The day after

Posted on October 23, 2014 by johnageddes

Today, in Ottawa, it seems that the government is planning to carry on as normal. This, I think, is an appropriate response to the attempt at intimidation by a fanatic. Terrorists want to inject fear and disrupt. By going back to work (after gathering outdoors at the War Memorial to sing O Canada and remember the slain soldier), our Members of Parliament have put actions to their declarations that “We will not be intimidated.”

I am proud of their response. This is what it is to be Canadian.

I do hope that, in the upcoming weeks, there is positive focus on this breach of security in Ottawa. The easy thing (as with the Ebola crisis) is to look back and blame and pose all sorts of questions that are much more evident in hindsight than when a problem is developing. We need to learn from the past but also be calm, patient and determined and avoid name-calling and partisan mud-slinging.

Yesterday was a traumatic day for Canada. It was reassuring to see a swift, professional and thorough response to the crisis and CBC news coverage was responsible and not hysterical.

I am glad to be Canadian.

What’s next?

Posted on October 22, 2014 by johnageddes

Whenever I have international visitors I am proud to take them to Ottawa to see our nation’s capital and, in particular, to roam around Parliament Hill. They are always astounded that ordinary citizens can get so close to our government offices and feel ownership for this part of our culture.

There are usually RCMP security personnel stationed around the hill but they are often inconspicuous and never intrusive or threatening.

This morning, about an hour a go now, a soldier who was stationed at the War Memorial was shot. A couple of days ago, another soldier was killed in a “terrorist” attack by a fanatical Canadian jehadist. That attacker was killed and ISIS is praising him as a hero. What exactly is happening right now on Parliament Hill is not clear.

Canada has recently entered the “war” against ISIS by contributing planes to the international campaign in Iraq. Is today’s event in Ottawa a consequence of that involvement or just an act of violence by an individual copycat.

These two events will likely bring about changes in security. I mourn the loss of our collective innocence. I also know that my home town of Kingston with its Royal Military College and Armed Forces Base will be on some terrorist’s “list”. That thought is sobering.

It was really only a matter of time. What’s next?

Where is this heading?

Posted on October 10, 2014 by johnageddes

I am worried about Ebola. It is rapidly spinning out of control.

Photo from internet

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a four-year old African child whose mother is dying of Ebola and I can not hug her or comfort her as she is dragged off by people looking like space travellers. I can not imagine what it is like to be a health care worker in a facility where there is no clean water supply, limited resources and few beds and knowing that just touching someone who is infected to provide care for them or make them more comfortable is risking my own life.

It annoys me somewhat when I see the panicked response of the U.S. or Spain when they get one case that is treated in health care systems that have funding many, many times that of the West African countries that are struggling to manage it. When the outbreak affects thousands in Liberia, far away, the response is muted. When one person in North America is treated with it, the response is a cascade of protective efforts, likely costing billions in the long run. I am not saying this is wrong, just imbalanced and so self-absorbed.

It frustrates me to know that the international community has dragged their feet in responding to this outbreak … until it becomes obvious that, with international travel, it is only a matter of time that the disease reaches us. It worries me that other African countries will soon be at risk and that their health care systems will do their best, but are woefully inadequate to cope with the anticipated exponential spread of this virus. It troubles me to know that economies in many African countries, already struggling with poverty, will be decimated. Tourism is a major source of income. What traveller is going to pick an African vacation for their family with all this negative press and uncertainty?

When I graduated from medical school in 1974 there was no AIDS. Well, there were a few cases, scattered somewhere, but we didn’t know about it. Now millions have been infected and died of AIDS and although we have medications to manage it, we do not have a cure, nor effective immunization against it. Will Ebola be the next AIDS? Or worse?

What can we do about it? What can I do about it? So far the Canadian government has allocated about 5-6 million dollars to this crisis. They have also just approved an air bombing campaign in Iraq of undetermined cost but with estimates of 100 million dollars or more. It costs close to $17,000 per hour to operate a CF-18 and each JDAM-equipped bomb that is dropped costs about $25,000. Can we get our priorities straight? Or at least balance them? How do we influence these decisions?

