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B8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, September 20,2000 We invite you to listen to the great music every Sunday at 5 JO p.m. on the Radio Dial 1320 AM "That Night at the Opera" "Quella sera all 'opera" The Italian Radio Program of Opera produced and presented by Giuseppe Fava Arts & Entertainment Qaktille Betu'er Entertainment Editor Carol Baldwin 845-3824 (Extension 254); Fax: 337-5567; E-mail: baldwin@hattonsearch.com stage talking about his roles at this year's festival as well as his previous three years in Stratford as a student actor. "I love it here," he says, adding that he is "here" on a contract basis and, consequently, continues to keep his eyes peeled for other acting possibilities, just in case. That beprepared attitude may stem from a piece of advice he was once given by the woman who gave him his first profes sional acting job - "If you're not getting work, create it for yourself. So you're never dependent on someone else to guide your life." And, he says, he'd go back to serving donuts between gigs if he had to. But right now, he'll continue to enjoy his fourth season working among some of Canada's most ven erable actors. Four years ago, he sat backstage at one of his first Strat ford productions in awe of artistic director Richard Monette, whom he was acting alongside in an Italian cotnedy titled Filumena. `T he best thing about this place is that it's so easy to be in awe of everybody," he reiterates, even though the novel ty has certainly worn off by now. "You work with people who have been doing it (acting) their whole lives or people who are just innately fantastic at what they do." For Therriault, Hutt, the director of Oscar Remembered, has earned a special place among the revered in the Strat ford company. And, he says, Hutt directed the same show in the same theatre 25 years ago with the man who wrote the production. So, when the Oscar Wilde tribute - A Wilde Celebration - was being planned, Hutt suggested it be staged again, only with Therriault as Douglas this time. "He asked if I would do it with him. It was an honour," says Therriault, explaining that this is the fourth show in which he and Hutt have worked together. However, the one-on-one relationship in this particular production has allowed the two actors to get to know one another better. Therriault says he once suggested that he'd never be able to thank Hutt enough for sharing his knowledge and skills. "He said, `You can thank me. W hatever you've learned from me, pass it on. That's the secret of eternal life, just pass it on.' It was so sweet," says Therriault. "And I have to. I've promised I would." Oscar Remembered will continue until Sept. 29th. Oakville actor shines in one-m an sh o w 4 1 B ringing Oscar W ilde to life through his protege' s eyes B y C arol B aldw in ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR "Life cannot be written. Life can only be lived; and 1 have lived. " (Oscar Wilde; 1854-1900) M ichael T h e rria u lt has also lived, vicariously th a t is, in the shoes of L o rd A lfred D ouglas - O scar W ilde's protege, in tim ate com panion an d confidant. Therriault was chosen by William Hutt, veteran Strat ford Festival actor and director, to play the part of Douglas in O scar Remembered, which opened last Friday in Strat ford's Tom Patterson Theatre. The selection was quite an honour, the Oakville actor admits. But to see Therriault on stage in this one-man show is to understand the depth of H utt's perception in selecting the young actor, who is a relative newcomer to the Stratford Festival. The only contender for the spotlight in his approximate ly two-hour presentation was a persistent fly, which was, at least, polite enough not to land on the actor as he recited lines from W ilde's The Ballad o f Reading Gaol. However, had the flying fan landed, Therriault would simply have used exaggerated facial expressions to dislodge it, as he did during a recent performance o f Fiddler on the Roof, he said in an interview after one of his weekend performances. Some o f his friends in the company met Therriault at the stage door after the show, congratulating him on his marathon performance and asking him questions, one of which was `How did you learn all those lines?' "I've had the script since October. So, I've been reading it over and over and over since then. And I did a lot of research, too, so you get images in your head for each thing, and that helps you remember," he later confided, adding that part o f his research included a trip to England where he visited the British Library and listened to a recording of Douglas and read some o f his manuscripts. He also walked the grounds of Magdalen College, Douglas's alma mater. "I went to a lot o f the places that I mention in the play so I would have some sort of visual connection with them. So I have something to think about when I'm saying it," he explains. Therriault, who claims to have known very little about Wilde and next to nothing about Lord Douglas when he got the part, says a lot of material has been written about Dou glas, affectionately known as Bosie, as well