‘Our Angle in Heaven’
Anyone perusing the title of this Long Fringe entry might think there’s been a mistake, but there’s no typo. “The crowds lining the street for Diana’s funeral were proudly holding up various signs for the TV cameras,” says Maggie Gallant, the writer of and sole performer in Angle. “People had put a lot of work into them, but I was amused by some of the misspellings, especially the one that read ‘angle’ rather than ‘angel,’ and I thought it would make a good show title.”
Gallant, an English expat, only started writing and performing a few years ago: “I’ve always wanted to. Had my parents given in to my nagging to send me to stage school when I was an 11-year-old, I’m sure I’d be a star by now. But I fell into a public relations job, the only bearable parts of which were when I got to do television interviews and give presentations and new business pitches. I’m secretly a bit of a show-off.”
A natural mimic, Gallant gets to show off quite a bit in this dark comedy, which she’s been working on for a couple of years, performing a shorter version of it in last year’s Short Fringe. This time, it has eight characters, including a Pakistani, an Irish woman, a Diana impersonator, and Gallant herself. And while the show might appear to be about all things Diana, “the impetus to start writing this piece was to tell my story,” Gallant says. But if you want to know what that story is, you’ll have to find out for yourself. – Barry Pineo
This article appears in January 16 • 2009.