I have worked for the past five years to help to provide infrastructure improvements for schools, clinics and communities in East Africa through the CanAssist African Relief Trust. Will this be at all helpful if Ebola spreads eastward in Africa? I would like to think it will help. Education about spread of the disease and protection from it is essential to avoid infection and schools are a resource to help with that. CanAssist has supported clinics in several communities and has provided improved water and sanitation to communities and schools. Hopefully this will help if the need arises. Without adequate sanitation or access to clean water, how can anyone avoid contamination? CanAssist’s work involves only a few communities – we have limited resources despite a never-ending need. But hopefully, by preparing some communities a bit with infrastructure to help manage any possible outbreak (of Ebola or any other health threat) we can, in fact, save a few lives.

I plan to return to East Africa early in 2015. In addition to continuing to monitor and support new and existing projects through CanAssist (at no cost to our donors, by the way) I will be thinking about helping to provide some medical information about Ebola to the communities that I visit in preparation for what I fervently hope does not happen there. I have often felt that if Africa was educated about HIV/AIDS early on that this scourge would not have taken hold the way it did. Maybe with some warning and information, countries neighbouring those currently affected by Ebola can prepare to prevent it from engulfing in their communities. Not a panicked, emergency response but a practical preparation for a possible threat. It is worth a try.

“If I am only for myself, then what am I? And, if not now, when?” Rabbi Hillel, 50 BC

Slums in Africa house millions of people with little access to health facilities, clean water or sanitation. How would you contain it if an Ebola strikes here?

Slums in Africa house millions of people with little access to health facilities, clean water or sanitation. How would you contain it if Ebola strikes here?

“August” is over

Posted on September 28, 2014 by johnageddes

The stage has been cleared. Set dismantled. Moustache shaved off. Kings Town Players production of August:Osage County is over.

What a great run we have had. This is the best production that I have been in. The play is very well written and keeps the audience engaged throughout. It is intense and emotional and funny and relatable.

I was going to say that the cast and crew have worked like family to put this production together. But given the dysfunction in the play’s family, that may not be an apt analogy. We have worked like good friends. A real ensemble of cast and crew.

Theatre is a team effort. For it to work, we need to trust and rely on all the other members of the team to do their part and sometimes rescue us if we goof up, forget a line or are in the wrong place at the wrong time. We all pulled together to mount a show we are all proud of.

One of the sad and wonderful things about live theatre is that every production, every performance, in fact, is unique. And once it is done, it is done. Unlike a movie that you can watch over and over again, the theatre play exists only for the couple of hours that it is presented and then it vanishes. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with my K.T. P. friends to bring this magic to life in August:Osage County.

Kings Town Players – August:Osage County September, 2014

Being me

Posted on September 21, 2014 by johnageddes

My barber has been after me for some time to colour my hair. A few years back he convinced me to sit with a tight bathing cap thing on my head as he tugged strands of hair through and dyed them a darker colour. He called them “lowlights”. They made me feel like a skunk. After a couple of episodes of this torture I happily gave up on it and reverted to my natural white.

As Father in The Stone Angel

This month he was delighted when I told him that I thought, for the role I am currently playing in August:Osage County, I should have my white hair toned down a bit so it does not attract so much attention in the stage lights. For my role as Father in Stone Angel last spring it was appropriate. As Charlie Aiken, I thought I should look a little less domineering.

So last week he coloured my hair with a product he told me would gradually wash out over a few weeks, thereby being less noticeable as my white roots grow back in.

At first, the dye job proved a bit darker than I had anticipated and there was such a discrepancy between my hair and moustache and eyebrows that I had to have them done too.

For the role of Charlie it has been great. It has allowed me to feel like a totally different person and inhabit the character. The down side is that , for the next few weeks, I will be looking in mirrors and not recognizing myself. Friends pass me on the street, not knowing who I am.

