Canadian showbiz legends Sky Gilbert and Gavin Crawford return to the Montreal stage for the world premiere of Gilbert’s new play Witness for the Persecution which opens at Théatre Sainte-Catherine on May 21.
More than just an entertaining take on the famous courtroom-drama Witness for the Prosecution starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton, Witness for the Persecution is a time of reckoning for 73-year-old queer lightning rod Sky Gilbert who calls his mother Pat Gilbert to the witness stand to defend him. Sky’s real-life mom Pat passed away 11 years ago, and the woman onstage claiming to be Sky’s mother – and who looks, acts and speaks like Marlene Dietrich from the famous film adaptation of the Agatha Christie play – is portrayed by Gavin Crawford.
Co-founder and artistic director of Toronto’s iconic Buddies in Bad Times Theatre from 1979 to 1997, Gilbert is a poet, novelist, playwright, filmmaker and theatre director whose drag persona Jane is as fearless as he is. Gilbert has bought a condo in Montreal where he teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Critically-hailed comedian, radio personality and Canadian TV star Gavin Crawford has won tons of awards, including the prestigious Dora Moore Award twice for acting in Gilbert’s plays: for playing the lead in The Situationists in 2011 and for playing a woman (Viola) in A Few Brittle Leaves in 2013.
Witness for the Persecution reunites Gilbert with his famous muse Crawford. Both sat down for a candid Q&A to preview Witness for the Persecution which runs at Théatre Sainte-Catherine from May 21 to 23.
Sky, why were you compelled to write this play?
Sky Gilbert: I’ve written so much about my mother – and Gavin has played my mother before – but I realized I hadn’t really written about how my mother kneecapped me or crippled me emotionally. In other words, as much as I loved her, she made it really difficult for me to love someone else because our relationship was so perfect. And I mean that in kind of critical, ironic way.
Gavin Crawford: My mom and I were fairly close. Maybe it’s of a generation but if you’re lucky enough to have a very supportive mother and you’re gay, particularly for those of us in the 70s and 80s when things were fairly rough, they can overcompensate that they’re worried the world isn’t going to love you, so they give you this kind of unconditional love. My mom was always very protective of me from a very early age. She was like, “I think you’re perfect. I think you’re great the way that you are. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, you can do anything.” Which is very great on one hand, but can also be a little-bit-kind-of suffocating. In my case it was really great.
The play asks if it is right to blame our parents for anything. Do either of you blame your parents for anything?
Sky Gilbert: I don’t blame my parents for anything. I mean, I attribute certain aspects of my character to my relationship to them, but I don’t blame them or curse them, because they were doing the best they could.
Gavin Crawford: I blame them for everything! (Laughter) Inability to hug. I blame my father for me having to have a career in Canada because he didn’t let me go to Yale which I got into! He was like, “You’re going to the University of Alberta.” But I got a scholarship and went to the University of British Columbia. I did get into a couple of American schools but I was not allowed to go. So, yeah, I blame them somewhat. But part of growing up and getting older is sort of realizing you kind of can’t blame anyone for anything, because you just get the hand you’re dealt, and you have to sort it out.
Sky Gilbert: I think there are good boys and bad boys. I’m making an assumption here, but I think we’re both pretty good boys – which doesn’t mean that we’re always good. I didn’t rebel until I was 30!
Gavin Crawford: I think that’s correct for me too. I think a lot of my younger years, in as much as my mom was protective of me, I was weirdly protective of her because even though she and my dad stayed married, she would always talk like she was on the verge of divorce. They didn’t have much in common. She liked art galleries. She wanted to live in a city. He was a farm dentist. He liked to hunt and fish. And so I kind of took it upon myself to be like, “I will take you to New York. I will show you the world.” I didn’t want to disappoint her, though I did disappoint her sometimes by being in Sky’s plays!
Sky Gilbert: (Laughs) There we go again!
Gavin Crawford: I was in a play where I’m like, “I just want to let you know there’s a part in this play where I’m naked and I’m crawling across the stage, but don’t worry about it, it’ll be over fast, and at the end of the day, it’s a very good play!”
Sky Gilbert: He’s talking about (the black comedy) I Have AIDS! where the famous scene – at least famous for us – was where his asshole fell out while saying kind of funny stuff!
Gavin Crawford: To her credit, she came to every single play. She would always be like, “Well, you were wonderful!” regardless of what she might have thought.
Sky, you made your Montreal debut as ‘Otto’ in Nicky Silver’s The Food Chain at the Segal Theatre in 1997, and Gavin, I last saw you at Just For Laughs Montreal in 2013. How do you boys feel about performing in Montreal again?
Gavin Crawford: I’m excited! I love any chance I get to go to Montreal, especially in the summer. Not to shit on Toronto, but Montreal just does it better. It’s a vibe. It’s a nice vibe.
Sky Gilbert: For us fatally white guys, it’s nice to be in a somewhat Latinate culture. It loosens us up. I’m really excited! I am moving here gradually, so that’s one of the reasons I’m doing the show here. And I’m hoping to do smaller cabaret type stuff here too.
Gavin Crawford: Sky is dipping his toe into the Montreal theatre scene, and I’m playing the toe!
Gavin, you and Sky have worked on nine of Sky’s plays. How comfortable is it for you to work with Sky?
Gavin Crawford: I obviously enjoy working with Sky. I’ve been doing it since I was almost 24.
Sky Gilbert: I discovered him! In a Mormon gutter!
Gavin Crawford: I like working with Sky because we have a similar work ethic and we now have a shorthand with each other. He directs me easily. I respond to his direction fairly easily. He talks the way I want a director to talk, not in riddles or codes or metaphor. He writes parts that are fun for me to play. One of the reasons I wanted to do this show is, how often am I going to get to be a version of Marlene Dietrich? Sky just gives me things that are different to play.
Sky, sounds like Gavin is your muse.
Sky Gilbert: Absolutely! He has been my muse for years. I write him characters. I don’t know who else would play them if he wasn’t around.
INFOS | Witness for the Persecution starring Gavin Crawford and Sky Gilbert runs at Théatre Sainte-Catherine from May 21 to 23.
Tickets: https://lepointdevente.com
