Director still shaking up theatre world
Twenty years after leaving Saskatoon to become a “pirate, a gypsy artist, to explore new notes inside myself,’’ Tom Bentley-Fisher is doing just that.
The man who brought the Fringe to Saskatoon and developed a reputation for cutting-edge drama at 25th Street Theatre continues to advise new generations of actors to take chances.
“Fear is fine. Live in the fear. It’s being afraid of the fear that’s the problem.”
Bentley-Fisher is co-artistic director of the Waterfront Production House and Conservatory in Berkeley, Calif., but nothing ties him down.
In the past year, he’s directed productions in Barcelona, New York, L.A. and San Francisco. He directed a comedy show that’s touring the West Coast and is working on a film in L.A.
“I’ve never been busier. It’s incredible.”
Bentley-Fisher remains devoted to the technique of his acting teacher, the late Yat Malmgren, who taught actors like Sean Connery and Anthony Hopkins.
“I think a good actor is willing to go into the unknown and reach a place where they are dead honest but they’re also able to transform into the unrecognizable,” he says. Movement is key because through movement “people always reveal their inner lives.”
As artistic director of 25th Street Theatre for 12 years ending in 1997, Bentley-Fisher staged more than two dozen new Canadian plays.
He was never afraid to challenge an audience.
For one production, the audience was loaded into a moving van and taken to a warehouse where they watched the play from construction scaffolding.
“An artist is a protester, an artist is somebody who enjoys the challenge,” says Bentley-Fisher.
“And I feel that I gave that my best shot. Of course there were things that didn’t work, but that was always my energy.”
Bentley-Fisher is proud of bringing the Fringe Festival to Saskatoon but fears that Fringes in general are repeating the same notes.
“The Fringe is a formula and I would love to see that formula blown up,” he says.
He feels the same way about theatre in Saskatoon. He likes that there are new people doing work but says they should go beyond theatre.
“I feel that it’s still insulated. This is not putting it down. I feel that it needs a shakeup, quite frankly. I love to come from a place of chaos. I love to come from a place of unknown. When an audience and an actor, an audience and an idea meet, you’re taking a big chance.”
As for working in America during the arts-unfriendly Trump era, Bentley-Fisher says the artist’s challenge is to respond.
“It is a time of great turmoil. And in any time of great turmoil, there are always stretches because you have to go the limit. As well as it being a very dark time for the United States and artists here, it’s also a very bright time because you have to stretch. If you go so far in one direction, the other direction opens up as well.”
On the website meisnertechniquebayarea.com, Bentley-Fisher says he seeks to work with actors who “go the limit.” He feels privileged to feel like he’s not retreating but evolving.
“I sure don’t think I know everything — or anything — but the exploration is utterly thrilling.”