The sidewalk surrounding the stage door at Stratford's Avon Theatre
is scattered with children of all ages dressed in fancy clothes, waving
autograph books, and displaying expressions of anticipation on their
pictureperfect faces. They are waiting for their favourite actress, and
star of the Festival's stage production of Alice Through the Looking
Glass to emerge. They huddle around the door when it opens, and still
remain when someone tells them that Sarah Polley has already gone home.
Somehow they seem to know that the strawberryblonde, pint-sized actress
with a face as innocent as theirs is still in there, somewhere...
Polley, a native of Toronto, is perhaps best known as Sarah Stanley
from CBC's Road to Avonlea, a family show inspired by the novels of
Lucy
Maud Montgomery. In addition to her Avonlea fame, Polley has
appeared in
numerous Canadian films including The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,
and Atom Egoyan's Exotica.
With another project ready to add to her already impressive resume,
Polley admits she was nervous about Alice Through the Looking Glass.
"Before I started rehearsals, I was very nervous. I spent about five
months knowing I had the part, and it was dramatic because I've always
sort of had stage fright [of] public speaking, press conferences --
anything where I'm in front of a live audience. I have a real problem
with it, or I did."
But with the amount of work to be done, by the time the first day of
rehearsals arrived, Polley says her fright disappeared because there was
too much else to think about.
Alice Through the Looking Glass, adapted for the stage by James
Reaney, is the story of an 11-year-old girl whose imagination takes her
mirrored reflection into a magical land. Once there, Alice encounters a
world where everything, including time, is backwards, flowers talk, and
chess pieces are alive.
The play boasts everything it should, including a climactic ending as
Alice strives to win a chess match with the Red Queen on a life-sized
board. Alice's ultimate quest is to become a queen on the chessboard.
Although the story may be complicated at times, Polley says it's
definitely an all-ages production. "There are elements in it that I think
are very philosophical and very wordy ... and yet there's an element of
it that's definitely directed to delight children."
Part of Polley's research in preparation for Alice included reading
the books written by Lewis Carroll. "I was familiar with the Disney
version of Alice, and the storybook, but not the actual books themselves.
I loved the stories when I was little. Because there is that material
available, I would have felt guilty if I hadn't read a lot about [the
play]."
The part of Alice has been altered slightly in Stratford's rendition
from an eight-year-old to an 11-and-a-half-year-old. Polley describes
the character of Alice as logical, straight forward and mature beyond her
years. One might wonder if Polley is describing herself instead of Alice,
and she admits there are parts of Alice within her.
"I think I share her hunger for logic. I' not sure if I end up as
logical a person as she is, but I really do get starved for logic and I
try to be as straight-foward as possible."
With 11 years in show business to her credit, it's hard to believe
that Polley, 15, almost didn't get her start in the industry. "My parents
were both actors, and my brother was an actor when he was my age. It
wasn't something that they particularly wanted me to do. They don't fight
me on it now, but at the time I was making my decision to get into it,
they did their best to tell me not to. They knew it's not an ideal life
for a kid."
Polley is quick to stress that getting a start in acting doesn't mean
moving south of the border. "When people say, 'I have to go to the
States', they're talking about the fame, they're talking about the money.
Personally, the only start that I could get is in Canada because my
favourite things to do are low-budget Canadian movies. It's a lot more
real; you know people aren't there because they're going to make a
million dollars."
According to Polley, it is hard to make a living as a Canadian actor,
but says she respects people who have the willpower to stay here. "That's
the only way it's going to get better."
Although to date, Polley's appearances have been mainly with Canadian
productions, she is not ruling out a trip south. "If projects come up in
the State that I want to do, I'll go to do the project, but I'll never
live there. That superficial kind of phoniness that goes on there --- I
think it's repulsive."
Politically, Polley classifies herself as "left-wing", and hopes that
someday, she will have the opportunity to be very politically active
because she feels she has the drive to change things. She spends the
majority of her spare time reading, watching movies, and writing poetry.
Polley continues to make decisions about her acting career. Over the
past couple of seasons on Road to Avonlea, Polley's character Sara
appeared less frequently than in episodes prior. Polley has, in fact,
only one more episode left to film on the series.
"I've sort of asked to be written down quite a bit, and eventually
out. Maybe I'll never work for Sullivan Films or Disney [again] but I
don't feel like I'm going to be crying a lot about that." Not working for
Disney means not working for a lot of other companies that it runs, but
Polley isn't prepared to make any excuses for her career decisions.
In comparing the acting exprience on Road to Avonlea with that of
Alice Through the Looking Glass, Polley says they're vastly
different. "I
can't think of a single similarity except that they're both called
acting. [Being in a stage production! takes more concentration, and it's
more rewarding [sic]. Also, there's the issue of television, or on film,
you have a camera in front of you so that the audience is coming to you.
Here, you have to go to the audience."
As far as the Stratford Festival is concerned, Polley point out the
importance of children at the shows. "I now that [Alice] has been very
successful and I think it's very important to get younger audiences in
here because if children don't start going when they're young, you're not
going to have an adult audience in 20 years from now. I think it's
vital to have something that's either directed to or accessible for
children. I hope that this becomes a tradition."
Reflecting on her career so far, Polley modestly contends that acting
is a very exciting life, with something different always popping up in
her path. "My life changes so often that I've given up making big plans
for the future because it just doesn't happen that way."
Though she has occasionally considered leaving show business, there
is something that keeps her in the game, and she knows it.
She grins with that same innocent smile that has earned her a place
in Canadian show business and a spot in the hearts of adults and children
alike across Canada and beyond. She recalls being influenced by, of all
people, Woody Allen. "I guess that's my personal life," she says with a
giggle. "I don't have any Woody Allenish things creeping into Alice; at
least I hope not."
by Blair Matthews
Text taken from Infotrac's Magazine Index Plus Database