Others look at me with a glance of curiosity. Some of them ask me, “Got a new girlfriend?” Others are more direct. “You look like you should be in porn movies.” ” You look like one of the Mario Brothers.” “Ned Flanders” “Tennessee Ernie Ford”. “If you put conditioner on if and leave it in for a bit, it will wash out faster.”

No one seems to think that it is me. Nor do I. I am blessed with a thick head of healthy white hair and I am 67 years old. Why would I want to pretend to be someone I am not? I am not ashamed of my age. Why should we have a preoccupation of trying to look younger than we are? Do I want to end up looking like Paul McCartney – a 70-year-old face with 30-year-old hair? He may look good from the back but from the front, the effort to hide his age (that everyone knows anyway) is kind of pathetic.

My hair dresser told me “White hair says ‘old’. People don’t notice you if you have white hair, you are overlooked.” Baloney. Tell me that no one notices Bill Clinton or Anderson Cooper or Richard Gere.

“Scuse me, dear, Can I trouble you for another beer?”

When this show is over, I will put Charlie Aiken away and within weeks will be back to the real me. Pretending is for theatre and I absolutely love doing that. But in my real life I am not going to try to cover up who I really am. It is too much work. And it would make me feel like I am somehow not satisfied with myself. I think that would be a bit sad.

If I am cast in another play some time that requires a different look to take on the character I will be more than happy to do it again. Temporarily.

But if you overlook me simply because my hair is white … well, that is your problem, not mine. You don’t know what you are missing.

This is me. Take it or leave it.

Remembering

Posted on September 20, 2014 by johnageddes

My Dad, Stewart Geddes, passed away this morning. Although I am saddened to know that he is gone, there is also a tinge of relief since, over the last month, he has been subjected to one indignity and loss after another.

A few weeks ago, Dad said to me ” I am not worried about being dead. It’s the dying part that concerns me.” Dad had led a very independent and productive life for almost 95 years so to end up weakened and dependent and bed-ridden was not something he relished. We would all like to just die in our sleep when the time is near. Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen.

I will miss Dad’s sensible guidance and advice. His level-headed approach to dealing with life’s problems was always welcomed. His generosity of spirit and resources to family and community was a model for me. I am who I am today, in great part, not only to the genes I inherited from my parents but from their guidance and example.

For the past while I have recognized that I have been the proverbial filling of the sandwich generation with my family relationships and concerns ranging from my youngest granddaughter at 3 to my father at 94. With Dad’s passing, there is a generation gone and a recognition that I am now one of the pieces of bread on the sandwich. I hope I don’t get crusty.

I have mentioned Dad i in several of my blog articles in the past. You can find these articles here if you want to know more about him.

Father’s Day 2012

A surprise at the Stewart Geddes School

A dinner I will always remember

Balls, Christmas ones.

Savouring every last drop.

Our family will gather from across Canada for a memorial celebration of Dad’s life on October 4 – a family Thanksgiving for a life that we are grateful to having had part of us for so many years.

A family Christmas past. The endif a generation. You can see from the choice of red clothes that my parents were loved life.

A family Christmas past. The end of a generation. You can see from the choice of red clothes that my parents loved life.

Playing with friends

Posted on September 17, 2014 by johnageddes

Remember when you were a kid and you used to pretend? Cowboys and Indians (Native Americans)? Selling things from your “store”? Or serving dinner with plastic veggies?

Well sixty years later I am still doing this. Starting tonight, my Kings Town Players friends and I are dressing up and playing with each other and putting on a show for you. I am having great fun playing the role of Charlie Aiken. Over the past few weeks, I have gradually transformed myself into the dope-smoking, beer-swigging upholsterer from the southern U. S. A. who is caught up in one of the most dysfunctional families you can imagine.

August: Osage County is an award winning play that was made into a popular movie starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts last year. I loved the movie but I think that the play has an intensity that can only be felt with live theatre. We all can identify with the Weston family to some degree. Are any of our families totally “normal”? Or is this kind of dynamic more what “normal” is on some level?

