Responses about Persephone
(Lost: A Memoir, 2013)
I wanted to write and thank you for the nice evening. We all enjoyed the play. The actress was amazing.
Thank-you for your kind compliments and thank-you for allowing me the opportunity to portray Cathy in this beautiful play. Your mission to allow artists to be seen is so appreciated. Being unknown in this city, it means the world to me that you've given me a stage to act on and a role to play.
Thank-you Gabrielle!! -Karine
(Oroonooko, 2013)
Thank you for taking a chance on this new and ambitious play, Oroonoko. I hope the experience was as rewarding for you all as it was for me. It takes great faith and courage to produce a new play, particularly one as ambitious this. (Paul van Dyck, playwright)
No words to say how amazing the show is. Well done from every angle. You should be very proud of this production. Those that did not see it have missed a milestone in Montreal theatre! Again well done!
Last night’s performance of Oroonoko was wonderful! I had found Aphra Behn’s book such a bore, so the play was surprisingly good – a very intelligent interpretation of the book, greatly improving on it with a wide variety of clever additions, moods and metaphors. It pulled the story together most successfully. All the actors, apart from doing a bit too much shouting, were excellent. They really put their hearts into their roles and made the characters seem real. The set was fantastic, the way it was created by nothing but a large white sheet.
Promoting young artists -- writers, actors, directors etc. is such a worthwhile venture and you are doing it so well. When we are not traveling, we never miss any of your presentations; they are always so varied, creative and stimulating. Last night was such an emotional experience that we could hardly speak for several hours after the actors received their well-deserved applause. We could not bear to add an intellectual discussion to the feelings that developed over the course of the play. It was beautifully directed and the actors were superb. They certainly carried us on an emotional journey that is still with us.
The play was absolutely amazing, strong performances, very interesting topic, professionally developed. I'm still processing it! Well done, congratulations with this big success!
What a wonderful play! We all thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting and dancing were excellent as was the background music. Melanie should be very proud of the costumes, the visuals of the earth colours, the long cloth and wood boxes was so spot on. A really tremendous show.
Who would have thought our Chris could be such a nasty fellow! All the acting was great. I was exhausted after watchingOroonoko from the front row.
I went to see Oroonoko on Friday night and was completely blown away. Congratulations on putting together a very talented group of people--really was a pleasure to watch!!
It's quite effortless to express my thoughts on such a well done play! I really enjoyed myself, it is a great production. It makes me happy to see Persephone show such versatility. I really think this production is a great credit to the company; you and the team should be very proud! I see theatre in Montreal starting to slowly step up to the mark and I'm confident Persephone Productions will continue to do so!
(Hamlet, 2012)
Congratulations on a Fantastic show!!! Chris does an amazing job and the set was great! I enjoyed every moment and again I understood everything (a talent only you posses to make Shakespeare understandable to me). I'm not sure how you do it, but keep up the great work!
I just wanted to check in and let you know that last week I saw your Hamlet and was really blown away. Chris was spectacular, and so was the entire cast. It was a show I'll remember for a long time. I hope it was a good rehearsal process and that all the younger actors learned as much as I did in Far From the Madding Crowd.
This play was a very enriching experience for me, it was my first Shakespeare and I learned a lot from all of you. I think I came out of it a stronger actress than I went in and I also want to thank you for all the fun we had together. (an actor)
Bravo!! Just saw the last production of Hamlet at Victoria Hall and found it thrilling! Wonderful work as always.
I thinks Pat D missed the point. CM's interpretation was not as melancholy and brooding as PD wanted but why should he not be partly a victim looking for sympathy? Your version made the character more intelligible and intelligent than many Hamlets I have seen and more like the modern man. PD's comments seem narrow and a bit provincial. So there!
You rock.
So many of us who are loyal followers of Chris and Gabrielle know that whatever they do is of the highest standard and does indeed bring a great deal of joy to the audience.
I am so grateful that you told us about the show, and I thought the actors did a marvelous job. I liked them all, and was particularly impressed with the gal who played Ophelia and the fellow who played Hamlet. They were just wonderful. And I thought the directors did an amazing job editing the play down to 3 hours while still a) keeping all the great parts, and b) maintaining all those complex story lines. What an amazing feat!
Thank you again so much for such a lovely evening! And for helping us introduce our daughter to Shakespeare.
Thank you very much, Gabrielle. It's been an extraordinary journey, as I knew it would be, and I'm so very grateful that I had the privilege of being a part of it. I hope you're enjoying many well-deserved congratulations on your work. (an actor in Hamlet)
We had a most enjoyable evening with Hamlet last Thursday. The production was well paced and the staging was both simple and expressive. As usual with a Soskin production the actors read their lines with admirable clarity. It was fun to hear the text so fully articulated and I found myself “singing along” with familiar passages (silently, of course, so as not to disturb the other spectators). Christopher did a very effective job in bringing out Hamlet’s anguish, something I haven’t always seen in other productions. He was less convincing with Hamlet’s intellectual side as this is dramatized in the “antic disposition.” All the women’s roles were handled well, especially Gertrude, who let us see the gradual realization of her own “moral blindness” and the suffering it caused her.
I wasn’t particularly bothered with any of the cuts, though I was a bit surprised that Fortinbras never showed up. But your editing didn’t set up any misleading expectations that he was ever going to appear, so in the end I felt your decisions worked.
Thanks for doing this one. It took a lot of guts to try – but as they say – fortune favors the bold.
Wonderful production of Hamlet. Bravo!
That was a great experience! You did a phenomenal job in directing Hamlet. Christopher Moore was exceptional in being in full control of all his unending lines!
Please pass my congratulations along to the cast. For my Francophone students they made the story very understandable. it was an excellent performance.
Thank you Gabrielle! This has been an absolutely amazing experience! (an actor in Hamlet)
I just wanted to let you know that I saw Hamlet last Wednesday. There was a really good crowd that night! I hope the other shows were as full!
The pace of the play was great; it really moved along at a good clip, which is so important so as not to feel bogged down (super editing, I might add). The last act was swift and spooled out like the fate that it is.
Chris really did a great job of making the language so clear, as did everybody, actually. He was an animated and impassioned Hamlet! I thought Clive was an excellent Polonius: he was suitably ridiculous and humourous, but managed to impart a good degree of humanity to the role, which can often be missing.
I found Laertes' understated reaction to Ophelia's death struck a very true note, amidst all the other action and high emotion.
I hope all the performances went well, and I am sure that any students who saw it left with a very clear understanding of the plot and the dilemmas of the play, as well as seeing the language come alive on stage. Congratulations to you, your actors and your team - what a huge and ambitious undertaking! Well done!
We and our friends loved Hamlet the other night. Christopher was outstanding in the lead role and the venue was terrific. I don't think I have ever enjoyed Shakespeare more. We could understand every word and the plot just came alive. Please pass on our congratulations!
I saw your Hamlet last night and wanted to congratulate you on a very clear and confident production that put the emphasis on character, story and text, which I always think is the best route with Shakespeare and the way I personally like it. It just shows what these young actors can actually do when they are in such good hands. The passionate, fiercely intelligent, always on-the-edge and sometimes violent Hamlet brought out aspects of his character that I found very interesting and at times quite moving.
Bravo to all of you!
