Sometimes, this job of mine has its moments: Seeing Christopher Gaze of Bard on the Beach fame perform a scene from Henry V at the York Theatre last week was pretty cool.
Even cooler that Gaze’s performance was impromptu and done with a handful of people in the recently renovated theatre. Dressed in a suit and standing at the front of the stage, Gaze let us have it:
“This day is call’d the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d, and rouse him at the name of Crispian.”
Nicely done.
Spoke to Gaze afterwards to get his thoughts on the York. He told me it reminded him of the theatres of his youth in England. He was pleased with the renos and congratulated all involved in having another prominent theatre on the East Side.
But what I didn’t know at the time of Gaze’s performance — out of the loop on this one, people — was the stage will likely be named after a company that renders inedible animal byproducts.
Say what?
Yep, as fans of the Bard know, all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. The stage at the York, however, cannot simply remain just a plain, old renovated stage. Instead: The West Coast Reduction Stage?
Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it.
According to a city staff report that goes before city council this week, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, which manages the York, applied to the city to have the stage named in recognition of West Coast’s $2 million contribution to the cultural centre.
Staff has proposed the stage name be included in the facia and canopy signs on the exterior of the building, which dates back to 1913 and recently underwent a $14.8 million renovation and opened last week.
West Coast Reduction, by the way, has its rendering plant located a few blocks to the north of the theatre at 639 Commercial Dr. This is the same plant where some residents have complained for several years about a rotting smell, particularly during warm days in the summer.
So, as you can imagine, naming the stage after the company hasn’t gone over well with everybody. According to the staff report, the cultural centre held an open house June 19 to explain the proposal and get community input.
About 40 people showed up and city staff received more than 80 emails and comments from others. Staff said 74 per cent of respondents supported the name for the stage.
“Those who did not support the signage were averse to this particular corporate sponsor [13 per cent] due to impacts on the community and the nature of the business conducted by the sponsor and/or corporate sponsorship being recognized on exterior signs [nine per cent],” the staff report said. “Others [10 per cent] were concerned about the potential impact of the sign illumination and changing text of the automatic changeable copy on nearby residents and that the signage is not attractive or consistent with the heritage character of the building.”
Resident Juliet Capulet wondered what all the fuss was about and had this to say: “What’s in a name? That which we call an inedible animal byproduct by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Council was expected to refer the request to public hearing.
twitter.com/Howellings
