It goes without saying that a one-man show succeeds or fails on the back of the actor: the writing’s important, the direction’s important but if the star flubs it, the show’s in the dustbin, simple as that. Fortunately for Factcheck writer Michael Posner and director Briane Nasimok, they found Courtenay Stevens (left), an actor who appears to be up to the challenge of playing 15 characters in the rapid-fire comedy opening tomorrow at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
Factcheck presents the audience with one hour in the life of magazine fact checker Drew Williams, a young man whose back is against the wall on several fronts. Throughout the show Drew juggles calls from writers, sources, his managing editor, an absent colleague, even his bank manager and his mother. Relying on just his voice, physical gestures and facial expressions, Stevens somehow manages to inhabit each of the characters, often to hilarious effect.
“One of the things Brian has done really well is to get Courtenay out from behind the desk,” says Posner, “to make the show more theatrical and less of a staged radio play.”
“I do a lot of physical theatre,” remarks Stevens, “so sitting in a chair isn’t necessarily up my alley. Obviously, if I’m doing Chekhov or something I’m not flipping around, but my preference is to be active and we’ve found a way to do that with this piece so that you’re not watching a radio play.”
The show was still being trimmed and tinkered with at the rehearsal I attended Sunday (above), but I was amused throughout, captivated by Stevens’s uncanny ability to jump from character to character like a frog determined to touch down on each and every lillypad in his pond.
Factcheck is Posner’s second Fringe effort following the 2008 drama, Damages. Why the fringe? “Because I’m not a known dramatist per se,” says the writer, “and I can’t just waltz into Tarragon or Factory and give them my script and have them bow down and produce it. The Fringe is a lottery and I’ve won it twice now. They literally draw your number out of a hat. For this category — the 60-minute Ontario category — there were 300 applicants for 60 slots.”
Posner concedes that his script was “probably twice as long as it needed to be” and he’s worked with Stevens and Nasimok to trim it down to fighting weight. “Courtenay has been enormously helpful,” says Posner. “It’s a collaborative effort, that’s what theatre’s all about.” [Pictured below from left are Nasimok, Posner, stage manager Lisa Humber and Stevens.]
Nasimok shares equal credit for stitching together what’s left of the original script. “If a performer isn’t comfortable with some of the material my experience tells me that they’ll mess it up and maybe mess up the next bit because they’re flustered about having just messed up. So I’d rather just change it up front.”
This being the Toronto Fringe, there’s no week of previews during which to iron out the bugs; after tomorrow’s opening, the team expects to make a few additional tweaks then just let Courtenay ride the beast until the show’s conclusion July 11.
“Between the first show and the last one, where Courtenay takes it, we have no idea,” says Nasimok. “He’s going to find new things every night and that’s what I love about theatre, it’s never the same two nights running.”
Stevens says he was attracted to Factcheck in part because he’s never done a one-man show before: “It kind of scared me and I think it’s a good thing to challenge yourself. It’s one of the reasons I said yes, it sounded like a helluva challenge.”
Like every other show at the Toronto Fringe, it will only cost you a tenner to find out how he fairs.
WHERE/WHEN: Factcheck, June 30, July 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 at St. Vladimir’s Theatre (620 Spadina Avenue); tickets $10, 416.966.1062.
Rehearsal photos by Christopher Jones
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I know and have worked with Court a few times over the last decade. He’s a brilliant actor and I highly recommend if you want to catch a ‘good’ fringe show to check out this play.