A sincere personal congratulation for the work you've done with this young cast. Truly, the text work was outstanding. Yes, some are ready to fill it out more than others, but they could all speak it well and they understood what they were saying - the phrasing and images were so clear and respectful to the structure. That is a huge feat that I have not seen in professional productions in a while. Christopher was truly outstanding. He had better audition for Stratford and Shaw soon. You know as well as I that breath is thought. If one doesn't have the full thought then the breath gets blocked and locked. It takes a lot of thought and imagination and guts to fill that text with oneself. Some got it. Some were getting it and you know that just a few will get it after this experience and it will benefit them just as much. Bravo. Well done.
What a presentation of Hamlet last night! Congratulations to everybody in the cast especially Christopher Moore.
(To Be, 2012)
I think your young man is deeply talented, in that he has fire in his belly and it blazes out of him.
Your actors were all very talented. The older actor with the John Elton glasses had a very nice supported voice. I was also impressed by their bravery and willingness to look silly or necessarily vulnerable, especially if they weren't naturally gay and habituated to certain ways of acting.
I thought it well worth attending, well worth all your energy and commitment. Who knows where this will go next?
Once again Persphone has taken the courageous path.
To Be is quite an achievement for Trevor Barrette; as a first play it is a moving and gripping. It may be a difficult act to follow, but I think that he has a lot so say as a playwright -- and as an actor.
I am 16 years old. I wanted to simply say how much I ADORED To Be. I saw it on the opening day with my school and, needless to say, I couldn't stop gushing about it throughout intermission and even after. In fact, I loved it so much, I convinced my mother to see it a second time on the 1st and, if I can even say it, I loved it even more! By now, this must make me seem completely obsessed! But, to be honest, I can't help myself. This has to be the single most original play I have ever seen in my life and that, quite frankly, is a lot! I simply want to congratulate all of the actors on their terrific performances and Trevor Barette on having written such an amazing script.
The play was extremely well done. The actors were fabulous and the music was interesting - the way the subject was addressed was very touching. All of us enjoyed it so tell Gabrielle that it is definitely a hit!
I had such a great time working on this show and I'm very grateful for the opportunity. It was such a great learning experience for me as a musician and artist.
I thought the musical was thought-provoking, entertaining and a remarkable achievement for such a young writer, director and cast. The sexuality was dealt with so well and was a refreshing change from how sexuality is so often presented in the media today. I thought the values articulated in the play were wonderful and I applaud the writer for celebrating intimacy rather than 'hooking up'.
Congratulations on bringing this production to the company's list of accomplishments. It adds wonderfully to the diversity and dynamism of what you've been attempting re: emerging young artists in our community; have a wonderful remaining run, and thank you for a splendid evening of unique theatre.
(Far from the Madding Crowd, 2011)
Thank you and your outstanding cast for an evening of excellent theatre. Frayne McCarthy justly prefers 'productions lovingly crafted by dedicated artists working with simple means.'
We really enjoyed the play and were very impressed with how they were able to handle the logistics of moving the actors onto the stage. We had both read the story before hand which certainly added to the enjoyment as we wondered how they would pull off the various events that took place. Congratulations to all.
I enjoyed working with everyone and couldn't have asked for a better cast and crew. I loved working with Persephone and will try encouraging the company as much and as well as I can in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play - so well executed by your sizeable group of talented actors. Your presentation (Sunday afternoon) was excellent and so relevant. A very lovely performance indeed.
I was just so impressed with the quality of the show -- the actors, the set, the costume, the music, everything. As I watched, the novel slowly came back to me (I read it so long ago for my comprehensive exams and had nearly forgotten it), but that did not in least diminish my experience of the play. I felt like I knew the characters personally and had to try my hardest not to weep when they brought in that coffin with poor Fanny's body. Heartbreaking! And I must say that the young woman playing Bathsheba did an outstanding job. She made me really admire that independent and headstrong New Woman (yes, I think she fits the bill) -- gave her a heart and brain to admire!
Il n’y avait pas de temps mort, un très bon rythme et enchaînement, une excellente direction d’acteurs.
I have to say that the play was incredible, awesome and wonderful. Congratulations to all actors! You made me feel special for a few hours. Continue your great work.
It was really well done...loved the way the seating was arranged around the play. They were just great! There were seven of us and we were all raving about it on our way home. The Rialto is really beautiful theatre.
I wanted to let you know how very much I enjoyed your production of Far From the Madding Crowd. The story itself continues to illustrate important contemporary issues and the fluid, professional and dramatically fine execution of the script drew me in in all ways, as we always hope theatre will: visually, aurally, intellectually and emotionally. The creative use of the space at the Rialto, that clearly presented challenges, seemed to add to the broader experience. I always enjoy the offerings of Persephone Productions, but I think with this play, you and your colleagues have achieved a particular success. I think that the Montreal community is greatly enriched by your efforts and contributions to cultural life.
My husband and I attended the Friday performance and were swept away into the world of Thomas Hardy, by the superb cast and the play's two directors! Never have we seen such brilliant direction, such that the cast was able to create a very believable, tactile rural environment by tweaking the audience's imagination. The blocking and choreography, the acting by each and every performer and the and the engrossing story brought to life, made for a perfect theatre experience.
(Mary's Wedding, 2011)
We left right after the performance on Thursday. To tell you the truth we were both in tears and didn't really want to small talk with people. I'm not quite sure how you did it but that was an incredible interpretation of the play. When I read it I was curious about how you would stage it, but I just couldn't see it...now I have.
We thought you did a magnificent job directing Mary's Wedding. It was such a touching, well written and interesting play which was brought to life by the wonderful acting, scenery, costumes, sound effects and lighting. All these elements came together to create a superb piece of theatre. Your two young actors were completely believable. Their relationship was very touching - no false notes. I hope they both have stellar careers!
I loved the simplicity of the staging. The wooden horses worked beautifully. The sound effects were effective in creating atmosphere.
I have to admit I had tears in my eyes at the end.
Well done, the whole crew.
Thank you for the invite to opening and for the charming production. I love unabashedly romantic plays and I thought you handled the particular structural / narrative challenges very well. Actors did a fine job, as always. Enjoy the run!
We enjoyed your excellent production of Mary's Wedding last night. We found the play charming - with the poignancy reminiscent of such plays as Our Town andSalt Water Moon.
We heartily disagree with the Gazette critic who found no "chemistry" between the actors. This was 1914 and that is how young people interacted in those days. My parents had an eight-year courtship largely by correspondence from 1912 to 1920 (described in my book Tell Me Why Nights are Lonesome) and they did not address each other by first names until they were engaged.
He also failed to praise the smooth transitions from one scene to the next (as a director I really appreciate creative transitions). We credit you as well for the sincere performances you succeeded in eliciting from your young performers.
So for what it is worth……….BRAVO !
(Henry V, 2010)
We were very brief in passing on the last night of the production. I can tell you that I was very tired when I arrived in the theatre. By the time I left I felt great and totally energized - that was a creatively energized production and thought provoking to match. Thank you.
I was lucky enough to be in the audience of your closing performance of Henry V last night. Wanted to send a little note offering my congratulations to the cast and crew. Excellent work. The direction, acting and use of space were wonderful. Bravo.
What a powerful play it was! What excellent acting!. We were very impressed with the presentation, the sound and background music, the simple but powerful stage. What a challenge to make this play up to date, what successful and professional efforts have gone into this. Congratulations Gabrielle, you are an amazing director; what an opportunity for young actors to work with you.
