Gabrielle Soskin not afraid to tackle Virginia Woolf at Monument National
by HEATHER SOLOMON
Virginia Woolf wanted to reach young women aspiring to be writers. Gabrielle Soskin, through her company Persephone Productions, is a mentor to young women (and men) embarking on careers in theatre.
Beginning on March 8 at the intimate La Balustrade of the Monument National Theatre, Soskin becomes Woolf for six performances of A Room of One's Own. It is this mutual desire to inspire youth that will give Soskin the key to her character's motivation.
In 1928, Woolf was at the height of her fame, having already penned her stream-of-consciousness novel Mrs. Dalloway. It had always been a bone in Woolf's throat that a female writer had never attained the greatness of a Shakespeare, and she grasped the opportunity to speak out on the subject when Girton Women's College of Cambridge Universiy invited her to address the undergraduates on the topic of women and fiction.
The British author enthralled her young audience with an impassioned, sometimes heated lecture that took aim at men and at women themselves for being' slaves to their anger. She believed that women writers should develop "androgynous" minds in order to fulfill their literary potential.
What they also needed was "a room of one's own," meaning financial independence free of domestic responsibilities. Woolf achieved both, with a husband, Leonard Woolf, who appreciated her need to write, as well as no children and a legacy from an aunt that amounted to a personal annual income that would be about $9,200 in today's Canadian dollars.
Unfortunately, she also suffered from depression and bouts of schizophrenia, which induced her to weigh her pockets down with stones in March 1941 and drown herself in the River Ouse near her home in Sussex. She was 59.
"When you think of the novels she produced, it really is tragic that she had such self-doubt," says Soskin. "But that's not what A Room of One's Own is about. It's about Woolf's progressive ideas and how she was way ahead of her time."
Soskin is usually the director of Persephone's plays. Since founding the company five years ago, she's been at the helm of such productions as Anna Karenina,Jane Eyre, West (in which she appeared in a cameo as a Jewish mother in London's East End), and the most recent success, subUrbia.
Though trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic, the role of Wooif is the largest she's, taken on since the...1970s. "I'm doing this because we couldn't afford to stage another major production before our next show, Spring Awakening, in November, and we needed to raise funds because it will have a big cast. Also, this is my tribute to all the young people who have worked and are working with me."
In keeping with Persephore's mandate, the director of A Room of One's Own will be Jennifer Piercey, fresh out of directing school in Alberta, and three young John Abbott College graduates are the creative spirits behind the show's lighting, set design-and stage management.
Soskin taught in John Abbott's theatre program for 27 years before leaving to establish the company as a way to give her former students and other young theatre people a professional foothold. In a phone conversation Soskin had with playwright Patrick Garland; who adapted Woolf's writings for the stage in 1989, Garland worried that the show might be dated, because women today do have "rooms of their own" and sometimes they even earn more than men.
Dame Eileen Atkins garnered huge success in the role both in London in 1989 and at the American Repertory Theatre in 1991. Canada's Shaw Festival has also staged a production in recent years.
Soskin feels the subject still has legs and that "there are women who continue to struggle with their identity".
Following the initial run, Soskin takes her portrayal of Woolf on tour in an effort to broaden Persephone's audience base and raise its profile.
Reprinted from The Canadian Jewish News February 24, 2005
Virginia Woolf wanted to reach young women aspiring to be writers. Gabrielle Soskin, through her company Persephone Productions, is a mentor to young women (and men) embarking on careers in theatre.
Beginning on March 8 at the intimate La Balustrade of the Monument National Theatre, Soskin becomes Woolf for six performances of A Room of One's Own. It is this mutual desire to inspire youth that will give Soskin the key to her character's motivation.
In 1928, Woolf was at the height of her fame, having already penned her stream-of-consciousness novel Mrs. Dalloway. It had always been a bone in Woolf's throat that a female writer had never attained the greatness of a Shakespeare, and she grasped the opportunity to speak out on the subject when Girton Women's College of Cambridge Universiy invited her to address the undergraduates on the topic of women and fiction.
The British author enthralled her young audience with an impassioned, sometimes heated lecture that took aim at men and at women themselves for being' slaves to their anger. She believed that women writers should develop "androgynous" minds in order to fulfill their literary potential.
What they also needed was "a room of one's own," meaning financial independence free of domestic responsibilities. Woolf achieved both, with a husband, Leonard Woolf, who appreciated her need to write, as well as no children and a legacy from an aunt that amounted to a personal annual income that would be about $9,200 in today's Canadian dollars.
Unfortunately, she also suffered from depression and bouts of schizophrenia, which induced her to weigh her pockets down with stones in March 1941 and drown herself in the River Ouse near her home in Sussex. She was 59.
"When you think of the novels she produced, it really is tragic that she had such self-doubt," says Soskin. "But that's not what A Room of One's Own is about. It's about Woolf's progressive ideas and how she was way ahead of her time."
Soskin is usually the director of Persephone's plays. Since founding the company five years ago, she's been at the helm of such productions as Anna Karenina,Jane Eyre, West (in which she appeared in a cameo as a Jewish mother in London's East End), and the most recent success, subUrbia.
Though trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic, the role of Wooif is the largest she's, taken on since the...1970s. "I'm doing this because we couldn't afford to stage another major production before our next show, Spring Awakening, in November, and we needed to raise funds because it will have a big cast. Also, this is my tribute to all the young people who have worked and are working with me."
In keeping with Persephore's mandate, the director of A Room of One's Own will be Jennifer Piercey, fresh out of directing school in Alberta, and three young John Abbott College graduates are the creative spirits behind the show's lighting, set design-and stage management.
Soskin taught in John Abbott's theatre program for 27 years before leaving to establish the company as a way to give her former students and other young theatre people a professional foothold. In a phone conversation Soskin had with playwright Patrick Garland; who adapted Woolf's writings for the stage in 1989, Garland worried that the show might be dated, because women today do have "rooms of their own" and sometimes they even earn more than men.
Dame Eileen Atkins garnered huge success in the role both in London in 1989 and at the American Repertory Theatre in 1991. Canada's Shaw Festival has also staged a production in recent years.
Soskin feels the subject still has legs and that "there are women who continue to struggle with their identity".
Following the initial run, Soskin takes her portrayal of Woolf on tour in an effort to broaden Persephone's audience base and raise its profile.
Reprinted from The Canadian Jewish News February 24, 2005
