John Herbert

The History of
John Herbert's Theatre Companies

Writen - John Herbert 2001

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After three years of studying theatre at the New Play Society with Dora Mavor Moore ( 1956 to 1959 ), John and his sister Nana Brundage founded their first theatre company in 1960, titled Adventure Theatre.

Their first production as a company was of Enid Bagnold's literate comedy The Chalk Garden, performed at Centre Stage Theatre, on Bloor St. West, near Yonge St., having its opening in April of 1961. The production received an approving review in the Globe and Mail newspaper on April 14, 1961. Nana Brundage was praised for her portrayal of the character Madrigal and John Herbert's direction was shown respect in the critique.

Much encouraged, the acting company went on to present two productions in 1962, the first showing of John Herbert's one-act plays, Private Club and A Household God, at the Bohemian Embassy, near Wellesley and Yonge Sts., repeating the performances later that spring at the Newmarket Play Festival in Newmarket, Ontario.

The company changed its name to New Venture Players, hoping to present more new theatre works. Later in the year, New Venture Players presented a rarely performed play by James M. Barrie, the haunting comedy, Dear Brutus, in which Nana Brundage played the dark role of Alice Dearth.; St. Luke's Auditorium at Carlton and Sherbourne Sts. in the autumn of 1962.

During 1963, the company worked on one of its most ambitious productions, a mounting of The Lady of the Camellias, a play by Alexandre Dumas fils, a neglected Victorian costume drama, requiring ten actors and five set changes within three acts. Thirty- seven costume changes were involved plus dance. The well- known dancer, Garbut Roberts, created choreography for a party scene. This elaborate task took a year in preparation, so that the presentation did not take place until February of 1964, at the Victoria Auditorium at Victoria and Queen Sts., Toronto.

After having rented various stages for several years, as well as studio space for workshops and rehearsals, the company decided to lease a large space, within which it could combine the needs of both rehearsal and performance freedom. Early in 1965, the first Garret Theatre location was designed by company members in a large second-floor area above Rugantino's Restaurant on Yonge St. near Charles St., Toronto. The stage and lighting construction was designed and supervised by long-time company member, David Corfield, who now heads a repertory theatre company in England. He played the artist, Dearth, in Dear Brutus, in The Lady of the Camellias, the lover, Armand ,and the jester, Folial, in John Herbert's early presentation of Escurial. David worked on all early productions with the company.

The opening production at the Garret Theatre in the spring of 1965 was a program of two long one act plays, The Maids by Jean Genet and Escurial by Michel de Ghelderode. This was the first production by the company , under any name, to be visited by Nathan Cohen, renowned Canadian theatre critic. After the performance at The Garret, Cohen said to Herbert, "Put me on your mailing list. I'll come to see anything you do." The show ran for several weeks to attentive audiences.

The company did not have the necessary funds to maintain the excellent space on Yonge Street so retreated to renting a rehearsal room at the 48TH. Highlanders Club at 519 Church St., now the 519 Community Centre, near Wellesley St., a popular meeting place for events of interest to the Gay community and other centre-city community groups.

In the summer of 1965, Douglas Campbell, directing at the Stratford Festival Theatre, accepted Herbert's new playscript Fortune and Men's Eyes for the new Stratford workshop for young actors. Veteran Stratford actor, Bruno Gerussi, directed the summer workshop, which was given a single performance at end of the full company's season. In a series of steps, involving the interest of Nathan Cohen of the Toronto Daily Star, who recommended Herbert's play to producer, David Rothenberg of New York, the piece went into workshops at Actors Studio in 1966.

In that year, The Garret company rehearsed Chekhov's play The Seagull at 519 Church Street, taking performances to Toronto high-schools. Nana Brundage played the role of Arkadina, the Russian actress. In February of 1967 Nana, her brother and partner in theatre for more than a decade, and their mother, Gladys Brundage, who had handled their box-offices since 1961, would attend the American premiere of John's play Fortune and Men's Eyes at Actors Playhouse, off-Broadway and come to rejoice in its success and long life around the world over following years.

The Garret Theatre would be revived in Toronto at a new location, 529 Yonge St. at Maitland St. The company would survive in this location until 1971, when John Herbert left Canada to spend a year exploring theatre in London and Paris. His prison play, titled 'Hommes' in a French translation by Alain Brunet, opened in Paris in December of 1971 and ran for several months in 1972.

When Herbert returned to Canada, later in 1972, he formed a theatre company under the title of Maverick Theatre, which, as in earlier days, played in a variety of locations; the Poor Alex Theatre at Brunswick and Bloor Sts., the Forest Hill Library Theatre on Eglinton Avenue West, near Spadina, St. Paul's Community Centre on Bloor St. at Robert and then a final location, the 519 Church Street Community Centre, where the Maverick Theatre presented many plays and performances between 1986 and 1996, most of them as benefits for community causes, such as hospices, hostels and shelters in the centre-city.

Despite the international success of one famous play, John Herbert says that he would not have had a satisfying or rewarding life in theatre without his years of directing and working with actors on challenging and exciting plays by many writers. He believes that the theatre is a democratic art, depending on the contributions of all artists involved in all departments of a production, and at its best when it lives for the entertainment, education and inspiration of the community where it resides and seeks greater civilization for all.

 

 

John Herbert

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