Congratulations to you on having created such a powerful, relevant, and enjoyable production. I've tried to make sure that everyone in the cast and crew knows how much I've enjoyed working with them, and how proud I am to have been a part of this team.
Thank you for continuing to bring Shakespeare to this city, and for doing such a wonderful job of it.
I really enjoyed Henry V. Aaron was wonderful as Henry and the whole company was excellent. I thought the way you used the space was very engaging and I liked that the chorus was by all....very effective! The costumes were very interesting, as well. It was a terrific show and all should be very proud.
I would just like to thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity and amazing experience of working for Persephone Productions. It has been an honour and a privilege to work alongside such a talented cast of actors, and a joy to have been directed by a pair of passionate theatre lovers.
It was a great production. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Congratulations.
Kudos! So beautifully costumed and staged, acted and directed. It was all school kids in the audience and they seemed to love that they could relate to it. It was directed in a way that made it "today" for them and I felt that they were really involved in the story and very moved. They were all talking about war issues at intermission. Wonderful.
Beautiful show! I just wanted to let you know how refreshing it was to see a show that really focused on the text of the play. I didn't feel distracted by unneccesary design or technical elements - it was just the text. It was absolutely beautiful.
I enjoyed the play so much. My congratulations to Gabrielle and to the wonderful actors who are so very impressive. What a wonderful opportunity for young artists to showcase their exceptional talents and live their dream. I am looking forward to the next production.
(Be my Baby, 2009)
We really enjoyed Be My Baby: we found the performers dynamic and highly skilled and the play interesting and well paced. Great job!
There was a lot to discuss; the lack of choice for women, the double standard, comparisons between parenting then and now; the lack of knowledge and understanding of sexuality, the contrast between the romantic idealism of the music and the reality of the girls' situation, the different character types, the different class viewpoints, etc. Very rich ground!
Congrats to you and your whole team. Persephone has provided excellent theatre yet again!
I am so glad I got to see Be My Baby. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute. The girls were all so good. It is hard to believe that some of them are just beginning their careers, they were so professional!! I enjoyed the question period too.
Thank you for the care you take to mount high quality productions.
We thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a great play. Congratulations to Gabrielle and her team.
(Cherry Docs, 2009)
I think you do a marvellous job for English theatre against tough odds.
I feel that you have great passion for your work as a director, and this shows in Cherry Docs.
Thank you so much for continuing to bring such performances to the Montreal community. Our students are richer for the experience. We spoke about the play today in English class, and the girls had many complementary things to say, both about its staging and content. One thing that stood out for many of them was the ability of both actors to draw the audience in. A number of students made comments about being on the edge of their seats. One girl said that she actually stopped breathing during the scene when Mike broke down crying. They also felt very strongly that the issue of hatred and violence is of central concern today for them, and that they felt that the play showed the complexity of this issue well.
We thought it was great, Gabrielle! You and your cast and crew are to be much congratulated for offering an amazing play to the theatre-goers of Montreal. It is a very well written play, I thought, and the acting was very, very good, particularly Dan. It is so poetic in parts...very beautiful! I was quite moved and would have liked to have seen it a second time. It's quite dense as well, and requires the audience to really pay attention.
Absolutely rivetting. Your best show yet.
Powerful. Excellent.
Extraordinarily moving. You are bringing us excellent theatre, Gabrielle. (Cherry Docs, 2009)
You actually helped me a lot to do lighting design by being receptive and very respectful. Without your help I wouldn't be able to enjoy lighting design for the show.
It was EXCELLENT Gabrielle!! Thank you so much and Congratulations!! Exhausting and stimulating. Sean and Dan were brilliant.
Congratulations on the show. In spite of having read the play so many times, I was quite affected by some of the powerful moments you created.
"Cherry Docs" by David Gow was a very thought-provoking and powerful play. It was extremely well acted, direct and with a strong message. The two actors kept the audience captivated the whole time. For me the play had a special meaning. Since I spent a lot of time in high schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, I see these angry, disillusioned, lost young men everywhere and every day, perhaps not as skinheads, but in comparable situations. The play taught me that as a society we urgently need to do something about the despair and anger of these young people. It is our collective responsibility. The play certainly made us all think and talk about this issue. Thank you Gabrielle for shaking us up! It's a powerful piece that was well handled. Performances were great.
What more could one want from a theatre piece than to leave with something to think and talk about. A quote by Michel Tremblay says it better than I can:
When you leave a play, you should be either thinking about the subject or fighting among yourselves. The problem shouldn't be solved. Michel Tremblay.
It completely blew me away!
Congratulations on another terrific show! It was absolutely flawless.
Congrats on a thoughtful, moving production.
(Othello, 2008)
I feel so happy to have been a part of the production and already feel that it is one of the defining moments of my life.
I have been remiss in not contacting you earlier to tell you how remarkable Othello was. After hearing the first few lines of the play, I realized I would be in for a profound afternoon.
This production did what it was supposed to do: illuminate the concerns of character that Shakespeare addresses. I have been thinking about it ever since. That Othello didn't know himself well enough made him prey to Iago, but that Rodgrigo (infatuation) and Cassio (passionate anger), who mirrored these two aspects of Othello's character, knew their possible outcomes but were still unable to withstand Iago, gives pause.
Thank you for your integrity, for setting and meeting such high standards.
Quand la simplicité l'emporte. Avec sa mise en scène épurée et l'intimité de la salle qui ne doit pas contenir plus de 50 sièges, Othello nous offre un beau moment de théâtre. Je ne suis pas 100% bilingue mais j'ai quand même réussi à suivre l'histoire (heureusement, j'ai lu un résumé de l'histoire avant!). Les talentueux interprètes ont réussi sans misère à nous emporter dans l'univers Shakespearien. Particulièrement le jeune homme qui interprétait le rôle d'Iago, il était vraiment convainquant dans la peau de ce personnage malicieux.
Belle occasion de revoir un classique. Une interprétation intéressante... Une belle occasion de voir ou revoir un classique.
It was delightful. We enjoyed the play , the actors were amazing; great job well done.
Congratulations to you, the actors, and everyone involved in your superb production of Othello. Never have I heard Shakespeare's words spoken so clearly, enunciated so perfectly, and delivered with such appropriate emotion. Bravo!
Once again, we loved the show - it was so energetic and engaging. It really moved the whole time. Iago was great and so was Othello (wonderful for Tristan! ). There was a lot of chemistry between Othello and Desdemona and she looked beautiful and it was a treat to read her face - it spoke volumes. I liked how the box on the set was manipulated and I found there were a lot of subtleties that worked so well - for example, the scene where Iago is polishing Othello's boots and Othello shows his displeasure with what Iago is saying by moving his feet. The smothering scene was very well done; many of the girls mentioned they found it very affecting and convincing. Many of the Grade 11's who had seen Stratford's Othello last year liked yours better and Jan and I both agree. The actors really conveyed Shakespeare's meaning very adeptly; you must have worked very hard with them, because that is not an easy thing to get from young actors. Wonderful work, all round!
I just came back from your wonderful production of Othello at Sunday’s matinée. The actors were superb. They spoke Shakespeare’s words intelligently and beautifully and moved me deeply. It was clear that they gave it their all. They opened up to their characters, to each other and to us and it was very moving to receive. Congratulations to the whole team (on and behind the scenes) for a special theatre experience.
