Taking my applause to another theatre
Re: “Actor who made discrimination complaint faced backlash, abuse,” May 2.
I’ve been a big fan of Langham Court Theatre and a regular audience member since I moved to Victoria in 2005, so I was saddened to read about the human rights case against them.
It’s terrible to know that a young Black actor was excluded by the theatre and even worse to hear how she was subsequently treated by others in the community. First and foremost, I hope she is able to find some peace in this process.
The Langham Theatre needs to get with the times, and they should start by removing those life-member photos from the lobby.
As an audience member, I’ve always been a bit stymied by them. They’re an imposing and confusing sight that always made me feel I was entering the inner sanctum of some exclusive society. And as a biracial man, the overwhelming whiteness of that group made it feel like it was a society I would not be welcomed to.
I know Langham Theatre has a dedicated following. I always enjoy seeing friends in attendance when I go to a show, and over the years, I’ve gotten to know some of the regular audience members like myself.
But I can’t in good conscience continue to support them. There’s plenty of great theatre in this town that doesn’t do this kind of harm, and it’s those groups that will get my money and applause from now on.
Don Dixon
Victoria
Acting and singing matter, but race does not
Re: “Actor who made discrimination complaint faced backlash, abuse,” May 2.
Local theatre companies might do well to take a page from opera. In opera productions, we see Blacks and Asians playing roles that were written for whites. We see whites playing roles that were written for Blacks and Asians.
What is more important, the person’s acting (or singing) ability or the colour of their skin? Until we stop seeing race as the first defining feature of a person, until we start seeing other qualities first, we will not have a just and tolerant society.
Ada Robinson
Victoria
Theatre is not a racist field
Re: “Actor who made discrimination complaint faced backlash, abuse,” May 2.
Twenty years of professional acting in New York City never gave me the privilege to complain about not getting a role because I was too Irish-looking.
My friends and I of every race and sexual preference auditioned and accepted the outcome. I heard many times from my agents: “They weren’t looking for redheads.” There was no affirmative action for us.
I don’t condone anyone abusing this person if that is true, but it sounds more than reasonable when the director explains that they are not looking for Black actors for this production.
If I auditioned for Porgy and Bess, I would think perhaps I’m chasing windmills. That the director said they’d be happy to hear you read is as good as it gets.
We were always told most shows are already cast and you’re actually auditioning so they remember you for the future productions. You don’t get to dictate a director’s or writer’s vision; if you want to change that, mount your own production.
Here is the outcome that I see. From now on, the actor will get polite lip service, an audition, a thank you — and not a thought after leaving the room. Is this bridging the gap of racism, or widening it?
The most important lesson I was told by directors and casting agents was “nobody wants to work with difficult people.” Of all the fields of work I’ve been involved with, the arts are the least racist of any of them.
Accusing the groups that have traditionally been the first to champion racial and sexual equality sounds like inflicting pain on people probably undeserving of it. It is not acceptable to put a theatre company through tribunals and board meetings over a casting choice.
Tim Murphy
Esquimalt
Epidemic of ‘got’ spreading like wildfire
Another pestilence has plagued the English-speaking world along with COVID-19, that being the epidemic spread of the word “got” in its various forms.
At one time we could “be infected” or “become infected” with an illness, but these fine verbs have been overwhelmed by the more virulent “get infected.”
We can no longer “receive a vaccine” or “be inoculated,” but must “get the shot” in order to not “get sick.” I long for the days when we only suffered the minor strain called “get married,” which displaced the healthy verb “marry.”
This awful “got” virus has spread throughout the Times Colonist’s pages; last weekend, a columnist referred to an issue that “rarely gets discussed.”
Your cursor could quickly have treated that outbreak by changing it to “is rarely discussed.”
Inoculation against “got” and its viral kin is that easy; every appearance by them should be challenged and avoided, other than in quotations, until healthy verbs again prevail throughout the language.
Gerald Rotering
Victoria
They know they are right because they know it
Arrogance often comes with pejorative connotations. I am using the implied definition as follows, derived from the title of a mid-19th-century novel by Anthony Trollope: He knew he was right. Why was he right? Because he knew it!
The controversy around the “improvements” on Richardson Street suffers from a similar definition of arrogance on the part of the Victoria city council.
2,200 residents (probably the majority, actual neighbours to Richardson Street) recently signed a petition against the project. Victoria council recently voted 6-3 against a potential reconsideration of the project.
Why would they not even hit the pause bottom for reconsideration? I believe it is due to their arrogance. An arrogance which I will define with a small change to the title above: “They knew they were right.”
Again, how did they know they were right? They were right because they knew it.
I have been told that the opportunity to learn and form an opinion about this significant change was via a public gathering (2015 or 2016) organized by the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association. Did I attend? I can’t remember. 2016 is half a decade ago.
While the population has grown very little numerically, there has been steady change as people sell and buy houses.
A change of this significance should have had a public hearing. This would have required a more substantial official notification by council.
I lived at the eastern edge of this neighbourhood for 12 years. I still spend time where I lived. I travelled on Richardson Street from Richmond Avenue to Cook Street almost every day via bicycle, automobile and on foot (in that order of frequency).
I never felt at risk on my bicycle, as automobile traffic seemed comfortably slight. While I do not travel on that route as frequently, I still feel safe on my bicycle, as the number of automobiles I share the road with remains slight.
