Brilliant

Gavin Crawford is County bound

Award winning actor, comedian and radio host Gavin Crawford will soon be making his way to the County for his run of Festival Players’ Every Brilliant Thing, from August 2 to 17 at the Studio Theatre in Wellington. Crawford is the sole performer in this one-of-a-kind interactive theatre piece that chronicles a young person’s quest to discover every magnificent thing about being human and alive. It is a unique script that engages the audience and takes them on a ride that is both hilarious and deeply moving.

The Times caught up with Crawford recently to chat about coming to the upcoming production, why he had to play this role, and how no matter what his schedule looks like, he will always find time to do theatre.

You have been successful in many different mediums when it comes to entertainment, what’s your favourite?

“I don’t like doing one any one thing enough to do only it. I have too short of an attention span. Doing theatre and touring a comedy show that is more theatrical than host-based is my favourite thing to do. I try and perform in a play every two years or so. I don’t like film and television as much because I don’t have a good personality for just sitting around waiting for the five minutes that I have to do acting. If I’m doing TV I’d rather it be something like 22 Minutes where I’m constantly engaged and also writing for. People ask me ‘why don’t you do more film and TV?’ and it’s because I really don’t care for the process. I much prefer theatre where there are rehearsals and you can spend the time learning a 60-page script and finding all of its intricacies.”

How did things get started for you in the comedy biz?

“I got a theatre degree and then moved to Toronto sort of by necessity. I was doing stand-up in clubs, but I was always going in-character. I would come out on stage and be a character acting as if they were doing stand-up. It was never me. It took me a long time before I developed the skill of going out as myself without any disguises personality-wise. It was also out of necessity because I was getting asked to host things and you can’t host an event as a character for the whole evening. It was a bit of both worlds though, because at that time I also got onto the main stage at Second City where I was doing character stand-up and also improv at the same time. It wasn’t until after my time on 22 Minutes that I started really trying to figure out how to shift being me and being funny when I need to be, but also adding the characters in as well without having to wear a full costume or make-up. I can pop-out and be a bit more personal. It’s been an interesting learning curve, which interestingly leads to this weird play, which is kind of like a story-telling standup routine. When I first read it I thought ‘this is a great show and I find this terrifying, so I guess I should probably do it’. Mostly because I am, by nature, shy and this play requires me to be really comfortable just speaking with the audience. It’s not a traditional audience participation style. It is very gentle the way it uses the audience and it’s not out to humiliate anyone. It’s a very clever way of using people in the audience to help you tell your story.”

Why is Every Brilliant Thing such a hot play right now?

“It’s a very well-written play and a nice journey that leaves the audience feeling uplifted in the end, which is especially poignant right when the world feels like such a garbage fire sometimes. In the last play I did I talked a lot about social media, but there is something to be said about the connectiveness of our world and the way everyone seems to be behaving like outraged slot machines.”

Our whole culture right now is designed for us to feel anxious and share negativity with your cyber-friends. This play is like a bit of an inoculation against that in a weird way. It starts with the character as a seven-year-old going through a tough time at home and decides to start writing down all the things that make life worth living. Just the things that he finds great, and over the course of his life the list grows and grows and it makes the audience think ‘what are the things that make me feel great?’ and ‘what are my favourite things?’ What’s genius about this play is that it deals with some pretty dark things, and yet it is so lively and fun at the same time. Toeing that line between light and dark is what I love to do as a performer and what the best comedy is meant to be.

Do you have any time off this summer? How hectic is your schedule for the rest of the year?

I’m a super busy person by nature. Last summer my husband and I bought a property in Cape Breton that had a lousy cabin on it. So, we went up and learned how to build a cabin and spent the summer doing that. It was a lot of fun, but not entirely complete. So, the thought was to spend summer up there under the stars and having campfires, but the opportunity came up to do this run of shows with Festival Players and opportunities like this don’t pop up much in the theatre world. I also had a great time performing here last year at the Regent Theatre and loved the response from the audience. So, I’ll have two weeks at the end of August to go and spend some time up there. But then Because News starts taping in September and not only that we are into an election cycle. But sometimes change can be as good as a rest, so to be cramming my head full of a list of brilliant things instead of combing through the news to see what Donald Trump said or how Jason Kenny is spinning Alberta politics this week is a very refreshing change. And you know what? It’ll all be there when I get back,”

You can purchase tickets online for Every Brilliant Thing, starring Gavin Crawford and directed by Dylan Trowbridge at www.festivalplayers.ca.