Tristan’s portrayal of Othello...had so many beautiful moments & nuances, & I believe that for a 24 year old he showed a huge range of ability, fully capable of tackling such great roles as this, & others that I’ve seen him play (Oberon, Theseus, Caliban, Don Pedro, etc.). Rebecca Croll truly was magnificent indeed. what a presence! She’s also great in all things that I’ve seen her in... Cassio was quite charming, I found... All in all, I think that given the circumstances, these highly qualified actors did an incredible job bringing Shakespeare’s words to Life.
The performance of Othello this past Saturday evening was amazing.
I saw the show on Saturday evening & absolutely loved it.
It was better than the other two fine professional productions I've seen - one at Stratford and one several times in Melbourne. There was no important hair out of place in the whole performance. You wonder why people say Shakespeare was the best writer of all time in any language. He gets under the skin and then under that.
Despite the fact that I spent the night after it dreaming of conspiracies, I really enjoyed the play. The acting was very impressive. I love these plays where it all comes down to actors and costumes, but practically no props or sets. Shakespeare wins again!
Now what can you find next?
We (the Centre Greene Theatre Club) loved the show! You are to be congratulated-wonderful work. Thanks so much.
Bravo Gabrielle, you did a magnificent job with the play. All of us thoroughly enjoyed it! Congratulations to you, the actors and all your team!
I thought the Tuesday performance even better than Fri. You've done a really marvellous job - and it's a marvellous play.
That is great. Wonderful show, excellent! It kept me on the edge of my seat, fabulous performances! .
Yes, my group enjoyed the play very much. We were impressed with the actors' handling of the language - I know you worked very hard to achieve that - and thought your young actors gave an excellent performance, particularly Iago who was outstanding and Emilia (Iago's wife - did I get the right name?) The scene between Desdemona and Emilia was touching and believable. We weren't so sure we believed that Desdemona and Othello were passionately in love. I'm not sure why - chemistry is such a subtle thing. However, Emma didn't agree. She thought the character of Othello was great and perfectly convincing and she was in tears at the end. Other people I've talked to have been unanimous that this was an excellent production. Oh, and the fights were great! I liked your minimalist staging - the boxes worked very well. Well done everybody and congratulations to you. I hope the run is going well.
Congratulations to you all. What a superb production.
I will be back again on the 28th.
(2007 MECCA)
Wow! How exciting. The MECCA and The Myron Galloway Awards. Congrats.
On a personal note, I so wish that I could've been a part of The Greenfields production. But mix-ups happen. C'est la vie. I do enjoy working with you. You are truly a wonderful teacher and an inspiration to all young actors.
Just a quick and belated note about your recent awards. What a pleasure it is to see you and Persephone so honored by our theatrical community.
I have, of course—as you well know—been a Soskin fan for many years, full of admiration for your directorial talent and your persevering spirit, and I think it’s terrific what you have done since retiring from John Abbott. Under your guidance, Persephone has grown into one of Montreal’s most vital theatre companies.
( Unity (1918), 2007)
We thoroughly enjoyed the play and the acting was excellent!
What a wonderful theatre evening it was last Friday! The script, the staging and the acting were all first rate. Bravo to you.
Congrats! It was wonderful. So you can relax now, the birth was delivered successfully.
I really enjoyed the show last night; it was quite a beautiful production. I realize the sparse set was due to budget restrictions, but it actually worked quite nicely and allowed the show's focus to be on the text. Strong performances all around, especially the young woman who played Beatrice. Anyway, you should be very proud of the show, it's a great production.
I've just had a quick look at your website and it looks great. You have my admiration for having the nerve to dedicate yourself to such a company- which is such an essential resource for so many artists. (Playwright)
(The Loves of Shakespeare's Women, 2007)
Félicitations pour une très belle soirée. You were magnificent Gabrielle. Elisabeth and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening.(The Loves of Shakespeare's Women, re-mount 2008)
You were fabulous last night - quite the 'tour de force'. Well done. I hope the rest of the performances are as good. It almost makes me want to read Shakespeare's plays again! And the costume was brilliant - so clever. I thought you used it very well, taking the time to change, and adapt the mood from one role to another. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!
I loved all the speeches. I particularly enjoyed Viola, Emilia, Lady M and the barmaid's exchange. Really well done! Also one of the best costumes I've seen in a long time. Beautiful to say the least, but also very well used.
We loved, loved, loved the show.
We thoroughly enjoyed your "Love of Shakespeare's Women" last night. I was touched by the range of emotion in each of the acts and the intense and concise production. I was completely engaged. Thank you!
I saw your show last night. Well Done. Loved the production.
You gave a riveting performance to capture the sense of character, emotion and all placed in wonderful context.
(Prodigy 2006)
Thankyou for your patience and open-mind. Thank you for leading us on the journey. Thank you for understanding what it is to be an actor. Thank you for being you.
"the public is like a piano. You have to know what keys to poke." Al Capp.
Thank you for this very delicious opportunity! What a compelling story-with wonderful female characters. It has been a pleasure working with you again. Hopefully we can take it to Broadway!
I've learned so much about myself-as an actor and as a human being. I felt confident, fearless, liberated. My experience with Persephone has inspired me to dream and convinced me that-with enough hard work-I can realise those dreams.
(To the Green Fields Beyond, 2006)
feedback from the author Nick Whitby during the rehearsals of To the Green Fields Beyond (2006):
On the youth of your cast, that's great - young is good, very good. The original crews might have had one or two in their mid-twenties or older but most would have been very young indeed. I hope you have a terrific week - Nick
HOW interesting, the stylization business - I'll come to that, but first the 'ice' - it does just mean 'calm', the fact that he's able to sleep appears very cool to K, who doesn't know about the morphine - the tiny looks or ghosts of smiles of the others tell us the reality.
... it is the audience who must supply the drama/meaning/pain etc - the observer creates the reality and this reality must never be fed to them or the play contradicts its own heart. The fact that this moment is so painfully under-played is what makes it so painful - they're gone before we are quite ready for it (like in life, and death)... this is what emotionally then necessitates the concluding scene of the play. I love the fact that you are having them exit upstage - this is crucial and exactly as I always envisaged it. Please, please try it under-played - in a private circle is great, less is so much more here, it makes the audience like privileged watching spirits. That's wonderful because it entrusts them with meaning, makes it theirs. Nick
Merci pour cette fabuleuse expérience. Merci de m'avoir fait confiance et la liberté d'explorer.
You have given us a great play. Thank you for bringing Green Fields to Montreal!
Thank you for your efforts to 'raise the bar' in Montreal's Theatre community.
The play itself is very thought-provoking and relevant and captured the horrible situation the soldiers were in, while highlighting the team work of the group. It was also very well acted and staged. I definitely want to be on the list for future productions.
(Spring Awakening 2005)
I have learnt so much about acting and myself as an actor this month
I’m always proud to be part of your team
(SubUrbia 2004)
My favorite moments were those when you spoke about the grandness of the theatre
This was the best role I’ve ever played, and the best play I’ve ever played in. My gratitude is immeasurable
Thank you for helping me grow as an actor and a more confident woman
I am deeply grateful to you for your generous and free direction
You are doing something wonderful with Persephone. I hope I have the pleasure of working with you again in the future
Thank you for believing in me. I have learnt so much over the past two months
(Jane Eyre 2004)
I really have the utmost respect for you and everything Persephone stands for. Many young artists have you to thank for getting their work out there
I finally got the opportunity to work with you, and it was all I hoped it would be. Thank you
I wanted to write and thank you for the nice evening. We all enjoyed the play. The actress was amazing.
