Gertrude and Alice is both a great love story and a look at language and the act of creation
Director Lois Anderson talks about legendary 20th-century partners Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, portrayed in a production by Western Gold Theatre in partnership with Touchstone Theatre and in association with United Players of Vancouver
Tanja Dixon-Warren and Kelsi James in Gertrude and Alice. Photo by Nancy Caldwell
In partnership with Touchstone Theatre and in association with United Players of Vancouver, Western Gold Theatre presents Gertrude and Alice at PAL Studio Theatre from November 6 to 23
HOW DO WE LEARN to listen to the sound of our own creative voices? How do we discover the audiences waiting to hear us? How does one build a creative legacy to be proud of?
This November at the PAL Studio Theatre, an acclaimed play about the legendary partnership between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas addresses these questions and explores what it means to be an artist.
Written by Anna Chatterton, Evalyn Parry, and Karin Randoja (also known as the Independent Aunties) and nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award in 2018, Gertrude and Alice was first presented to B.C. audiences by United Players of Vancouver in January 2024. The production starred Tanja Dixon-Warren and Kelsi James as Gertrude and Alice, and was directed by Lois Anderson.
Now Dixon-Warren, James, and Anderson return to remount the production, making new discoveries in the text—something Stein herself might be proud to hear.
“In the play, she [Stein] talks about how you look at the paintings of Matisse and Picasso over time and they continue to reveal themselves over time. And she says the same about her writing,” Anderson tells Stir. And so, as the actors return to the material over a year later, “there’s time for further discovery of what the playwrights were meditating on in this play.”
The production focuses on Stein and Toklas as they reflect on their 40-year relationship, the love they shared, and the creative projects that emerged from their partnership.
But if you’re worried that a play about the work of Gertrude Stein might be intimidating, don’t be.
True, Stein’s writing can be daunting. She wasn’t one for structure; in fact she delighted in dismantling it. Or, as she puts it in the play: “I wanted to smash the significance of the 19th-century order and structure, to shuck off old habits of seeing and describing, and to let a new art emerge.”
Even Anderson admits she initially found Stein’s work “impenetrable”. Yet, thanks to the sharp writing of the Independent Aunties and the engaging performances onstage, Stein’s style becomes surprisingly accessible, funny, and full of life.
“As I hear Tanja Dixon-Warren, who plays Gertrude, read some of the poetry peppered throughout the production, I hear the rhythm of Gertrude's writing, and I hear how words are used to pop out and hit you in a way that has an effect on you,” Anderson says. “The writers want you to hear and really understand the power of her language.”
Lois Anderson
What could have been a dry, academic look at Stein’s writing is instead an inspiring invitation to play with creative form and stay curious about new ways of sharing art.
According to Stein in the production: “The act of creation is about listening and looking, really look- ing, really seeing and capturing what you are seeing inside the continuous present.”
She explored this idea (and other unconventional ways of working) during the famous Paris salons she and Toklas hosted in their living room, where a who’s who of artists gathered in the early decades of the 20th century. With the support of her partner and friends, Stein had the freedom to take risks, experiment, and find her creative voice.
With that in mind, Anderson calls the production “a clarion call” to march to the beat of one’s own drum—a message that carries beyond the stage. Audiences are invited to continue exploring creativity first-hand through an Act 2 Artist Salon following the November 14 performance, featuring Chatterton.
The following night, Chatterton will lead a two-hour workshop on playwriting.
“It’s actually quite an exciting workshop for writers who are often working on page or on computer in a very isolated way,” Anderson says. “[Chatterton] will offer some techniques that the Independent Aunties and she herself use…to enter into character and enter into the story.”
The workshop on November 15 is pay-what-you-choose, with a suggested donation of $30. (Registration is available here.)
But Stein’s legacy is not just about language. It’s about love. And at the heart of the production is the great love story of Gertrude and Alice.
“It’s not a dusty historical love story,” Anderson says. “It feels as if we get a little glimpse into a very domestic love story: how they lived together in their home, what their home life was, how they supported each other… You just feel such joy when you walk out of the evening being with those two in their home.” 
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