Mattie Fay and Charlie Aiken in Kings Town Players production of August: Osage County

There is a lot of very dark humour. When we were rehearsing, I was almost embarrassed to laugh at some of the horrid things characters say to each other. The “ladies” are particularly foul-mouthed…and loving every moment of it. We hope our audiences will relax and let go. You have permission to laugh out loud…in fact we are looking forward to hearing your guffaws. Get ready for lots of startling moments as well.

The three-act play is also three hours long so come prepared to get your money’s worth. You will feel like a voyeur, peeping through the windows of a family struggling with many demons. Great live theatre.

We have worked hard to get this production ready. All we need now is an audience. Please join us for a dinner from hell.

August: Osage County runs Wednesday to Saturday from September 17 to 27 at the Rotunda Theatre, Theolological Hall, Queen’s University campus. 8 pm. Tickets are $20 and available here ( http://www.kingstonboxoffice.com)or at the door.

My TIFF 2014 rehash

Posted on September 7, 2014 by johnageddes

Last spring I earned $141 as a background performer in a movie being shot in Kingston. This weekend I recycled those earnings back into the movie industry with tickets to a few shows at the Toronto International Film Festival. (TIFF)

There are over 370 movies from 72 countries that are screened during the two weeks of TIFF and it has earned a reputation as one of the premier film festivals in the world.

For the past five years I have attended TIFF, usually spending three or four days lining up and watching movies. This year my time was limited to two days because of other commitments. While I am on the train on the way home to Kingston I will briefly comment on the six movies I saw this year. Remember that it is only six of 370, my selection restricted by showing times and availability. There were many more I would like to have seen if I had another couple of days.

The Judge. Starring Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall. I will preface this by saying that one of the reasons I am heading home today is to rehearse a Kings Town Players production of August:Osage County. In many ways The Judge paralleled “August” exposing complicated family conflicts but this time between three sons and their father (as opposed to the mother and three daughters of “August”) after the death of the mother.

Robert Duvall signs autographs at TIFF 2014.

The performances were strong and will likely get an Oscar nomination nod for Duvall, maybe even Downey. The show was a bit long and the courtroom melodrama a bit formulaic. There was enough humour interjected to keep the intensity tolerable. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and recommend it. Entertaining and nicely constructed.

Boychoir. With Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates and a collection of boy sopranos. This movie is basically summed up in the title. The story is of a young orphaned boy with talent gets a chance to train as a boy soprano at an elite music school and yes, ends up being the main soloist for the choir, overcoming all adversity and the attempts of the another jealous peer who tries go derail him. Have I said enough? A good family movie. No F-bombs. Happy ending. The story was predictable and coincidences quite unbelievable. The choral music provided by the American Boychoir throughout the movie was quite delightful. I would have been satisfied with a half hour concert, however, skipping the story. The ladies sitting beside me had kleenexes out and loved the movie. I was rolling my eyes.

Stories of our Lives. This was a Kenyan-made film, a collection of five black and white vignettes that chronicled stories collected from LGBT people in Kenya. The pre-festival notices gave no credits, in fact listing them as “Anonymous” because of the fear of some sort of reprisals or discrimination of the filmmakers at home. Three of the people involved attended an emotional question and answer period after the showing. The film itself was very amateur in its production, dialogue and acting. But this was more of a cultural experience than just a film showing. It was appropriate to show this at the festival. It represented the power of movies as a platform for cultural and political commentary and, who knows, maybe even enlightenment. The content was comparable to what we might have seen 50 years ago in North America regarding sexual diversity. The film makers were taking big personal risks at home to produce this and the TIFF showing before an empathetic audience was cathartic and emotional for them. I had not planned to go to this film but squeezed it in at the end of my day, my familiarity with Kenya having alerted me to the showing. I am glad I went, not for the movie itself, but for the event.