as written by him. "He wrote a number of biographies at different points in his life and they all contradict (each other) in various things because they're flavoured with what was going on in his life at the time," explains the 27-year-old actor, who read everything he could get his hands on concerning the lives of Wilde and Bosie. `T h a t's w hat's so much fun about acting, too. If you really like to learn, you always have the opportunity to, just with all the research. I find that so much fun," he says excit edly. "A lot o f the stuff you find, you can't really use on stage. But it somehow helps you create your world." And the world he created for O scar Remembered includes Bosie's anger towards Wilde after reading De Profundis, as well as his adulation for the older poet/playwright. The emotional roller coaster that Douglas rode comes through in Therriault's performance as he introduces W ilde to the audience through his volatile protege. On stage, the talented actor has conversations with an invisible Wilde, with quotes from the author's many works woven into the script. Therriault, as Douglas, also chokes out the censuring words of a critical, emotionally-charged letter that was written to Bosie from W ilde's prison cell. The audience listens with rapt attention as this Oakville native unravels the m ysteries o f an unusual alliance between an aging author and his young and beautiful stu dent - sometimes compared to W ilde's Dorian Gray. And although Therriault exudes confidence and compe tence in his first one-man show, moments of doubt some times interrupt his concentration if an audience member shifts in her seat or clear his throat. "It's terrifying at first," he says of his first solo produc tion. "I've never worked on this stage before and what I've found is, because the audience is so close, you really can hear any wrestling about or coughing. So sometimes, if you hear people wrestling, it's hard not to think that they're bored." But when the stellar cast o f one takes the stage and begins to reveal the secrets of a literary giant who led such a colourful and unconventional life, all eyes and ears hang on his every gesture and word. (Theatre seats can cause the most enraptured audience member to change positions on occasion, and dry air has been known to tickle many a throat.) Although O scar Remembered only opened this past weekend, Therriault was not idle until then, leisurely learn ing his lines. The former Oakvillian, who currently lives in Stratford, is also part of the cast in Fiddler on the R oof and A s You Like It. Consequently, he is not only the star of a drama but plays an instrumental character in both a musical and a comedy at Stratford. And, he says, the biggest part isn't necessarily the most difficult for an actor. For example, he explains, if you appear only once and you screw up that appearance, you don't have an opportunity to redeem yourself. But, he adds, each role creates its own quandary. In Fiddler on the Roof, in which Therriault plays Motel the tailor, he worried about his vocal range. "I was nervous because I thought the song was too high. But it's not. It was just me not trusting myself," he says. "You have to get over your own personal fear." As Silvius, in A s You Like It, the young Oakville actor concentrated on making a lasting impression during his first appearance on stage. "You (as Silvius) come on in the first act for five minutes. You introduce yourself; then you leave. And then an hour later, you come back on and...you think, `Has the audience forgotten m e?" ' he explains. "So, in the first five minutes, you have to lay down what the problem is and who you are, so that they remember you when you come back...A nd if you mess up that first five minutes, then they can be lost." After watching this confident performer hold an audi ence in the palm of his hands for about 90 minutes, it's dif ficult to believe that he could be lost, especially on stage. Yet, the soft-spoken actor is a walking contradiction, reflecting both self-assurance and humility as he sits back- Photo by Michael Rafelson M ichael T h erriau lt, as L o rd A lfred D ouglas in Oscar R em em bered , w rites a letter to O scar W ilde, who is represen ted here by a green carn atio n . In this one-m an show W ilde is seen th ro u g h the eyes o f D ouglas --a young aristo c ra t who becam e W ilde's greatest love, an d ultim ately his nem esis. Oscar Rem em bered will continue in the Tom P atterso n T h e a tre until Sept. 29th. Tickets range in price from $32.50 to $35.50. T h e rria u lt also plays M otel in Fiddler on the R o o f a t the Festival T h eatre an d Silvius in A s You Like It a t the Avon T heatre. Tickets fo r Fiddler range from $46.50 to $74.50 a n d for A s You Like It from $38.50 to $67.50. T ickets are available by calling 1-800- waiting for? Get up to speed. Get C0GEC0@Home. When it comes to speed, dial-up's just not the ticket. COGECO@Home was made for the role. It's high speed Internet access over cable with download speeds up to 100 times faster than a 28.8 dial-up modem. It's even faster than high speed dial-up. 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