{"id":14673,"date":"2017-09-20T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T16:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=14673"},"modified":"2017-10-02T09:20:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:20:19","slug":"the-childrens-republic-offers-new-twist-on-powerful-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2017\/09\/20\/the-childrens-republic-offers-new-twist-on-powerful-play\/","title":{"rendered":"The Children\u2019s Republic<\/em> offers new twist on powerful play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Rainville has played Dr. Korczak in Hannah Moscovitch\u2019s The Children\u2019s Republic<\/i> not once but twice, which makes it all the more surprising that he says he stumbled into it in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to play him in Ottawa in a very different version of the play,\u201d says Rainville. \u201cThe woman who was directing the workshop in Ottawa prior to the production said, \u2018Would you read a part?\u2019 I thought, okay, I\u2019m reading a part, it\u2019ll be easy, I\u2019ll just have a couple of scenes. Then they said, \u2018No, you\u2019re playing the doctor.\u2019 Korczak\u2019s character grabbed hold of me; it was very moving to play this incredible person who devoted his life to children. And here I am, however many years later, playing him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Republic<\/i> is set during the German occupation of Poland in World War II; in the play, Korczak helps run a Jewish orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto. Rainville says he thought he would get a head start by learning his lines in the summer but was then told by the playwright and director that they were making a new version.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Children\u2019s Republic<\/em> tries to find light in a dark situation: the German occupation of Poland in World War II (photo by David Cooper).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting challenge for me,\u201d says Rainville, \u201cbecause I thought I knew Korczak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new version of The Children\u2019s Republic<\/i>, says Rainville, is about turning the focus on the children as the storytellers; the play looks at Korczak in a new light.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s been revealed to me is more of the essence of this man who was famous in Poland as an author of children\u2019s books, and he was a pedagogue; he had books out on how to raise children, and his theories were quite revolutionary,\u201d says Rainville.<\/p>\n

The history books tell the tragic story of Korczak and the children, but Rainville says the play is about the importance of bringing light into others\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what Hannah has tried to do is get even deeper inside the story,\u201d says Rainville. \u201cIn this version of the play I\u2019m finding that if I ever am questioning anything, it\u2019s that the play drives me to look for answers in the kids, and that\u2019s what Korczak\u2019s spirit was. The answers lie within the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rainville says that playing Korczak has changed his approach to acting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a very energetic actor,\u201d he says. \u201cI use energy and dynamics to bring life to the characters, and Korczak just has a different energy. He\u2019s very watchful, very careful with the kids. It demands a lot more patience and listening on my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rainville says that the play is positive even though it\u2019s set in a very dark time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very uplifting story in that there is a lot funny stuff in it and humour in it as well,\u201d he says. \u201cAs people do in dark situations, they try to find a bit of light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rainville says that there is a lot of fun dialogue between his character and the character Stefa, played by Kerry Sandomirsky.<\/p>\n

\u201cKorczak was the director of the orphanage but Stefa ran the ship,\u201d he says. \u201cStefa really kept things on track, and there is a lot of banter between the two of them. I think that is the most fun; it\u2019s not a particular line, but it\u2019s the nature of the relationship where they depended on each other so much. They worked together for 31 years. It was almost like a marriage but it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rainville says that he hopes the audience will see how unique the characters in The Children\u2019s Republic<\/i> are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a horrible time,\u201d he says, \u201cthey were proud and defiant and held on to their humanity in the face of inhumanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Republic
\n<\/i>Until Sunday, October 8
\nThe Belfry Theatre
\nbelfry.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Rainville has played Dr. Korczak in Hannah Moscovitch\u2019s The Children\u2019s Republic not once but twice, which makes it all the more surprising that he says he stumbled into it in the first place. \u201cI got to play him in Ottawa in a very different version of the play,\u201d says Rainville. \u201cThe woman who was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-september-20-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14676,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14673\/revisions\/14676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}