Thank-you for your kind compliments and thank-you for allowing me the opportunity to portray Cathy in this beautiful play. Your mission to allow artists to be seen is so appreciated. Being unknown in this city, it means the world to me that you've given me a stage to act on and a role to play.
Thank-you Gabrielle!! -Karine
(Oroonooko, 2013)
Thank you for taking a chance on this new and ambitious play, Oroonoko. I hope the experience was as rewarding for you all as it was for me. It takes great faith and courage to produce a new play, particularly one as ambitious this. (Paul van Dyck, playwright)
No words to say how amazing the show is. Well done from every angle. You should be very proud of this production. Those that did not see it have missed a milestone in Montreal theatre! Again well done!
Last night’s performance of Oroonoko was wonderful! I had found Aphra Behn’s book such a bore, so the play was surprisingly good – a very intelligent interpretation of the book, greatly improving on it with a wide variety of clever additions, moods and metaphors. It pulled the story together most successfully. All the actors, apart from doing a bit too much shouting, were excellent. They really put their hearts into their roles and made the characters seem real. The set was fantastic, the way it was created by nothing but a large white sheet.
Promoting young artists -- writers, actors, directors etc. is such a worthwhile venture and you are doing it so well. When we are not traveling, we never miss any of your presentations; they are always so varied, creative and stimulating. Last night was such an emotional experience that we could hardly speak for several hours after the actors received their well-deserved applause. We could not bear to add an intellectual discussion to the feelings that developed over the course of the play. It was beautifully directed and the actors were superb. They certainly carried us on an emotional journey that is still with us.
The play was absolutely amazing, strong performances, very interesting topic, professionally developed. I'm still processing it! Well done, congratulations with this big success!
What a wonderful play! We all thoroughly enjoyed it. The acting and dancing were excellent as was the background music. Melanie should be very proud of the costumes, the visuals of the earth colours, the long cloth and wood boxes was so spot on. A really tremendous show.
Who would have thought our Chris could be such a nasty fellow! All the acting was great. I was exhausted after watchingOroonoko from the front row.
I went to see Oroonoko on Friday night and was completely blown away. Congratulations on putting together a very talented group of people--really was a pleasure to watch!!
It's quite effortless to express my thoughts on such a well done play! I really enjoyed myself, it is a great production. It makes me happy to see Persephone show such versatility. I really think this production is a great credit to the company; you and the team should be very proud! I see theatre in Montreal starting to slowly step up to the mark and I'm confident Persephone Productions will continue to do so!
(Hamlet, 2012)
Congratulations on a Fantastic show!!! Chris does an amazing job and the set was great! I enjoyed every moment and again I understood everything (a talent only you posses to make Shakespeare understandable to me). I'm not sure how you do it, but keep up the great work!
I just wanted to check in and let you know that last week I saw your Hamlet and was really blown away. Chris was spectacular, and so was the entire cast. It was a show I'll remember for a long time. I hope it was a good rehearsal process and that all the younger actors learned as much as I did in Far From the Madding Crowd.
This play was a very enriching experience for me, it was my first Shakespeare and I learned a lot from all of you. I think I came out of it a stronger actress than I went in and I also want to thank you for all the fun we had together. (an actor)
Bravo!! Just saw the last production of Hamlet at Victoria Hall and found it thrilling! Wonderful work as always.
I thinks Pat D missed the point. CM's interpretation was not as melancholy and brooding as PD wanted but why should he not be partly a victim looking for sympathy? Your version made the character more intelligible and intelligent than many Hamlets I have seen and more like the modern man. PD's comments seem narrow and a bit provincial. So there!
You rock.
So many of us who are loyal followers of Chris and Gabrielle know that whatever they do is of the highest standard and does indeed bring a great deal of joy to the audience.
I am so grateful that you told us about the show, and I thought the actors did a marvelous job. I liked them all, and was particularly impressed with the gal who played Ophelia and the fellow who played Hamlet. They were just wonderful. And I thought the directors did an amazing job editing the play down to 3 hours while still a) keeping all the great parts, and b) maintaining all those complex story lines. What an amazing feat!
Thank you again so much for such a lovely evening! And for helping us introduce our daughter to Shakespeare.
Thank you very much, Gabrielle. It's been an extraordinary journey, as I knew it would be, and I'm so very grateful that I had the privilege of being a part of it. I hope you're enjoying many well-deserved congratulations on your work. (an actor in Hamlet)
We had a most enjoyable evening with Hamlet last Thursday. The production was well paced and the staging was both simple and expressive. As usual with a Soskin production the actors read their lines with admirable clarity. It was fun to hear the text so fully articulated and I found myself “singing along” with familiar passages (silently, of course, so as not to disturb the other spectators). Christopher did a very effective job in bringing out Hamlet’s anguish, something I haven’t always seen in other productions. He was less convincing with Hamlet’s intellectual side as this is dramatized in the “antic disposition.” All the women’s roles were handled well, especially Gertrude, who let us see the gradual realization of her own “moral blindness” and the suffering it caused her.
I wasn’t particularly bothered with any of the cuts, though I was a bit surprised that Fortinbras never showed up. But your editing didn’t set up any misleading expectations that he was ever going to appear, so in the end I felt your decisions worked.
Thanks for doing this one. It took a lot of guts to try – but as they say – fortune favors the bold.
Wonderful production of Hamlet. Bravo!
That was a great experience! You did a phenomenal job in directing Hamlet. Christopher Moore was exceptional in being in full control of all his unending lines!
Please pass my congratulations along to the cast. For my Francophone students they made the story very understandable. it was an excellent performance.
Thank you Gabrielle! This has been an absolutely amazing experience! (an actor in Hamlet)
I just wanted to let you know that I saw Hamlet last Wednesday. There was a really good crowd that night! I hope the other shows were as full!
The pace of the play was great; it really moved along at a good clip, which is so important so as not to feel bogged down (super editing, I might add). The last act was swift and spooled out like the fate that it is.
Chris really did a great job of making the language so clear, as did everybody, actually. He was an animated and impassioned Hamlet! I thought Clive was an excellent Polonius: he was suitably ridiculous and humourous, but managed to impart a good degree of humanity to the role, which can often be missing.
I found Laertes' understated reaction to Ophelia's death struck a very true note, amidst all the other action and high emotion.
I hope all the performances went well, and I am sure that any students who saw it left with a very clear understanding of the plot and the dilemmas of the play, as well as seeing the language come alive on stage. Congratulations to you, your actors and your team - what a huge and ambitious undertaking! Well done!
We and our friends loved Hamlet the other night. Christopher was outstanding in the lead role and the venue was terrific. I don't think I have ever enjoyed Shakespeare more. We could understand every word and the plot just came alive. Please pass on our congratulations!
I saw your Hamlet last night and wanted to congratulate you on a very clear and confident production that put the emphasis on character, story and text, which I always think is the best route with Shakespeare and the way I personally like it. It just shows what these young actors can actually do when they are in such good hands. The passionate, fiercely intelligent, always on-the-edge and sometimes violent Hamlet brought out aspects of his character that I found very interesting and at times quite moving.
Bravo to all of you!
