1987
Now the Tarragon is mounting another production of the play, directed by Richard Monette, who played the title part in the earlier version. The show is in previews and opens May 26 (Tuesday).
In the current revival, Geordie Johnson takes on the role of the Montreal transvestite who goes through a humiliating experience at a gay club on Halloween. Dennis O'Connor, making his English-theatre debut in Toronto, plays Hosanna's biker lover Cuirette; O'Connnor has previously played the role in French at Theatre du P'tit Bonheur.
The part of Hosanna is a long way from those that Johnson has recently played on Toronto stages. Last winter he was the randy Mr. Hardlong in The Grace of Mary Traverse. He's played other strong male characters in Farther West, Of Mice and Men, and Lone Star; the last won him a Dora nomination for best actor.
Hosanna offers a totally different challenge. Obsessed with Elizabeth Taylor, regularly reeking with cheap perfume, known for her sharp tongue, the character starts to change as a result of the events of the play. Johnson thinks it natural to use female pronouns when he discusses Hosanna, since that is how the caracter sees herself. "I myself forget that the character is a man, and I think the audience will as well. When I remember, I have the sense of frustration and disappontment she herself feels."
Claude, her male side, is almost another character. "There's a real duality between them," says Johnson. "At times, I feel the separateness of the two of them inside me. There's a fine thread holding them together, though on occasion it starts to snap."
When the actor began rehearsals, he admits he had some fears about the play -- though it wasn't the part so much as the history around the work that made him nervous. "When I came the first day, I knew Richard had played Hosanna and that Dennis had done Cuirette and that Urjo (Kareda, artistic director of the Tarragon) had seen the show hundreds of times. I was leery at first, but it's turned out to be terrific. Richard isn't simply reproducing the show he was in, but putting in new things -- things that he didn't have a chance to do the first time.
"At first, it was hard to see what I could bring to the part, but over the rehearsal period he's begun talking of the character as less his and more mine."
During the first two weeks of rehearsals, Johnson found himself embarrassed for Hosanna, because she was "ungainly and awkward. In a compressed amount of time, I was going throuugh what she had to in order to create herself and live as she did. Richard, because he had done the role, could give me material that would take me from point A to point M, without my having to struggle through all the points in between. What I'm doing now is going back and filling in some of the other letters. I've been supplied by Richard's understanding with a level I have to achieve with the character."
Johnson is also glad to be working with O'Connor, for he had so much of the innate quality of Cuirette's character right off the bat. It was easy for me to have someone to relate to immediately. Dennis brings a menacing presence to the biker, and yet he also manages to suggest an emotional man who can't express himself verbally but must do so physically."
There are several ways that the revival differs from the original Tarragon production. One is that the translation has been thoroughly anglicized. "Removing the French-Canadian accent is a good idea, because it can sound cut to English ears. Without it, the bitchy nature of Hosanna can come through more clearly."
The director has also worked with designer Michael Goodwin to set the play in "a not totally realistic room. The pieces mentioned in the script -- the sofa, Hosanna's vanity and the flashing neon sign -- are all there, but the design takes the play out of a specific period."
Johnson thus dispels one potential problem of the revival -- that it might be a period piece and not translate to a contemporary audience. "In fact," he notes, "we've found that it is a non-period play, one that can be lifted out of the 70s and set anywhere. It has its own worth.
"The writing is so good that even if we are occasionally off track or the development isn't clearly there, the play still pulls itself together and makes a statement. The piece is so human that people who enter wondering if it's worthwhile today will be caught up with the two characters and see its real value."
Although Hosanna is the central figure in the play, the production can't work unless the relationship between Hosanna and Cuirette is a strong one. "Both characters go through a growing up during the play," says Johnson, "on their way to a certain independence. It's a crisis night for both of them, yet there has to have been something strong to have kept them together for four years. They are at the point when they realize they're tired with the roles they've assumed over the years, at the end of the play, they start to put the roles behind them."
According to the actor, the show's design contributes to the change the characters undergo by the end. "They talk in their own pools of light, both separately and together. The two rush toward a union in spite of themselves.
"These are two people who, over the course of the evening, fight like cat and dog. Yet I think the audience will see them as a couple perfectly suited for each other. He has been entertained by her over the years; she has loved the audience that he becomes. They fulfil each other's needs and fears."
Still, the events of the play mark only the start of a change. As Tremblay told O'Connor last year when the actor was in the French production of the play, "Hosanna and Cuirette must still wake up to each other the next morning. They realize the truths about themselves, but they must then deal with the truths."
Johnson feels the same way about the figures. "Hosanna says, 'I'll never move and I'll never change my perfume.' That artificial smell has become part of her, and it's uncertain whether she'll just choose a different scent or choose to be herself. Or rather himself, for it's Claude who Cuirette loves -- and he hasn't seen him for a long time."
Next article
visitors since 25 December, 2000
View the 
... Please sign the
View the archived
© 2000 Please go here to contact me - Lindy
This page is not authorized by Mr Johnson, NOW or any of the shows or Theatres referenced herein.