I would hope the members of council, none of whom live in the neighbourhood, might hear my testimony based on hundreds of trips, compared to their relatively few, and have supported a reconsideration.
Sadly they didn’t, due to their arrogance. An arrogance justified by “We knew we were right.” Why were they right? Because they knew it. This is also a textbook example of circular reasoning.
Andrew Beckerman
Victoria
They should go to work like the rest of us
I object to the B.C. government using my hard-earned money to purchase hotels and spend copious hordes of money to refurbish them just so we can house the layabouts.
The crowning blow is supplying them with three meals a day. As far as I’m concerned, they should give them a bus ticket to ship them off to where they came from.
I went to school and college, got a good job and was a success, I might add, to earn my way in this world of ours. From my side of the fence, these recalcitrant squatters that are desecrating our parks should be sent flying.
They have no ambition as far as I can see. On top of all this, the city has to deal with their chosen habit of doing drugs; isn’t that enough?
Certainly it’s not a great image for the beautiful garden city of Victoria. When will the government run out of money and hotels to buy to house these individuals, because if they are not nipped in the bud, they will just keep coming and coming, year in, year out, to squat in our parks.
It’s a Catch-22 situation, in my opinion.
Richard Brown
Cobble Hill
Beacon Hill campers a sign of things to come
The Times Colonist could not have planned a series of news stories better designed to infuriate Victorians than the recent reports this week.
First, we have the fool who drove an unregistered, uninsured car from Alberta to camp in a Victoria park and ended up doing doughnuts in a James Bay park, where he was arrested. Oh great, now our parks are a known camping destination.
Then we have Saturday’s report of Beacon Hill campers who don’t intend to leave. One woman (“Potato”) can’t figure out how to live indoors since graduating from high school four years ago.
This is followed by Max, who’s repairing bicycles in his tent because he can’t do that in an apartment or hotel room, and besides, he’s living rent-free. Talk about self-entitled. And is he being given free meals each day?
These are not the homeless; they’re people with a chosen lifestyle — the same as those illegally camped in RVs in the park and on the road.
It’s not the meek who shall inherit the Earth, it’s the entitled, and they’ve already inherited Beacon Hill Park.
Winston Jackson
Fairfield
Northern Junk a sign of better times
I shopped at Northern Junk. In the 1970s, I found a machine gear that kept a piece of machinery running until a new part could be made.
At that time, Northern Junk represented only one of the then visible aspects of what is now called the “circular economy.” We could go to stores such as Attica, Capital Iron, Veterans Junk, and many others to find “recycled treasures” that were saved from the dump or reduced to scrap metals.
Used furniture was not left at the curbside, but was taken to used furniture stores where it continued to serve another generation.
At City Hall, they talk of the circular economy as if it were something new, but it has been here, hidden amongst the old buildings, awaiting recognition — like Northern Junk.
Ken Johnson
Victoria
Pedestrian safety an afterthought
At first you might think Victoria is against cars. For example, to create bike lanes, parts of Vancouver Street have been closed to through vehicle traffic, with much of Vancouver Street’s traffic being diverted to Quadra and Cook Streets. But what does the city do once car travel on Vancouver Street is diverted? They dig up the centre part of Cook Street parallel to Vancouver Street to replace underground pipes, thereby reducing the number of lanes on Cook Street, creating traffic jams.
It’s a good thing vehicle traffic overall is significantly down due to the COVID-19 pandemic!
So at first glance, it may seem that Victoria is pro-cycling and anti-car, but no, it is anti-pedestrian. In catering to cycling needs, the city has shifted the importance of roads from vehicles to bicycles. And pedestrian safety has been ranked after cycling convenience.
We are all aware of the safety issues for pedestrians who get on and off buses on Pandora Avenue where they have to cross bike lanes. In addition, the raised curbs installed along the bike lanes make it hazardous for those with mobility or vision issues.
Now witness the new traffic roundabout at Cook and Southgate Streets. To handle the increased traffic on Cook and to slow it down south of Southgate, a roundabout has been installed at that intersection. Imagine you are one of the many seniors who live in the area and need to cross the street to catch a bus or access the activity centre or go shopping. How confident would you be that vehicles in or accessing the roundabout would notice pedestrians in time and stop?
A pedestrian-centred focus would prioritize safety for those walking and accommodate the needs of cyclists and vehicles afterwards.
Louise Manga
Victoria
Just say no to being uninformed
Without knowing who is going to operate within the huge project proposed at Victoria International Airport, how can Vancouver Islanders be expected to accept this project?
A tenant so powerful as to want to hide or not reveal its name before it moves onto and controls a huge part of lower Vancouver Island is not transparency.
Is the Canadian government trying to pull the wool over our eyes? If not, we need answers.
Vancouver Islanders don’t want to turn over their lifestyle to an unknown, with blinders on.
Susan Bexson
Sooke
License bicycles, the way we used to
When I was a young boy in North Vancouver in the early 1930s, I rode my one and only bicycle, for which I had to purchase a licence.
Today, when so much has been done and is being done to accommodate cyclists on our streets and highways, I believe it is high time that bicycles be obliged to be licensed annually.
I will await the slings and arrows.
Michael M. Stevenson
Victoria
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