A sincere personal congratulation for the work you've done with this young cast. Truly, the text work was outstanding. Yes, some are ready to fill it out more than others, but they could all speak it well and they understood what they were saying - the phrasing and images were so clear and respectful to the structure. That is a huge feat that I have not seen in professional productions in a while. Christopher was truly outstanding. He had better audition for Stratford and Shaw soon. You know as well as I that breath is thought. If one doesn't have the full thought then the breath gets blocked and locked. It takes a lot of thought and imagination and guts to fill that text with oneself. Some got it. Some were getting it and you know that just a few will get it after this experience and it will benefit them just as much. Bravo. Well done.
What a presentation of Hamlet last night! Congratulations to everybody in the cast especially Christopher Moore.
(To Be, 2012)
I think your young man is deeply talented, in that he has fire in his belly and it blazes out of him.
Your actors were all very talented. The older actor with the John Elton glasses had a very nice supported voice. I was also impressed by their bravery and willingness to look silly or necessarily vulnerable, especially if they weren't naturally gay and habituated to certain ways of acting.
I thought it well worth attending, well worth all your energy and commitment. Who knows where this will go next?
Once again Persphone has taken the courageous path.
To Be is quite an achievement for Trevor Barrette; as a first play it is a moving and gripping. It may be a difficult act to follow, but I think that he has a lot so say as a playwright -- and as an actor.
I am 16 years old. I wanted to simply say how much I ADORED To Be. I saw it on the opening day with my school and, needless to say, I couldn't stop gushing about it throughout intermission and even after. In fact, I loved it so much, I convinced my mother to see it a second time on the 1st and, if I can even say it, I loved it even more! By now, this must make me seem completely obsessed! But, to be honest, I can't help myself. This has to be the single most original play I have ever seen in my life and that, quite frankly, is a lot! I simply want to congratulate all of the actors on their terrific performances and Trevor Barette on having written such an amazing script.
The play was extremely well done. The actors were fabulous and the music was interesting - the way the subject was addressed was very touching. All of us enjoyed it so tell Gabrielle that it is definitely a hit!
I had such a great time working on this show and I'm very grateful for the opportunity. It was such a great learning experience for me as a musician and artist.
I thought the musical was thought-provoking, entertaining and a remarkable achievement for such a young writer, director and cast. The sexuality was dealt with so well and was a refreshing change from how sexuality is so often presented in the media today. I thought the values articulated in the play were wonderful and I applaud the writer for celebrating intimacy rather than 'hooking up'.
Congratulations on bringing this production to the company's list of accomplishments. It adds wonderfully to the diversity and dynamism of what you've been attempting re: emerging young artists in our community; have a wonderful remaining run, and thank you for a splendid evening of unique theatre.
(Far from the Madding Crowd, 2011)
Thank you and your outstanding cast for an evening of excellent theatre. Frayne McCarthy justly prefers 'productions lovingly crafted by dedicated artists working with simple means.'
We really enjoyed the play and were very impressed with how they were able to handle the logistics of moving the actors onto the stage. We had both read the story before hand which certainly added to the enjoyment as we wondered how they would pull off the various events that took place. Congratulations to all.
I enjoyed working with everyone and couldn't have asked for a better cast and crew. I loved working with Persephone and will try encouraging the company as much and as well as I can in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play - so well executed by your sizeable group of talented actors. Your presentation (Sunday afternoon) was excellent and so relevant. A very lovely performance indeed.
I was just so impressed with the quality of the show -- the actors, the set, the costume, the music, everything. As I watched, the novel slowly came back to me (I read it so long ago for my comprehensive exams and had nearly forgotten it), but that did not in least diminish my experience of the play. I felt like I knew the characters personally and had to try my hardest not to weep when they brought in that coffin with poor Fanny's body. Heartbreaking! And I must say that the young woman playing Bathsheba did an outstanding job. She made me really admire that independent and headstrong New Woman (yes, I think she fits the bill) -- gave her a heart and brain to admire!
Il n’y avait pas de temps mort, un très bon rythme et enchaînement, une excellente direction d’acteurs.
I have to say that the play was incredible, awesome and wonderful. Congratulations to all actors! You made me feel special for a few hours. Continue your great work.
It was really well done...loved the way the seating was arranged around the play. They were just great! There were seven of us and we were all raving about it on our way home. The Rialto is really beautiful theatre.
I wanted to let you know how very much I enjoyed your production of Far From the Madding Crowd. The story itself continues to illustrate important contemporary issues and the fluid, professional and dramatically fine execution of the script drew me in in all ways, as we always hope theatre will: visually, aurally, intellectually and emotionally. The creative use of the space at the Rialto, that clearly presented challenges, seemed to add to the broader experience. I always enjoy the offerings of Persephone Productions, but I think with this play, you and your colleagues have achieved a particular success. I think that the Montreal community is greatly enriched by your efforts and contributions to cultural life.
My husband and I attended the Friday performance and were swept away into the world of Thomas Hardy, by the superb cast and the play's two directors! Never have we seen such brilliant direction, such that the cast was able to create a very believable, tactile rural environment by tweaking the audience's imagination. The blocking and choreography, the acting by each and every performer and the and the engrossing story brought to life, made for a perfect theatre experience.
(Mary's Wedding, 2011)
We left right after the performance on Thursday. To tell you the truth we were both in tears and didn't really want to small talk with people. I'm not quite sure how you did it but that was an incredible interpretation of the play. When I read it I was curious about how you would stage it, but I just couldn't see it...now I have.
We thought you did a magnificent job directing Mary's Wedding. It was such a touching, well written and interesting play which was brought to life by the wonderful acting, scenery, costumes, sound effects and lighting. All these elements came together to create a superb piece of theatre. Your two young actors were completely believable. Their relationship was very touching - no false notes. I hope they both have stellar careers!
I loved the simplicity of the staging. The wooden horses worked beautifully. The sound effects were effective in creating atmosphere.
I have to admit I had tears in my eyes at the end.
Well done, the whole crew.
Thank you for the invite to opening and for the charming production. I love unabashedly romantic plays and I thought you handled the particular structural / narrative challenges very well. Actors did a fine job, as always. Enjoy the run!
We enjoyed your excellent production of Mary's Wedding last night. We found the play charming - with the poignancy reminiscent of such plays as Our Town andSalt Water Moon.
We heartily disagree with the Gazette critic who found no "chemistry" between the actors. This was 1914 and that is how young people interacted in those days. My parents had an eight-year courtship largely by correspondence from 1912 to 1920 (described in my book Tell Me Why Nights are Lonesome) and they did not address each other by first names until they were engaged.
He also failed to praise the smooth transitions from one scene to the next (as a director I really appreciate creative transitions). We credit you as well for the sincere performances you succeeded in eliciting from your young performers.
So for what it is worth……….BRAVO !
(Henry V, 2010)
We were very brief in passing on the last night of the production. I can tell you that I was very tired when I arrived in the theatre. By the time I left I felt great and totally energized - that was a creatively energized production and thought provoking to match. Thank you.
I was lucky enough to be in the audience of your closing performance of Henry V last night. Wanted to send a little note offering my congratulations to the cast and crew. Excellent work. The direction, acting and use of space were wonderful. Bravo.
What a powerful play it was! What excellent acting!. We were very impressed with the presentation, the sound and background music, the simple but powerful stage. What a challenge to make this play up to date, what successful and professional efforts have gone into this. Congratulations Gabrielle, you are an amazing director; what an opportunity for young actors to work with you.
