Interview with Ian Farthing (Part Three)

Ian Farthing
Artistic Director
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

What you may also not know about Mr. Ian Farthing is that he is a professional singer and has had the opportunity to perform with the acclaimed men’s choir Chor Leoni! Since this group is primarily located in Vancouver I asked Ian if he was active with them still. Ian shares with me that “The choir are very generous and allow me to slip in and sing concerts whenever I’m back in Vancouver (which isn’t often). I started singing with them about 6 years ago when I was going through a thin period on the work front and I found that I got amazing artistic sustenance singing all of that wonderful music. I love the fact that we sing everything from Canadian folk songs to classical to Queen!” I wondered if Ian had a preference of Directing versus Performing and his reply was “Not really a preference, as I enjoy both processes immensely. If I can continue to do both alongside each other, I will be very happy!” Ian seems to be happy. When I have seen him, he always has a continuous smile on his lips and a gleam in his eyes! Getting more SCOOP, Ian shares his role as Artistic Director at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, “involves working year-round to ensure that the summer is a success. Although the summer festival is just over 5 weeks of performances, we have to start planning a year in advance”. (This sounds typical of most festivals/events throughout Ontario, where the dedication of volunteers, staff and the community play a critical role in the success of a festival/event!) He goes on to say “Whether it’s fundraising, marketing, planning the performance schedule or organizing other events during the year, there’s never a dull moment! Although part of the AD's job is to be “the face of the festival”, that is only the tip of the iceberg and administrative tasks take up 90% of the time.”
(To be continued)

Interview with Ian Farthing (Part Two)

Ian Farthing
Artistic Director
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

Ian had the privilege (so well earned and deserved) to perform with the Mirvish Production “The Sound of Music” for the entire 18 month run. He not only was in the ensemble, and to quote Ian, ”and yes, amongst other things, I did play a nun!” He was also one of the two understudies for Captain von Trapp and as Ian tells me, “I treasure the memories of the times I was able to go on in the role. How many times in your life do you get four $800 dollar suits hand-tailored for you?! Sadly, we weren’t allowed to keep them!”If you have seen Ian, you will know that he is tall and slender, so I would imagine the role and suit could be filled by others. I am lucky that Ian shares with us a story about his favorite production and to see it from the eyes of a professional so to speak, getting THE INSIDE SCOOP, as it were. ”Favorite show that I’ve been in was probably the recent Toronto production of The Sound of Music. It was a career highlight to be part of such a fantastic production. Although the run was nearly 18 months long, we had such fun on that show that I could have done it for another 18 months! Of the shows that I’ve seen, my top three include the National Theatre production of Cat on a Hot Tim Roof in London – such powerful acting, Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd, a masterpiece, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Titus Andronicus – I arrived and saw the play was going to be 3 hours and 55 minutes with one intermission and my heart sank. But I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I went back to see it twice more. An interesting link to SLSF – the actor playing Lavinia in that production was Sonia Ritter, who ended up directing Comedy of Errors for us in Prescott in 2004!” As a professional, I wondered if Ian, himself, had a favorite performer. He tells me … “Dame Judi Dench – apart from being extraordinarily versatile, whether it’s Shakespeare, James Bond, sitcoms or classics, she also has a reputation for being a wonderful company member and a very cheeky sense of humour. It would be an honour to work with her someday.”
(To be continued)

Interview with Ian Farthing (Part One)

Ian Farthing
Artistic Director
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

