Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s production of Blasted, a dark, controversial drama involving anal rape, eye-gouging and baby-eating received mixed reviews when it opened last fall.
But the notorious play, written by British author Sarah Kane, won the most accolades at a Toronto gala Monday night for the 32nd Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Blasted won five awards in the general theatre category: outstanding production, direction (Brendan Healy), set, lighting and sound design.
In an emotional acceptance speech, Healy recognized the late actress and director Gina Wilkinson who died last year of cancer.
“I had my own battle with cancer and I ran into Gina at the Princess Margaret Hospital…A couple of weeks later, she died. That really scared me because it made the reality of what I was facing so real,” he said. “Then a couple of days later, I read this article… about how she faced death as she faced life, with wonderment, curiosity and generosity. That gave me a lot of strength.”
The play’s star, David Ferry, was favoured to win the best actor award for his role as the foul-mouthed, middle-aged tabloid journalist who is both victim and aggressor. However, Soulpepper’s Joseph Ziegler conquered with his heart-rendering turn as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.
Meanwhile, Yanna McIntosh won the Dora for outstanding female in a principal role playing Mama Nadi, a woman who runs a Congolese brothel, in Ruined, produced by Obsidian Theatre Company in association with Nightwood Theatre. “It’s a very special production for me because I was scared to do it,” McIntosh said. In the hotly contested category, McIntosh beat Pamela Sinha and Anusree Roy who starred in Factory Theatre’s Brothel #9.
Roy, however, did not walk away empty-handed. As the playwright for Brothel #9, the tale of a young village woman who is sold into a brothel in Calcutta, she was honoured with the outstanding new play award and a $5,000 cheque.
“When I was researching Brothel #9 in 2007, I met a lot of sex workers and their only request to me was to tell the truth…and I feel so grateful that so many people helped me tell the truth,” Roy said.
Comedian Craig Lauzon of CBC’s Royal Canadian Air Farce and Dora-winning actress Michaela Washburn hosted the ceremony with jokes and wit. “Please let Craig not suck as bad as James Franco at the Oscars,” Washburn quipped. The gala began with a pre-recorded clip of Lauzon impersonating Stephen Harper and Washburn complimented him on his portrayal of the prime minister. “It’s the deadness,” Lauzon replied.
The awards, which celebrate the best in plays, musicals, dance and opera in Toronto, are named after a beloved actor, teacher and director who established the city’s theatre scene in the ’30s and ’40s.
One of the evening’s highlights included Canadian icon Gordon Pinsent’s poker-faced reading of quotes by local critics. “If there was a dry seat left in the house,” Pinsent said, quoting The Globe and Mail’s Brad Wheeler, “it was a testament to the absorbent quality of Depend undergarments and not a reflection of that bladder-busting material.”
David Mirvish received four awards for his film-inspired productions: Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical and Billy Elliot the Musical. For playing the sweet Bernadette in Priscilla, Australian star and Olivier and Tony Award nominee Tony Sheldon won for outstanding actor in a principal role in the musical theatre division; for their outrageous, feathery, sparkly, cupcake- or fruit-shaped costumes in Priscilla, designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner received a Dora to add to the mantle beside their Tony Award. Kate Hennig who starred in Billy Elliot the Musical received stirring applause for her best actress win in a musical. She called it “the hardest work that [she’s] ever done.”
The Railway Children won the audience choice award.
Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s first opera Prima Donna, presented by Luminato, nabbed outstanding new musical/opera. The Canadian Opera Company won three awards including outstanding production and musical direction for Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, based on the myth of Orpheus. Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People’s A Year With Frog and Toad won outstanding musical production. The Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical follows the adventures of two amphibious friends.
In the dance category, Alain Platel, Belgian choreographer and founder of Les Ballets C de la B, was honoured for his production Out of Context — For Pina, which came to the Harbourfront Centre last October. ProArteDanza’s artistic team Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek won a Dora for choreographing …in between…, a 70-minute contemporary piece featuring eight dancers.
Finally, in the independent theatre production division, the Dora for best production went to Through the Leaves, The Company Theatre’s moving look at the relationship between Martha, the plain owner of a butcher shop and Otto, a brutish, chauvinistic factory worker.
Email: mleong@nationalpost.com | Twitter: @lisleong
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