Congratulations to you on having created such a powerful, relevant, and enjoyable production. I've tried to make sure that everyone in the cast and crew knows how much I've enjoyed working with them, and how proud I am to have been a part of this team.
Thank you for continuing to bring Shakespeare to this city, and for doing such a wonderful job of it.
I really enjoyed Henry V. Aaron was wonderful as Henry and the whole company was excellent. I thought the way you used the space was very engaging and I liked that the chorus was by all....very effective! The costumes were very interesting, as well. It was a terrific show and all should be very proud.
I would just like to thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity and amazing experience of working for Persephone Productions. It has been an honour and a privilege to work alongside such a talented cast of actors, and a joy to have been directed by a pair of passionate theatre lovers.
It was a great production. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Congratulations.
Kudos! So beautifully costumed and staged, acted and directed. It was all school kids in the audience and they seemed to love that they could relate to it. It was directed in a way that made it "today" for them and I felt that they were really involved in the story and very moved. They were all talking about war issues at intermission. Wonderful.
Beautiful show! I just wanted to let you know how refreshing it was to see a show that really focused on the text of the play. I didn't feel distracted by unneccesary design or technical elements - it was just the text. It was absolutely beautiful.
I enjoyed the play so much. My congratulations to Gabrielle and to the wonderful actors who are so very impressive. What a wonderful opportunity for young artists to showcase their exceptional talents and live their dream. I am looking forward to the next production.
(Be my Baby, 2009)
We really enjoyed Be My Baby: we found the performers dynamic and highly skilled and the play interesting and well paced. Great job!
There was a lot to discuss; the lack of choice for women, the double standard, comparisons between parenting then and now; the lack of knowledge and understanding of sexuality, the contrast between the romantic idealism of the music and the reality of the girls' situation, the different character types, the different class viewpoints, etc. Very rich ground!
Congrats to you and your whole team. Persephone has provided excellent theatre yet again!
I am so glad I got to see Be My Baby. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute. The girls were all so good. It is hard to believe that some of them are just beginning their careers, they were so professional!! I enjoyed the question period too.
Thank you for the care you take to mount high quality productions.
We thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a great play. Congratulations to Gabrielle and her team.
(Cherry Docs, 2009)
I think you do a marvellous job for English theatre against tough odds.
I feel that you have great passion for your work as a director, and this shows in Cherry Docs.
Thank you so much for continuing to bring such performances to the Montreal community. Our students are richer for the experience. We spoke about the play today in English class, and the girls had many complementary things to say, both about its staging and content. One thing that stood out for many of them was the ability of both actors to draw the audience in. A number of students made comments about being on the edge of their seats. One girl said that she actually stopped breathing during the scene when Mike broke down crying. They also felt very strongly that the issue of hatred and violence is of central concern today for them, and that they felt that the play showed the complexity of this issue well.
We thought it was great, Gabrielle! You and your cast and crew are to be much congratulated for offering an amazing play to the theatre-goers of Montreal. It is a very well written play, I thought, and the acting was very, very good, particularly Dan. It is so poetic in parts...very beautiful! I was quite moved and would have liked to have seen it a second time. It's quite dense as well, and requires the audience to really pay attention.
Absolutely rivetting. Your best show yet.
Powerful. Excellent.
Extraordinarily moving. You are bringing us excellent theatre, Gabrielle. (Cherry Docs, 2009)
You actually helped me a lot to do lighting design by being receptive and very respectful. Without your help I wouldn't be able to enjoy lighting design for the show.
It was EXCELLENT Gabrielle!! Thank you so much and Congratulations!! Exhausting and stimulating. Sean and Dan were brilliant.
Congratulations on the show. In spite of having read the play so many times, I was quite affected by some of the powerful moments you created.
"Cherry Docs" by David Gow was a very thought-provoking and powerful play. It was extremely well acted, direct and with a strong message. The two actors kept the audience captivated the whole time. For me the play had a special meaning. Since I spent a lot of time in high schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, I see these angry, disillusioned, lost young men everywhere and every day, perhaps not as skinheads, but in comparable situations. The play taught me that as a society we urgently need to do something about the despair and anger of these young people. It is our collective responsibility. The play certainly made us all think and talk about this issue. Thank you Gabrielle for shaking us up! It's a powerful piece that was well handled. Performances were great.
What more could one want from a theatre piece than to leave with something to think and talk about. A quote by Michel Tremblay says it better than I can:
When you leave a play, you should be either thinking about the subject or fighting among yourselves. The problem shouldn't be solved. Michel Tremblay.
It completely blew me away!
Congratulations on another terrific show! It was absolutely flawless.
Congrats on a thoughtful, moving production.
(Othello, 2008)
I feel so happy to have been a part of the production and already feel that it is one of the defining moments of my life.
I have been remiss in not contacting you earlier to tell you how remarkable Othello was. After hearing the first few lines of the play, I realized I would be in for a profound afternoon.
This production did what it was supposed to do: illuminate the concerns of character that Shakespeare addresses. I have been thinking about it ever since. That Othello didn't know himself well enough made him prey to Iago, but that Rodgrigo (infatuation) and Cassio (passionate anger), who mirrored these two aspects of Othello's character, knew their possible outcomes but were still unable to withstand Iago, gives pause.
Thank you for your integrity, for setting and meeting such high standards.
Quand la simplicité l'emporte. Avec sa mise en scène épurée et l'intimité de la salle qui ne doit pas contenir plus de 50 sièges, Othello nous offre un beau moment de théâtre. Je ne suis pas 100% bilingue mais j'ai quand même réussi à suivre l'histoire (heureusement, j'ai lu un résumé de l'histoire avant!). Les talentueux interprètes ont réussi sans misère à nous emporter dans l'univers Shakespearien. Particulièrement le jeune homme qui interprétait le rôle d'Iago, il était vraiment convainquant dans la peau de ce personnage malicieux.
Belle occasion de revoir un classique. Une interprétation intéressante... Une belle occasion de voir ou revoir un classique.
It was delightful. We enjoyed the play , the actors were amazing; great job well done.
Congratulations to you, the actors, and everyone involved in your superb production of Othello. Never have I heard Shakespeare's words spoken so clearly, enunciated so perfectly, and delivered with such appropriate emotion. Bravo!
Once again, we loved the show - it was so energetic and engaging. It really moved the whole time. Iago was great and so was Othello (wonderful for Tristan! ). There was a lot of chemistry between Othello and Desdemona and she looked beautiful and it was a treat to read her face - it spoke volumes. I liked how the box on the set was manipulated and I found there were a lot of subtleties that worked so well - for example, the scene where Iago is polishing Othello's boots and Othello shows his displeasure with what Iago is saying by moving his feet. The smothering scene was very well done; many of the girls mentioned they found it very affecting and convincing. Many of the Grade 11's who had seen Stratford's Othello last year liked yours better and Jan and I both agree. The actors really conveyed Shakespeare's meaning very adeptly; you must have worked very hard with them, because that is not an easy thing to get from young actors. Wonderful work, all round!
I just came back from your wonderful production of Othello at Sunday’s matinée. The actors were superb. They spoke Shakespeare’s words intelligently and beautifully and moved me deeply. It was clear that they gave it their all. They opened up to their characters, to each other and to us and it was very moving to receive. Congratulations to the whole team (on and behind the scenes) for a special theatre experience.
