To establish a baseline for our comments, here are the shows we have given standing ovations – real ones, not just standing up because the people in front did and you want to see what is going on:
HAMLET Stratford Ont. 2008, Ben Carlson as Hamlet
MACBETH Lyceum New York 2008, Patrick Stewart as Macbeth
SCORCHED (Wajdi Mouawad) Tarragon 2007
THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD (Robert Hewett) Stratford Ont. 2006, Lucy Peacock
THE MAGIC FIRE (Lillian Groag) Shaw 2006
JOURNEY’S END (R.C. Sherriff) Shaw 2005
THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA (Frederico Garcia Lorca) Shaw 2002
RICHARD III Stratford Ont. 1977, Brian Bedford as Richard
HOSANNA (Michel Tremblay) Tarragon 1974, Richard Monette as Hosanna
The recent death of Richard reminded me that this was our first real standing ovation. It was a great performance by the then very young Richard Monette. We were very young then too, so we saw him as a contemporary of ours. I imagine the play seen today would not have the same impact on us now that we are older. But any actor playing Hosanna has a long way to go to do better than Richard Monette playing Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra!
Seen 