Ruth and Alex. Starring Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman. This is a lightweight comedy about an older couple in New York who are looking to sell their condo where they have lived for forty years and buy another. It had the ring of a Cary Grant movie from the forties. A lot of fluff, some interesting supporting characters and a happy ending. There are a couple of filler sub plots involving a suspected terrorist on a bridge and a sick pet dog that spends most of the movie at the vet, but, to the sighs and “aw’s” of many in the audience, recovers. The young couple who play Ruth and Alex in the flashbacks do an excellent job of chanelling the voice and physical mannerisms of Keaton and Freeman. No thinking required while seeing this movie. (A very pleasant, relaxed Morgan Freemen attended the Q&A after the screening and this was worth the price of admission. Too bad but he will not likely be at your local theatre.)

Black and White. With Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer. As I stood in line to see this Kevin Costner film it was a bit like admitting that I was going to a Celine Dion concert. Costner has had his day but I have not seen anything by him that has impressed me for a long time. I thoughts the story might be interesting and Octavia Spencer was a draw for me. It turned out to be a good pick.

The movie is about grandparents, one black and one white, who become involved in a custody battle for their granddaughter after tragic deaths leave them the only responsible relatives left. This leads to some commentary, not particularly deep but there, about race and social status in America. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was engrossed in the characters within five minutes. The opening scenes are quite touching. The audience obviously responded to much if this film, laughing, weeping, applauding after one monologue and even gasping in a couple of spots. Performances by Costner and Spencer were solid and the little girl who played Elouise, the granddaughter, was wonderful. Like The Judge, the movie was maybe 10 minutes too long and the last portion was focused on a courtroom. I did come away from this movie having no hesitation in recommending it.

The Riot Club. I knew little about this film before I saw it. Like the others, it was premiering at TIFF so no audience has seen it before and no reviews are available. It did have some pre-festival hype and I chose it as something different. And it was. The movie is basically a disgusting exposé of a young group of rich boys, Oxford University students, who, because of their privileged upbringing, feel there are no limits that they have to satisfying their unfettered appetites for debauchery. Get the picture? There were three young girls sitting beside me who were all giggly about seeing the young British heartthrob boys who starred in the film and who were introduced on the stage prior go the showing. Their awestruck giddiness turned to dismay as the film unfolded and these cute boys became thoroughly despicable. As time progressed I almost felt like I had been a victim of assault in some way, having to watch this depravity. There was no justice and the movie ended with no consequences to the boys for their unruly and disgusting behavior. A disturbing couple of hours. But then, I guess that is a credit to the film maker to draw this kind if response.

Kevin Costner, director Mike Binder and Octavia Spencer at the world première screening of Black and White.

Which would I recommend? Surprisingly to me, Black and White tops this short list followed by The Judge. Wait for Ruth and Alex go be shown on the Saturday Night Movie or Netflix. Find the soundtrack for BoyChoir or buy it for your kids and avoid the Riot Club unless you are feeling like you are feeling a masochistic.

Savouring every last drop…

Posted on August 26, 2014 by johnageddes

I’ve spent the past couple of weekends sitting on a commode chair – the lid closed – visiting my father who is in University Hospital in London Ontario. Dad is 94 years old. His body is wearing out. He is been very lucky to be extremely active and independent up until the last few weeks. At the end of July he went with me and my daughter and granddaughter – four generations – to see Crazy For You at the Stratford Festival and three weekends ago, he spend a couple of days at my brothers cottage in Kincardine. He just reluctantly gave up his internet account last month, disappointed that he would have to miss out on Facebook messages. We have told him we would read them to him when we visit.

But his old body seems to be edging toward its expiry date.

For the shifts of the new caregivers that have never known him but now look after him, he is a frail, blind, teetery, somewhat muddled old man. I brought an old photograph to his room and put it over his bed so they could remember that he, indeed, was once young like them.

The picture is one of my favourites. It was taken by a London Free Press photographer in late December 1945. It shows my dad returning to Canada after being in Europe during World War II and being greeted by my mom at the train station. They had not seen each other for 2 1/2 years. By mid 1946, they were married and remained together until my mom passed away over 60 years later.

