Tale of 2 Daniels
The faux Art Deco bench that’s followed me to each one of my homes since 2000 – I actually swiped from under the nose of one of the 2 Daniels.
Someone gave it to me wholeheartedly, but I knew it had been earmarked for one of the 2 Daniels, and I accepted it anyway.
The 2 Daniels, to me, are Daniels Brooks and MacIvor – each of them young(ish), handsome, award-winning Canadian playwrights/directors/actors; and each of them popular at the Tarragon Theatre when I worked there in 2000/01. So I sort of get them mixed up.
The bench was apparently from one of the plays, and was in the box office when I saw it and immediately declared my adoration. The sweet box office manager – whom I won’t name, just in case – told me Daniel had claimed it. But since I was a student, he said, I needed it more. And with a smile and a wink exchanged, the bench was mine. Sorry, Daniel.
Daniel MacIvor was this week awarded the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize, the nation’s richest honour for theatre. Daniel Brooks was the recipient in 2001.
