“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,” As You Like It- William Shakespeare.
“Over the years we’ve done everything, theater, film, television, cartoon voice work, commercial voice. If you’re a Canadian actor, you’ve got to do everything”
So began a laughter-filled, energetically engaging conversation with actor William Colgate and his wife, director Joan Bendon, on a balmy April afternoon by the Baysville Narrows in Baysville.
“And I was in a band out of high school. You know, the usual cover band playing the bars and things like that. And then, I’d also acted in high school. So, there came kind of a divergence. I didn’t want to be playing in bars anymore and a gentleman we knew in common was starting a theatre company and that’s where we met within the theatre company. And so, since that time, which was like 1976, we’ve been, you know, primarily been acting… but I never lost the itch for singing.”
William Colgate initially came to my attention many years ago as a songwriter named Bill Colgate. So, it came as a rather pleasant surprise to find out that his primary career focus is acting. On June 12(2 pm), 13(7 pm), and 14 (2 pm), 2024, William Colgate will star in “Shakespeare: A Rarest Vision OR How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bard” at Pioneer Memorial Hall, 2370 Hwy 60, Lake of Bays. Tickets are available via etransfer by emailing [email protected] or visiting https://muskokaplayers.com/.
William’s conversion from a “Shakesphobe to Shakesphile” came during the COVID lockdowns, with William remembering that famed actor Ian McKellen had debuted a one-man show “Acting Shakespeare,” in 1980.
“That was a great show. And I wonder if it’s on YouTube, everything else is on YouTube. And I went and yes, it was on there. So, I’m watching it and it’s great. It’s Ian McKellen, a terrific actor. But he kept going on about… oh, I love Shakespeare since I was a little boy and I used to make sets myself. Then we went to Cambridge and we just loved it and we did this, that, and the other, and blah, blah, blah. And I’m sitting there going, that was not my experience of Shakespeare. My experience of Shakespeare was the Ontario Secondary School System, which is basically, here’s your Penguin copy, a Romeo and Juliet. Answer the questions on the test and then you wonder why nobody likes Shakespeare.
“So that was it, I call it, in some of my promo blurb stuff, I say, if you suffer from PTSD for post-traumatic secondary school Shakespeare syndrome, come and see my show, it addresses that,” William explains.
“I didn’t write the show to preach to the choir; I wrote it to people like myself, who skip choir practice and we’re out behind the church smoking a cigarette, and it’s been really successful.”
Shakespeare is perhaps the most celebrated British writer in English literature and certainly the best-known writer from the Early Modern Period. Of course, many high school students find his work impenetrable. Despite the challenges Shakespeare poses for students, his plays and sonnets remain a cornerstone of literary culture.
William suggests Shakespeare’s success was due to his professional life as an actor. “He was a working actor. Let’s start with the facts. And working actors always need to have a certain amount of self-examination and philosophical thoughts. So, there’s a certain amount of [that], and he had bills to pay, and he had more money if he wrote some plays. So, it’s probably very practical as well. Just turned out he had quite a talent for it. Obviously. He’s a genius”.
In writing this play, William Colgate’s goal was to introduce audiences to a renewed perception of what he believes the great poet intended, to entertain, inspire and inform.
Cogate has acted in a wide variety of productions, often touring across Canada. His two most recent performances include Norm Foster’s ‘The Gentleman’s Clothier’ at the Orillia Opera House and ‘Billy Bishop Goes to War,’ the famed Canadian play for Dot-the T’s touring production.
William Colgate Actor’s Reel
Asked about the art of acting, Joan Bendon, who directed the production, provided some insight into the art form. “Acting is a lot of craft to start with, to do your homework, to figure out what the play is about, what the character looks like, who they are, that kind of thing. It’s then, memorizing, memorizing, memorizing your lines so that to be or not to be that is a question whether it’s just nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, (from Hamlet), like I could say it in my sleep, then you go to rehearsal. Then you start to react to the other people around you.”
In “Shakespeare: A Most Rare Vision or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bard” William Colgate portrays 23 characters from 14 plays and a wealth of personal anecdotes for over 70 minutes, which contours his light-hearted journey from being afraid of Shakespeare to becoming a fan. He hopes as well that audiences will indeed feel the same way.
Joan Bendon and William Colgate have lived in Muskoka for close to ten years, but their work has taken them across Canada and the world. “Married for 40 years, Joan and Bill’s combined theatrical experience represents close to a century of “trodding the boards,” states their webpage.
Down By The Bays is the new performing arts & culture hub for the Lake of Bays United Churches. Offering their heritage buildings (Pioneer Memorial, Hillside; Stewart Memorial, Dwight; and Knox United, Dorset) as venues for quality, thought-provoking shows & events in the north/eastern region of the Township of Lake of Bays. From the $25 ticket price, $10 will be donated to the church for a new furnace.
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