The old man in the bed seems to be a different person. But I know that underneath his frail, deteriorating body, the essence of that young soldier still exists.

It is difficult to watch someone who has been so independent and “in control” of his life become totally dependent. A few weeks ago, dad said to me “it’s not being dead that bothers me, it’s the dying part”. In addition to being sad that dad is suffering one indignity and loss after another in an accelerating cascade, I also reflect that living to a “ripe old age” is a two-edged sword.

Dad was initially admitted to the cardiac ward of the hospital and, as such, receives a “cardiac” diet. He keeps asking me where dessert is. “Is there any cake to go with that?” he asks as I spoon in the canned fruit cocktail. So I smuggle in donuts from the Tim Hortons shop in the lobby.

Whether it is a pre dinner gin and tonic or life itself, Dad is working on savouring it to the last drop.

Last Friday he insisted that in a cupboard somewhere in the room there was a bottle of Beefeater gin that he had purchased last week. He really wanted a gin and tonic before dinner. On Saturday I went to the liquor store, bought a little bottle of gin and a couple of tins of tonic, smuggled two glasses from the hotel that I’m staying at into his room, got the nurse to bring us a bit of ice and we had a gin and tonic before dinner. He sat back and enjoyed it and ate a good supper – complete with ice cream and a cookie.

And why not? He’s earned it.

Movie magic – behind the scenes

Posted on August 21, 2014 by johnageddes

Anyone who has worked with Domino Theatre in Kingston, Ontario is familiar with the practical but rather stark actors’ dressing room. White plaster walls, big mirrors, lights and a floating rack of costumes for whatever production is in the works.

Last weekend the crew of Fault were challenged with turning that little room into a location for their movie, presumably a dressing room in the rural “Barn Theatre” where some of the movie action occurs. Last year, scenes on the stage of the “Barn” theatre, in the lobby and lounge and outside the theatre were filmed. An additional pick up scene was required to finish the film and the original location was not available. Fault‘s producer, Barbara Bell, coaxed her Kingston theatre friends to let Fault use the Domino dressing room for this scene.

The crew arrived at Domino around 6 pm after a day shooting outdoors and started to scrounge for set pieces to give the place more character.

Director Leigh Ann Bellamy contemplating how to dress this set.

Now, if you are going to look to dress a set, the best place to be is in a theatre. Soon the small crew came up with pieces of wall and drapes and lights and set pieces that turned one corner of the DominoTheatre dressing room into a wonderfully warm set, rich with great character.

The scene, with Jennifer Verardi and Amelia MacKenzie-Gray-Hyre and directed by Leigh Ann Bellamy was shot from several angles, including one from between the costumes on the rack.

By 11 pm it was a wrap, the props and set dressing all returned to various cubby holes in the Domino Theatre and the crew on thier way home, anticipating one more day if shooting before the movie was in the can and ready for all the work of post production.

In the past year or two I have had the pleasure of working, in varying capacities, with friends who were shooting movies in Kingston and in Kenya. I worked with “director greats” McGuire, Hincer, Nielson and Bellamy and was even a background performer (along with 200 other Kingstonians) in the major studio Guillermo del Toro film, Crimson Peak, shot in Kingston market square in April. It has been fascinating to participate in this process and given me great appreciation for all the work and planning that goes into even few seconds of motion picture.

Here are some glimpses of what you might eventually see and what it took to make that magic happen in Fault. Watch for it.

Leigh Ann Bellamy and Director of Photography, Christian Paulo Malo, contemplate a camera angle.

Daniel Karan is boom operator. Sound is captured with lavaliere microphones hidden in the actor’s costume and an overhead boom. Jennifer’s microphone was in a box of Kleenex on the counter.

Here is what you will see in the movie , or close to it. A far cry from the bare Domino dressing room.

Jennifer Verardi and Amelia MacKenzie-Gray-Hyre in a scene from Fault. When you see two characters quietly talking in a movie scene there is a whole crew only inches away making that happen.