Bill
Glassco 1935 - 2004 In memoriam
On
Monday, November 8th, there was a memorial service for Bill Glassco
held at the Centaur Theatre here in Montreal.
The evening was graciously emceed by Albert Millaire; the
theatre was
full of people, present because in one way or another, Bill had made a
significant contribution not only to Canadian theatre but to their own
lives
and careers. There were laminated
obituaries from all the major newspapers on display in the lobby; on
stage,
there was a continuous video made up of a montage of photographs from
various
stages of
Bill's life. Gordon McCall, artistic director of Centaur, began the
memorial by
welcoming all of us to his theatre and by reminiscing about his own
experiences
working as an actor in Toronto in the early 1970s when he first met
Bill. Jane Needles, the key organiser of
the event,
came on stage to say that we were there to celebrate Bill's life, to
laugh
through our tears, which is exactly what we did.
Among
the many speakers, the first to come on stage was Dr Thomas Deuel.
He had been a room-mate of Bill's at Princeton University where they
did their
undergraduate studies together. He told
amusing stories about their antics, their personal relationship, and
Bill's
generous and fun-loving spirit. Michel
Tremblay could not be with us, but he sent a "love letter to Bill"
which Albert Millaire read out loud. It
was full of sympathetic humour, delightful anecdotes, and confirmed
Tremblay's
gratitude to Bill for supporting his early playwriting and for helping
to open
up his work to audiences outside of Quebec. Clare Coulter read a letter
from
Bill's former wife, Jane Glassco, telling us amusing, brave, and
hopeful
stories about the struggles involved in founding and nurturing Tarragon
Theatre
in its earliest days. One of Bill's children, Rufus Glassco, spoke very
personally about what kind of father Bill had been; he explained that
Bill had
told him that, above all else, one must have self-esteem or
"amour-propre" -- Rufus said Bill told him that it sounds better in
French -- in order
to engage fully with one's life and 'destiny.' Michel Marc Bouchard
read a very
moving statement about why writers of his generation feel a great debt
of
gratitude to Bill. Bill's daughter,
Briony Glassco, read a letter from Governor General Adrienne Clarkson
in which
she wrote passionately about their shared love of (Canadian) literature
and of
course about the arts more generally.
Bill's
much-loved piano, which he had inherited from his grandmother,
was on stage, and a number of the guests played some of his favourite
pieces of
music. We also heard music from Bill's CD, produced in the last year,
on which
he sings and plays the piano. Kent
Stetson spoke of his very personal relationship with Bill, outlining
the kind
of helpful dramaturgical advice which Bill had given him when he was
writing
one of the many drafts of his ground-breaking play, "Warm Wind in
China." Kent told us that after
Bill phoned him with the bad news that he had throat cancer and perhaps
only a
year to live, Kent walked on his way to meet Bill for dinner
through Carré St. Louis and
along Prince
Arthur with anger and sorrow in his heart; but now, in celebration of
Bill's
life and achievements, as he walks along Prince Arthur, he hears
Gershwin, one
of Bill's favourite composers. Joe
Cobden, a member of the Montreal Young Company which Bill founded here
in
Montreal, spoke of the first major opportunities to practise his art as
an
actor which the Company had given not only to him but to other young
actors
eager to establish their careers after graduating from places such as
the
National Theatre School. Cobden made the
whole theatre laugh when he said that when he first met Bill he thought
he
was a
"theatre guy" with intimidating experience and great artistic taste;
in time, Cobden came to know Bill as a man like any other, and he found himself trying--and still tries--to be as
cultivated a person as Bill was. Minum and Ronnie Blair, together with
Muffy
Price, spoke of one of Bill's last (great) adventures: a trip they all
made
last year to India. Bill, his cancer in remission, seemed
inexhaustible, and,
as the ideal tourist, was determined to see virtually everything. At
the end of
the evening, we all stood up and to piano accompaniment -- and with
Bill's
daughter Briony as our guiding inspiration -- we sang a rousing
rendition of
one of Bill's favourite compositions -- George and Ira Gershwin's "You
Can't Take That Away From Me." Afterwards, we gathered in the lobby to
swap individual stories about what Bill's life had meant to each and
every one
of us; we also signed the guest book, adding a personal line or two of
warmth,
wit, gratitude, and love. We were
reminded on the program that Bill's dream was that the Montreal Young
Company
should continue; contributions can be sent to the Montreal Young
Company, 3558
Marlow Avenue, Montreal, H4A 3L7. The
organisers of the evening included Clare Coulter, Paula Danckert, Anne
Douglas,
Sheila Fischman, Linda Gaboriou, Briony and Rufus Glassco, Biek Price,
Eliane
Price, Cynthia Scott, Jean-Stéphane Roy, Luc Tremblay and, of
course, the
indomitable Jane Needles.
Denis Salter.
Bulletin / Newsletter 29.1