Sarasvati Get Your Gun: Liberal Arts in the Wild West
Posted: September 20, 2012
Columns
Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane by Brian Peterson with Deb Pickman & Renée Iaci, presented by Shameless Hussy Productions at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, September 18, 2012
Reviewed by Stephanie Adamov
Armed with a whip, spit and grit, Professor Janet Payne seeks inspiration from the wildly misrepresented American frontierswoman, Calamity Jane. As part of Sarasvati’s FemFest 2012, “Staging Identity,” Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane aims to replace the sugarcoated Doris Day image with the rough and tough whiskey-drinking Calamity as an archetypal figure for women of the Wild West.
Before Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane (circa 1852-1903) was one of the most radical female figures to arise out of the American Wild West. With leathery skin and a muscular figure she flouted most genteel societal expectations for a woman of her era. You could say that she was known as a ‘Jane of all Trades’. Often being mistaken for a man due to her mannerisms, dress and drinking patterns, her resume included work as: a mule skinner, scout, bull whacker, prospector, stagecoach driver and a circus attraction. One of her many claims to fame was being the only woman to work on the North Pacific Railroads.
Today, as a Professor of Women’s Studies, Janet Payne seeks to correct many misguided stories of her hero and to keep the memory of Calamity Jane alive for the ‘yellow-bellied’ students in her classroom. There were many romanticized recounts of Calamity’s excursions deep in the heart of Deadwood with Wild Bill Hickok and Professor Janet Payne strives to set the record straight for her students.
Daune Campbell as Payne/Jane
Beginning the play in the horizontal fetal position after a bad night with Mr. Jack Daniels, Professor Payne musters up her dwindling strength to stand on her unsteady feet. Attempting to gain just enough composure and mental capacity to teach her last lecture Payne reflects on the injustice of her peers at the university forcing her into early retirement. Naturally this monologue is delivered while simultaneously uncorking and drinking a bottle of red wine in order to ‘enhance her personality.’
Sure enough, after finishing off the last drops of last night’s Jack and well into the newly uncorked wine, the audience is introduced to an increasingly fierce and feisty Daune Campbell. This hour long fast-paced comedy gets on track in record time and has Campbell jumping between the characters of Janet and Calamity for the entire run.
Under the direction of Renée Iaci, there was an evident grey area of transition between the two characters in this one-woman show. Occasionally, this became a disadvantage to the narrative. Particularly notable was the contrast between a staged student cell phone smashing and the lack of reaction from Campbell later in the show, when playing Calamity Jane, when an accidental cell began to ring from the audience. This was inconsistent with her blaring temper exhibited previously throughout the show.
The lighting design for this touring production offered by Stephen Bulat sufficed in some distinguishable character transitions but was most effective when overlapping with Jeff Tymoschuk’s Wild West sound design. The shear sharpness of Campbell’s whip cracking the air would have been supported much better had the revolver firing not been a sound effect emitted through the speakers. This to a degree broke some illusion as the whip was such an excellent and well-used and choreographed prop.
Cussin’, fussin’, brawlin’and drinkin’ this legendary professor’s Women’s Studies class is certainly not for the weak and gutless. One of the founding members of the department, Payne is utterly enraged by being forced to retire. Fast-talking and straight shooting, Professor Payne tells it like it is to her students about how life experience is not gained through the classroom, and she proceeds to throw around letter grades like hot tamales.
Needless to say, her unbridled spirit and unshakable personality keep her classes at full capacity. Liberal arts takes on new meaning when maverick Professor Payne stomps on your phone when you are caught in the ‘twitterverse’ and threatens to literally whip you into shape.
Campbell, though didactic, was a spectacle of a character actor. The pattern of her unpredictable loose cannon mannerisms resulted in some unsure and nervous laughter from the audience that she could have capitalized on more frequently. However, through her artful cadence she was able to skillfully maneuver around Brian Peterson’s script. The audience clung on to each syllable as she plowed through name-calling, profanity and utterly vulgar images that were hilariously presented.
With a trademark whip crack and buckskin pantaloons Lana Krause’s costume design was vital in the physical characterization of Calamity/Janet. With her jacket tassels tossin’ and revolver spinning audience members flinched each time the bullwhip was cracked, much to Campbell’s enjoyment.
Sonofabitch Stew, a corral of comedy, is only part of the feast of Sarasvati’s tenth year of FemFest. Artistic Director Hope McIntyre has many plays, seminars, community outreach events and lectures planned throughout the ten days of the festival. The Asper Centre for Theatre and Film will continue to buzz for the next four days as plays such as My Pregnant Brother, Immigration Stories, Women in Fish and Empty seek to explore and facilitate a journey of identity for every audience member.
Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane presented by Shameless Hussy Productions at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, 400 Colony Ave., Winnipeg, September 18, 2012
Sarasvati Get Your Gun: Liberal Arts in the Wild West
Columns
Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane by Brian Peterson with Deb Pickman & Renée Iaci, presented by Shameless Hussy Productions at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, September 18, 2012
Reviewed by Stephanie Adamov
Armed with a whip, spit and grit, Professor Janet Payne seeks inspiration from the wildly misrepresented American frontierswoman, Calamity Jane. As part of Sarasvati’s FemFest 2012, “Staging Identity,” Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane aims to replace the sugarcoated Doris Day image with the rough and tough whiskey-drinking Calamity as an archetypal figure for women of the Wild West.
Before Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane (circa 1852-1903) was one of the most radical female figures to arise out of the American Wild West. With leathery skin and a muscular figure she flouted most genteel societal expectations for a woman of her era. You could say that she was known as a ‘Jane of all Trades’. Often being mistaken for a man due to her mannerisms, dress and drinking patterns, her resume included work as: a mule skinner, scout, bull whacker, prospector, stagecoach driver and a circus attraction. One of her many claims to fame was being the only woman to work on the North Pacific Railroads.
Today, as a Professor of Women’s Studies, Janet Payne seeks to correct many misguided stories of her hero and to keep the memory of Calamity Jane alive for the ‘yellow-bellied’ students in her classroom. There were many romanticized recounts of Calamity’s excursions deep in the heart of Deadwood with Wild Bill Hickok and Professor Janet Payne strives to set the record straight for her students.
Daune Campbell as Payne/Jane
Beginning the play in the horizontal fetal position after a bad night with Mr. Jack Daniels, Professor Payne musters up her dwindling strength to stand on her unsteady feet. Attempting to gain just enough composure and mental capacity to teach her last lecture Payne reflects on the injustice of her peers at the university forcing her into early retirement. Naturally this monologue is delivered while simultaneously uncorking and drinking a bottle of red wine in order to ‘enhance her personality.’
Sure enough, after finishing off the last drops of last night’s Jack and well into the newly uncorked wine, the audience is introduced to an increasingly fierce and feisty Daune Campbell. This hour long fast-paced comedy gets on track in record time and has Campbell jumping between the characters of Janet and Calamity for the entire run.
Under the direction of Renée Iaci, there was an evident grey area of transition between the two characters in this one-woman show. Occasionally, this became a disadvantage to the narrative. Particularly notable was the contrast between a staged student cell phone smashing and the lack of reaction from Campbell later in the show, when playing Calamity Jane, when an accidental cell began to ring from the audience. This was inconsistent with her blaring temper exhibited previously throughout the show.
The lighting design for this touring production offered by Stephen Bulat sufficed in some distinguishable character transitions but was most effective when overlapping with Jeff Tymoschuk’s Wild West sound design. The shear sharpness of Campbell’s whip cracking the air would have been supported much better had the revolver firing not been a sound effect emitted through the speakers. This to a degree broke some illusion as the whip was such an excellent and well-used and choreographed prop.
Cussin’, fussin’, brawlin’and drinkin’ this legendary professor’s Women’s Studies class is certainly not for the weak and gutless. One of the founding members of the department, Payne is utterly enraged by being forced to retire. Fast-talking and straight shooting, Professor Payne tells it like it is to her students about how life experience is not gained through the classroom, and she proceeds to throw around letter grades like hot tamales.
Needless to say, her unbridled spirit and unshakable personality keep her classes at full capacity. Liberal arts takes on new meaning when maverick Professor Payne stomps on your phone when you are caught in the ‘twitterverse’ and threatens to literally whip you into shape.
Campbell, though didactic, was a spectacle of a character actor. The pattern of her unpredictable loose cannon mannerisms resulted in some unsure and nervous laughter from the audience that she could have capitalized on more frequently. However, through her artful cadence she was able to skillfully maneuver around Brian Peterson’s script. The audience clung on to each syllable as she plowed through name-calling, profanity and utterly vulgar images that were hilariously presented.
With a trademark whip crack and buckskin pantaloons Lana Krause’s costume design was vital in the physical characterization of Calamity/Janet. With her jacket tassels tossin’ and revolver spinning audience members flinched each time the bullwhip was cracked, much to Campbell’s enjoyment.
Sonofabitch Stew, a corral of comedy, is only part of the feast of Sarasvati’s tenth year of FemFest. Artistic Director Hope McIntyre has many plays, seminars, community outreach events and lectures planned throughout the ten days of the festival. The Asper Centre for Theatre and Film will continue to buzz for the next four days as plays such as My Pregnant Brother, Immigration Stories, Women in Fish and Empty seek to explore and facilitate a journey of identity for every audience member.
Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane presented by Shameless Hussy Productions at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, 400 Colony Ave., Winnipeg, September 18, 2012