Theatre review: do you want what I have got? a craigslist cantata livestreams humour and heart
The revised song cycle based on online classified ads is a technical triumph
Clockwise from top left: Amanda Sum, Andrew Wheeler, Meaghan Chenosky, Chirag Naik.
November 19 livestream from the Cultch. Streams until November 22
WATCHING DO YOU want what I have got? a craigslist cantata via livestream from home is obviously nothing like seeing it in person at a packed Cultch, but there are some positives: As musician Veda Hille and director Amiel Gladstone (co-writers with Bill Richardson) pointed out in their pre-show greeting, you can eat candy and do all the flash photography you want! And the team behind the pandemic version of the popular song cycle based entirely on Craigslist posts did a crack job of pulling everything together in the face of strict health restrictions.
Cast and crew pivoted to revise the show from its original 2012 form to fit with physical distancing requirements—then pivoted anew when those became even tighter earlier this month. Rather than sharing the stage at safe distances, the actors took to individual rooms throughout the entire building, each filmed separately. So the virtual connection wasn’t limited to the cast and the audience; the performers had to connect with each other virtually, too.
The strategic approach made for what Hille and Gladstone described as “safe art” (#safeart). Presumably, however, not being able to see or physically interact with your fellow cast members could lead to all sorts of potential disasters. And if you’ve had to figure out something as basic as setting up a Zoom call while working from home, you’ll have some appreciation of the just how steep the learning curve is with so much COVID-era technology. Give it to the techies: the livestream was flawless.
Each room had a black background and a few candles in it, nothing more. Sometimes all of the performers—Meaghan Chenosky, Josh Epstein, Chirag Naik, Amanda Sum, and Andrew Wheeler—would be in a split screen, like a mini Hollywood Squares, while harmonizing or dancing “together” (with choreography by Amanda Testini). At others, a single performer had the screen. Then there was an especially cool effect where the screen looked like an actual craigslist ad, complete with headline and map, the streaming unfolding where the listing’s photo would be.
Occasionally, we got to see Hille on piano and long-time collaborator, percussionist Barry Mirochnik, both masked and well apart on-stage. Hille’s score is mostly lively and playful, with a few moments of melancholy.
Gladstone, Hille, and Richardson sourced the most oddball, hilarious, disturbing, and pitiful ads out there. To fit with the times, some have been updated, containing references to things like hand sanitizer and contact tracers.
Turning lines like “Bus Boyfriend: I want to smell you again” into catchy song is wizardry. That the performers are able to evoke tenderness and vulnerability amid so much levity is testament to their expressivity.
They don’t break the fourth wall but rather break through the constraints of virtual performance and the impersonal nature of digital platforms to reach us, at home in our own boxes, with their humanity and humour. And without giving anything away, the closing scene is enough to break your heart.
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