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O’Donnell to Toronto Theatre: Sssooorrrrrryyyy!
Local playwright Darren O’Donnell got himself in a bit of trouble the other day, when he told Eye’s Paul Isaac that the Toronto theatre scene was, by and large, “worthless.” That’s just not something that you say. Especially when your contribution to the year in theatre was a garbled piece of new-agey nonsense called pppeeeaaaccceee.
After realising that he had not only bit the hand that feeds him but his own hand too, O’Donnell – whose next play in Toronto is A Career Suicide-Site Guide… sorry, I mean, A Suicide-Site Guide to the City — wrote into Eye to self-flagellate and make (single-lettered) peace:
Though I made the comment as part of a bigger discussion with some specific criticisms, I can’t deny the arrogance and stupidity of that statement. Theatre is a really tough medium and I respect people who choose to devote their time and energy to keeping it alive. I am often frustrated with contemporary work in Toronto and do think we can all do better, try harder, take bigger risks and make more ambitious failures –myself included. But in terms of worthlessness, I believe my statement is more reflective of neurotic feelings about my own work than any views I have of Toronto theatre as a whole.
All right. You’re forgiven. Now, write better.
(Oh, and while you’re at it, don’t ever tell an interviewer that “Postmodernism and the challenges it presents to character, plot and storytelling just hasn’t occurred to most theatre artists in Toronto and elsewhere” ever again.)