Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

"an infectious romp"
Robert Reid, The Record

Written by Ann-Marie MacDonald, featuring Marion Day, Michael Peng, Elana Post, Stephen Russell and Jane Spence in the cast. The production was directed and designed by Douglas Beattie with lighting by Jeff Johnston-Collins. Robert Pel was the stage manager, assisted by Leslie Jost.

Goodnight Desdemona... ran for 5 performances, November 10 - 15, and toured to Markham Theatre for 2 performances, November 17, 18, 2005.

The Premise
Shakespearean scholar Constance Ledbelly, reeling from rejection by the man she loves, finds herself magically transported into the worlds of Othello and Romeo and Juliet, there to seek out her true indentity.

From Touchmark's Press Release dated October 7, 2005:
Constance will be played by the comically gifted Marion Day who recently played Bianca in ShakespeareWorks’ The Taming of the Shrew in Toronto and whose Stratford credits include Ophelia in 2000, Juliet in 1997 and a memorable Moth in Love’s Labours Lost in 1992. She’ll be joined by Stratford Festival veteran Stephen Russell (Grégoire in Touchmark’s 2005 production of Blessings in Disguise) as Professor Claude Night, Othello, Tybalt and the Nurse. Local favourite Michael Peng (who played Albert in Blessings in Disguise) returns to Touchmark to play the Chorus, Iago, Romeo and a Ghost. The tragic heroines and their modern-day counterparts will be played by Elana Post as Juliet and Jane Spence as Desdemona, both making their Touchmark debuts.

Playwright
Ann-Marie MacDonald is author, actor and playwright. Goodnight Desdemona... is her first solo-authored play. It has had more than 200 productions internationally and is published in Canada by Knopf. Other works for theatre include book and lyrics for the musical comedy Anything That Moves, the libretto for the chamber opera Nigredo Hotel and the collectively created The Attic, The Pearls & Three Fine Girls (Sirocco Press). MacDonald's novels Fall On Your Knees and The Way The Crow Flies are international best sellers and have been translated into twenty languages. Her work as a writer has been honoured with the Governor General's Award, The Chalmers Award, The Canadian Authors Association Award, The Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Commonwealth Prize. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and has appeared in theatres across Canada and in many television series and feature films, notably Better Than Chocolate, Where The Spirit Lives, for which she won a Gemini, and I've Heard the Mermaids Singing. Recently she starred in Canadian Stage's hit production of Goodnight Desdemona..., and her play Belle Moral; A Natural History was performed at the Shaw Festival in the 2005 season. MacDonald is currently the host of CBC's Life and Times. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) was first produced by Nightwood Theatre at the Annex Theatre in Toronto on March 31, 1988.

Reviews
MacDonald packages her comedy as a Shakespearean romp -- she really does know her bard -- tied with a ribbon of Jungian psychology. However, buried beneath the wrapping is a quest towards "true identity" from a feminist perspective. Goodnight Desdemona... is wildly farcical and Beattie gives his cast lots of freedom to paint their comic portraits with broad brushes. And the cast obliges with obvious glee... Literate without airs, accessible without dumbing down, MacDonald's comedy is that rare play that appeals to a wide audience. Those who love Shakespeare and haven't seen (it)... are in for a treat. Conversely those who have no interest in Shakespeare need not worry. There's more than enough comedy to put smiles on the sourest of scowls.
Robert Reid, The Record & The Guelph Mercury
... one of a handful of plays that can be considered a classic of Canadian drama... the play is primarily a fantasy, a dramatic projection of a struggle within the central character's mind, her Jungian discovery of self through encounters with two of Shakespeare's most famous female characters... Director Douglas Beattie has assembled a fine cast with Marion Day in a revelatory performance as Constance... the production captures the joyous invention of MacDonald's work and makes it seem as fresh as it was seventeen years ago... When Day's Constance realizes that the wedding ring Professor Night shows her is meant for someone else we feel a real pang of sadness even if Constance tries not to let it show. It's a wonderfully warm-hearted, richly comic performance that has us rooting for her all the way.

Michael Peng is a fine Chorus; Elana Post, all too believable as a student making transparently false excuses for a late paper; and Jane Spence, suitably imperious as Ramona, a Rhodes Scholarship winner, who has also won over Professor Night. Stephen Russell is excellent as the Professor...

Post is excellent as Juliet, a teenager as much fixated on death as she is on forbidden love. Peng captures Romeo's melancholy... Spence is believable as the wise-cracking Mercutio. And Russell is in fine form as the lively Tybalt and is hilarious as Juliet's bearded Nurse.

The action takes place on and in front of a lovely set designed by director Douglas Beattie. It looks like a full-sized, roofed, four-columned toy Elizabethan stage in deep hues of green and blue with richly patterned curtains. All is enhanced by Jeff Johnston-Collins's wide range of lighting effects, especially inventive in the comically woozy transitions from place to place in Constance's mind. Brad Rudy has choreographed the exciting sword-fights... As usual Beattie's direction is thoughtful and crisp. MacDonald sometimes packs in almost too many allusions per line, but Beattie and his cast make sure they all register. Unlike other directors of this play, Beattie realizes that not all passages are satirical but express MacDonald's thoughts about love, transformation and the interconnectedness of things. It's a pleasure that Beattie encourages the actors to bring out their beauty.

This is a fine production, particularly notable for its attractive staging and the marvelous central performance of Marion Day. If you've seen the play before, you'll get even more out of it in (Touchmark's) production. If you've never seen it before, don't miss it.
Christopher Hoile, Stage Door
I want to add my congratulations to the many that I'm sure you have already received. Desdemona is great! -- well cast, well acted, well directed, great to look at, funny, understandable and by far the most technically complex piece that I have seen you undertake.
Keith Courtney, Stratford
I've received many thanks from our audience about how great the show was and how much they enjoyed it. It was an excellent show.
Bonnie Armstrong, Manager, Markham Theatre

Photos by Douglas Beattie. Top: Marion Day, Stephen Russell. Bottom: (from left) Jane Spence, Michael Peng, Marion Day, Stephen Russell

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