A dog and her master: Is it true love?
Alexandra Chappell plays “Sylvia” at Village Theatre Waterdown
Alexandra Chappell isn’t at all fussed about playing a dog. Not a dog in a kiddies’ panto, you understand. No, a sexy, hot to trot, take me to the Alpo sort of dog who creates havoc in an empty-nest home.
Sylvia loves her master Greg (Jason Swenor). Trouble is Greg’s wife Kate (Deb Dagenais) doesn’t care for the way Sylvia shows it.
Playwright A.R. Gurney’s lovable comedy “Sylvia” isn’t really about going to the dogs so much, as it is about moving into a new phase of a marital relationship. It’s about finding ways to reconnect in a partnership that has grown a tad stale.
“That’s where I come in,” says Chappell, 33. “I get Greg, my master, all fired up about life once again. The audience can choose to see me in several different ways. I’m a dog, panting and wiggling my little tail. But, I also have the moves of a hot young woman. Well, you have to see it to really get it.”
As a young girl Chappell went to a theatre in Brampton to see a friend in the musical “Annie.”
“I was 10. I thought to myself, I can do that. So, a few years later at Burlington Central Secondary School, I took all the drama classes I could. Then when I went to Western in London for Health Sciences in 2007 I stumbled across an audition notice for a show. I didn’t get the part, but it introduced me to Community Theatre.”
“I met a writer who did a comic soap opera called ‘The Arts Project.’ I joined the show and it went from there.”
When Chappell moved to Burlington in 2011 she did a Google search of all auditions in the area. She ended up performing with Hamilton’s Shooting Star Theatre Company. She was a Fandango Girl in “Sweet Charity,” a nun in “Nunsense” and Gladys, The Steam Heat Girl, in “The Pajama Game.”
Wanting to experience other companies, Chappell moved to Drury Lane in Burlington. She played in the company’s “Music Hall Show,” won an award as June in “Gypsy” and played funky “Jolene” in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”
“Musicals helped me find myself,” Chappell says. “I didn’t really know who I was. I was just a number in a big crowd of people at school. I discovered there was a part of me I didn’t know at all. Playing other people opened me up. I learned a lot about myself. I gained self-confidence. I put myself out there. The confidence you have on stage creeps into your real life as well.”
Chappell, who is a Type 1 diabetic, has never let her diabetes define her.
“Yes, I have to take it into consideration if I’m doing a very physical or emotional role. I have to make sure I don’t have a real low in blood sugar. I need to be sure to eat enough. A couple of hours before a show I check my sugar level. It’s just part of what I do. Fortunately I’ve never had a serious problem onstage.”
Before Chappell learned to sing and dance she was a competitive figure skater, so she’s used to physical exertion.
“I like playing Sylvia,” she says. “It’s about discovering how a dog would act if she were human. She’s looking for someone to love her. The burning question, of course is, is her master Greg in love with her as a dog. Or does he see her as a woman?”
“Sylvia is giving Greg something he’s lost in his life. He’s plateaued. Everything’s too easy. His relationship with his wife, Kate, has lost that certain spark.”
“I don’t think the relationship with Sylvia is meant to be sexual. But she does make him feel like a man again.”
“Maybe with Sylvia, Greg finds an expression of how he and Kate were when they were younger.”
The big question is, how much will Chappell look like a dog and how much like a young woman?
“Well, I won’t be wearing a dog costume, that’s for sure, though I may have a little tail and some ears on my head. And maybe even a collar. You’ll have to come see the show.”
In her real life, Chapple works for Astra Zeneca Global Study in the therapeutic area of immune oncology for lung cancer. She is associate manager.