Best in Show III proves Atomic Vaudeville still hot Monday Magazine, p. 17, They like to call it a “Theatrical Throw-Down in Victoria Town,” but whatever the appellation, Atomic Vaudeville is proving to have some serious legs. The brainchild of local theatrical wunderkind Britt Small and Toronto transplant Jacob Richmond, it took no time at all for Atomic Vaudeville to get adopted by the local theatre community—on both sides of the curtain—as one of the hottest shows in town. Now mounting their 18th production (or episode) in as many months, I asked co-founder and head writer Richmond if he was surprised it was still going strong. “Yes!” he laughs. “But it’s fantastic. And a lot of that has to do with Britt’s energy and persistence. She’s a powerhouse; I’m the neurotic one. I represent the group’s neuroses: ‘This will never happen!’ But it still always manages to pull itself together.” |
Richmond, who is active in both Montreal and Toronto’s stage circles, feels AV’s mix of theatre, music and postmodern madcap comedy is quite unique. “We used to do cabaret nights in Montreal quite a bit, and they’re quite popular there—but we only did them once or twice a year,” he stresses. “It was Britt’s idea to do them once a month. And the great thing about it here is the audiences we get: they’re quite loyal, and it’s neat to find all these young people coming to a live performance event.” Indeed, Richmond feels it’s the audience themselves that helps set AV apart. “Theatre in general should try to reach out to people—not only on an artistic level, but with younger audiences too,” he explains. “And our format seems to appeal to people who’ve never been to theatre.” He pauses and gives another of his characteristic quick laughs. “They’ll come see us and then work up the courage to go see an actual play.” And for anyone who attended this year’s Fringe festival, which featured a number of AV regulars mounting their own shows, it’s clear that the Broad Street throw-down is acting as something of a jumping-off point for further theatrical experimentation. “The thing is,” Richmond muses, “it brings a lot of people together, so they know they’re not alone in the city. People go off and create other works—vaudeville itself shouldn’t be the only form of expression—so it really does create a centre for people. They meet each other and go, ‘Hey, d’ya wanna do a Fringe show with me?’ |
It also offers established artists like Richmond and Small someplace to work out quickie ideas between their major projects. Case in point: Richmond’s play The Qualities of Zero, which Small will be directing this March as part of the Belfry’s Festival.06. Zero—which has been mounted twice previously outside of Victoria but is currently being “reworked” by Richmond—will also feature a cast of AV regulars. “We’ve already got a creative shorthand,” he explains. “I mean, there’s always an adjustment period with any creative process, so it’s really quite pleasant and exciting to work with people you’re already familiar with . . . and on something that’s not Vaudeville.” And does every AV production still feel like a make-or-break proposition? “Actually, the audiences have been really good lately,” laughs Richmond. “I mean, it’s tricky to come up with a show every month, and we always want to surpass ourselves. Right now, we’re still doing it for the joy of doing it, but we are trying to put more of an infrastructure to it, to be able to remunerate people as much as the box office will allow.” And in the future? “Britt and I want to hone a lot of it, try to create a show out of it,” he hints. “The format is really exciting, so it’d be interesting to see if you could do that in an actual theatrical milieu. I think the creativity of a town can be measured by what stories they create.” If that’s true, imagine the stories yet to come from a group like this. I’m laughing already. |