Tristan’s portrayal of Othello...had so many beautiful moments & nuances, & I believe that for a 24 year old he showed a huge range of ability, fully capable of tackling such great roles as this, & others that I’ve seen him play (Oberon, Theseus, Caliban, Don Pedro, etc.). Rebecca Croll truly was magnificent indeed. what a presence! She’s also great in all things that I’ve seen her in... Cassio was quite charming, I found... All in all, I think that given the circumstances, these highly qualified actors did an incredible job bringing Shakespeare’s words to Life.
The performance of Othello this past Saturday evening was amazing.
I saw the show on Saturday evening & absolutely loved it.
It was better than the other two fine professional productions I've seen - one at Stratford and one several times in Melbourne. There was no important hair out of place in the whole performance. You wonder why people say Shakespeare was the best writer of all time in any language. He gets under the skin and then under that.
Despite the fact that I spent the night after it dreaming of conspiracies, I really enjoyed the play. The acting was very impressive. I love these plays where it all comes down to actors and costumes, but practically no props or sets. Shakespeare wins again!
Now what can you find next?
We (the Centre Greene Theatre Club) loved the show! You are to be congratulated-wonderful work. Thanks so much.
Bravo Gabrielle, you did a magnificent job with the play. All of us thoroughly enjoyed it! Congratulations to you, the actors and all your team!
I thought the Tuesday performance even better than Fri. You've done a really marvellous job - and it's a marvellous play.
That is great. Wonderful show, excellent! It kept me on the edge of my seat, fabulous performances! .
Yes, my group enjoyed the play very much. We were impressed with the actors' handling of the language - I know you worked very hard to achieve that - and thought your young actors gave an excellent performance, particularly Iago who was outstanding and Emilia (Iago's wife - did I get the right name?) The scene between Desdemona and Emilia was touching and believable. We weren't so sure we believed that Desdemona and Othello were passionately in love. I'm not sure why - chemistry is such a subtle thing. However, Emma didn't agree. She thought the character of Othello was great and perfectly convincing and she was in tears at the end. Other people I've talked to have been unanimous that this was an excellent production. Oh, and the fights were great! I liked your minimalist staging - the boxes worked very well. Well done everybody and congratulations to you. I hope the run is going well.
Congratulations to you all. What a superb production.
I will be back again on the 28th.
(2007 MECCA)
Wow! How exciting. The MECCA and The Myron Galloway Awards. Congrats.
On a personal note, I so wish that I could've been a part of The Greenfields production. But mix-ups happen. C'est la vie. I do enjoy working with you. You are truly a wonderful teacher and an inspiration to all young actors.
Just a quick and belated note about your recent awards. What a pleasure it is to see you and Persephone so honored by our theatrical community.
I have, of course—as you well know—been a Soskin fan for many years, full of admiration for your directorial talent and your persevering spirit, and I think it’s terrific what you have done since retiring from John Abbott. Under your guidance, Persephone has grown into one of Montreal’s most vital theatre companies.
( Unity (1918), 2007)
We thoroughly enjoyed the play and the acting was excellent!
What a wonderful theatre evening it was last Friday! The script, the staging and the acting were all first rate. Bravo to you.
Congrats! It was wonderful. So you can relax now, the birth was delivered successfully.
I really enjoyed the show last night; it was quite a beautiful production. I realize the sparse set was due to budget restrictions, but it actually worked quite nicely and allowed the show's focus to be on the text. Strong performances all around, especially the young woman who played Beatrice. Anyway, you should be very proud of the show, it's a great production.
I've just had a quick look at your website and it looks great. You have my admiration for having the nerve to dedicate yourself to such a company- which is such an essential resource for so many artists. (Playwright)
(The Loves of Shakespeare's Women, 2007)
Félicitations pour une très belle soirée. You were magnificent Gabrielle. Elisabeth and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening.(The Loves of Shakespeare's Women, re-mount 2008)
You were fabulous last night - quite the 'tour de force'. Well done. I hope the rest of the performances are as good. It almost makes me want to read Shakespeare's plays again! And the costume was brilliant - so clever. I thought you used it very well, taking the time to change, and adapt the mood from one role to another. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!
I loved all the speeches. I particularly enjoyed Viola, Emilia, Lady M and the barmaid's exchange. Really well done! Also one of the best costumes I've seen in a long time. Beautiful to say the least, but also very well used.
We loved, loved, loved the show.
We thoroughly enjoyed your "Love of Shakespeare's Women" last night. I was touched by the range of emotion in each of the acts and the intense and concise production. I was completely engaged. Thank you!
I saw your show last night. Well Done. Loved the production.
You gave a riveting performance to capture the sense of character, emotion and all placed in wonderful context.
(Prodigy 2006)
Thankyou for your patience and open-mind. Thank you for leading us on the journey. Thank you for understanding what it is to be an actor. Thank you for being you.
"the public is like a piano. You have to know what keys to poke." Al Capp.
Thank you for this very delicious opportunity! What a compelling story-with wonderful female characters. It has been a pleasure working with you again. Hopefully we can take it to Broadway!
I've learned so much about myself-as an actor and as a human being. I felt confident, fearless, liberated. My experience with Persephone has inspired me to dream and convinced me that-with enough hard work-I can realise those dreams.
(To the Green Fields Beyond, 2006)
feedback from the author Nick Whitby during the rehearsals of To the Green Fields Beyond (2006):
On the youth of your cast, that's great - young is good, very good. The original crews might have had one or two in their mid-twenties or older but most would have been very young indeed. I hope you have a terrific week - Nick
HOW interesting, the stylization business - I'll come to that, but first the 'ice' - it does just mean 'calm', the fact that he's able to sleep appears very cool to K, who doesn't know about the morphine - the tiny looks or ghosts of smiles of the others tell us the reality.
... it is the audience who must supply the drama/meaning/pain etc - the observer creates the reality and this reality must never be fed to them or the play contradicts its own heart. The fact that this moment is so painfully under-played is what makes it so painful - they're gone before we are quite ready for it (like in life, and death)... this is what emotionally then necessitates the concluding scene of the play. I love the fact that you are having them exit upstage - this is crucial and exactly as I always envisaged it. Please, please try it under-played - in a private circle is great, less is so much more here, it makes the audience like privileged watching spirits. That's wonderful because it entrusts them with meaning, makes it theirs. Nick
Merci pour cette fabuleuse expérience. Merci de m'avoir fait confiance et la liberté d'explorer.
You have given us a great play. Thank you for bringing Green Fields to Montreal!
Thank you for your efforts to 'raise the bar' in Montreal's Theatre community.
The play itself is very thought-provoking and relevant and captured the horrible situation the soldiers were in, while highlighting the team work of the group. It was also very well acted and staged. I definitely want to be on the list for future productions.
(Spring Awakening 2005)
I have learnt so much about acting and myself as an actor this month
I’m always proud to be part of your team
(SubUrbia 2004)
My favorite moments were those when you spoke about the grandness of the theatre
This was the best role I’ve ever played, and the best play I’ve ever played in. My gratitude is immeasurable
Thank you for helping me grow as an actor and a more confident woman
I am deeply grateful to you for your generous and free direction
You are doing something wonderful with Persephone. I hope I have the pleasure of working with you again in the future
Thank you for believing in me. I have learnt so much over the past two months
(Jane Eyre 2004)
I really have the utmost respect for you and everything Persephone stands for. Many young artists have you to thank for getting their work out there
I finally got the opportunity to work with you, and it was all I hoped it would be. Thank you