After getting THE INSIDE SCOOP, with Greg Berra, Marketing Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, I thought a wonderful opportunity was waiting right there for me to interview none other than Mr. Ian Farthing, the Artistic Director, since 2006, of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. Not to mention he is an amazing actor/singer extraordinaire! Ian was born in Vancouver, Canada (so accomplished for being still so young, I’ll get the SCOOP for you shortly)! He trained in the UK and worked there for 10 years, only returning to Canada in 1999. I asked Ian how he came about embarking on a journey to the UK and what eventually brought him back to Canada. Mr. Farthing states … “Family stuff took us over to the UK when I was a kid, so I ended up doing all my schooling and training over there. After about 8 years in London, struggling to find work as an actor, I decided I needed a year out to take a break and re-assess whether this was the career path I should be continuing. I knew if I was to do it properly, I needed to leave London, as my Joe job was working in a box office in the West End and many of my friends were in the biz. So I thought I might as well come back to Canada, as I had the passport. And I went to Vancouver because it was the only place I knew! As it turns out, I knew by the end of the year that not only did I still want to be an actor, but that I wanted to stay in Canada and I’ve been back for 12 years now”.
(To be continued)

Interview with Sandra Lawn (Part Five)

Sandra S. Lawn

Festival Chair

St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

It would be remiss of me not to ask Sandra about her favorite performer was. She goes on to say that … “I also love how we incorporate music into every performance. Kris Josef in addition to being a great actor also did an amazing rendition of Bob Dylan – about whom I knew little – now it seems that every morning on the CBC they play at least one song that I loved from our festival. I cannot really say I have a favourite performer – they are all so unique and put so much talent into it. I may know certain actors more than others and have a special relationship for a variety of reasons. One reason is the way a certain actor has really turned around the life of the person she was billeted with – it is so heart warming to witness this sort of interchange with the wonderful people of this small town”. Some of the fun for THE INSIDE SCOOP is collecting special anecdotes to share with you. Ms. Lawn indeed did have something to share with us … “One of my own favourite anecdotes took place on closing night of Romeo and Juliet when my young grandson (he must have been about five) at the curtain call, ran onto the stage and threw his arms around Perry Mucci. This boy wants to be an actor because of Perry; he never wants to miss a play when he visits frequently from Ottawa”. With this response my final question to Ms. Sandra Lawn was if the St. Lawrence Theatrical Company/St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival encouraged the youth of today to attend performance? Again, I was not surprise by her response … “For some of us, children and youth are why we do this. Children 12 and under are admitted free and youth are always at a lower rate. My husband, a retired educator, is fervent about the attendance of youth. Our artistic director does as much outreach in the schools as possible. We hold the Young Artists training program every summer and then showcase them as part of the Sunday Series. At the Connect Youth forum at South Grenville District High School, we sign up volunteers and let our regional youth know more about why this is not just educational and enriching but a lot of fun too. Those of us who are in the community year round work at convincing parents and grandparents that this is critical for their offspring’s future and we truly believe it!!”

Interview with Sandra Lawn (Part Four)

Sandra S. Lawn
Festival Chair
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

In our War of 1812 Celebrations website, I have been writing about "Living History" and its importance to understanding the present. I was curious to see what importance the St. Lawrence Theatrical Company had as part of our society and what role did Sandra see as its importance? She replies … “It is hard for me to put it into words. It is a number of things – it draws people back to the brilliance of Shakespeare and live theatre. It is enriching, it is fun, it is outdoors beside a magnificent river. I greatly enjoy technology but know in my heart that without Shakespeare as part of my world and the world of my friends and family we would be all the poorer and unable to participate properly in the creative Ontario everyone is seeking in so many different ways”.

I also wondered if she had any roles during a performance itself. She shares with me … “I do not have any role during a production – we used to introduce the play to the audience but with an Artistic Director like Ian Farthing (see my up coming article about Ian Farthing at ----, he is amazing!), this is much more effectively done by him. My husband and I also host a supper at the beginning of the rehearsal period.” Sandra does get to enjoy the performances during the season, visiting every single performance last year. She tells me … “It is a joy to attend and I am learning every single performance”. With that being said, I wondered if Sandra had a favorite production. She shares with me that … “Every year my favourite production morphs into that particular year’s production. However last year I loved Trouble on Dibble Street – as a former mayor and chair of the board I really wanted everyone in town to come to the Festival and love it and learn from it as I did. That just wasn’t possible until Trouble – when so many of our reluctant theatergoers came because it was our bicentennial gift to the town – and they loved it”.
(To be continued)