They Say What They Say

Paul Gross owns me. And I mean that literally.

I spent the whole of last night watching Slings & Arrows and my God to I have some serious envy of those people who got to see Paul playing Hamlet in Stratford. He had me enthralled the whole way through, and if it weren't for the fact that Martha Burns isn't already filling that spot nicely, I'd fly to Canada and demand that he marry me and let me have his babies.

*ahem*

But it's not just the fact that PG is a gloriously talented and beautiful man (with an arse you can crack a walnut on) the whole series was an utter delight from beginning to end. The writing was brilliant - succinct and witty, with just the right blending of comedy and pathos - and the cast was perfect.

I especially enjoyed Martha Burns. She could have played Ellen as a total bitchy diva, but you could really see the vulnerability of the aging actress who knows that it is only a matter of time before she's playing the nurse in Romeo and Juliet because the youth-obsessed world of professional acting refuses to acknowledge that women over a certain age are just as appealing as the perky-breasted, no talent twenty one year-old. I was also particularly moved by Stepen Ouimette in the first episode as he slowly came to the (drunken) realisation that he has turned into the sort of hack he would have despised when was young and not afraid to take a chance.

Don McKellar was hilarious as Darren, and how did he squeeze into those leather pants? while even Rachel McAdams (who I was all prepared to dislike based on her 'sudden' rise to fame) was pretty good. But my favorite supporting character would have to be Terry the accountant who finds his life suddenly transformed by Shakespeare and the theatre. Also Hamlet really is the greatest play in the world.

Does anyone know when season two will be out on DVD? OMG, I can hardly wait! And how annoyed am I that they're stopping after season three? I was so hoping for at least one more season where, to give their production of Much Ado About Nothing a little street cred, they cast as Don Pedro a former punk-rocker turned actor named Billy who has his own ghost to deal with.

What? A girl can dream, can't she?