Astle, Robert 1955–

PERSONAL: Born April 18, 1955, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; son of William John (a chartered accountant) and Dorothy Kathleen (Moss) Astle; married Michelle Christine Zenon, June 5, 1982 (marriage ended); married Maria Antonella Pelizzari (a professor), June 2, 2004; children: Simon Zenon. Ethnicity: "English-Canadian." Education: Studied theater and related subjects at École Jacques Lecoq (Paris, France), 1977–78. Religion: Protestant.

ADDRESSES: Home—3451 Ave. Laval, No. 5, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3C7, Canada. E-mail—robertastle@videotron.ca.

CAREER: Actor, producer, director, and writer. Small Change Theater (collective), cofounder, 1982, and producer and performer for touring clown and mask shows; Les Etablissements, founding member, c. 1990, and performer on tour in Belgium, England, Canada, and the United States, including appearance in solo show Heart of a Dog; also toured in solo show The Hats of Mr. Zenobe, beginning 1997; appeared in solo stage show The Piano Tuner, produced in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. National Theater School, Montreal, teacher; Concordia University, teacher and director of Masque of the Red Death and other performances; University of Winnipeg, director of The Ghost Sonata, 2004. Centaur Theater, playwright-in-residence and co-producer of Wildside Festival; Theater Prospero, director of Croisades.

WRITINGS:

SUBHEAD

(With Agnes Limbos) Heart of a Dog (solo stage show; produced on tour by Les Etablissements), Nuage Editions (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 1994.

The Hats of Mr. Zenobe (solo stage show; produced on tour, beginning 1997), Nuage Editions (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 1997.

Theatre without Borders, Signature Editions (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 2002.

The Piano Tuner (solo stage show; produced in Montreal, Quebec, Canada), Signature Editions (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 2004.

ADAPTATIONS: Astle's solo performance in Heart of a Dog was recorded and broadcast on Sunday Showcase, CBC-Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation., Canada

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Big Empty, a play.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Astle told CA: "I am a gleaner and bricoleur searching for the perfect object that will unlock a story that has been forgotten, left behind, and abandoned. I look for stories that give the underdog a voice, the lunatic fringe a hearing out, the eccentrics and the dispossessed center stage in the spotlight. I am looking for tales that are inspired by found objects. The characters I create and stories are outrageous and teeter between the hilarious and the tragic. I am always looking for that edge of tragedy and comedy, and to say something that is profoundly human. I always want the audience to leave the theater after a performance with a little dark flame of hope. The objects in the plays are fragile and break often: they are not props, so it's usually hours of repairs. They have a life like us, fragile and easily broken. The theater is a place for magic to happen, and for me objects are the open door into a world of enchantment. Where do I find these objects? Many places; mostly I found objects in a flea market in Brussels, Belgium. It's a place I call my Republic of Dreams."

Astle continued: "I began creating and writing a trilogy of one-man 'found object theater' performance pieces in 1989, with the creation of Heart of a Dog. (In object theater, objects and props are manipulated by performing artists. The objects often have the same weight in the storytelling as the narrative or plot.) Now the words object and theater are not usually found in the same sentence, and as a style of theater it tends to be placed in the world of puppet theater and figure theater—more out on the fringe than the mainstream and text-based 'psychological' theater.

"Without getting into too much definition and categorization, my personal experience in creating found object theater is that, during the writing process, the objects—bric-a-brac, family heirlooms, garbage, personal items—inspire the writing and creation. The stories need the objects, and the objects need the stories. The objects may or may not come from the same family (that is, plastic dolls versus bricks), but when objects are introduced as a performance style, the intensity of the audience participation is increased. A simple test: an actor puts on a mask. Something is triggered deep within us. Curiosity, respect for tradition, even repulsion—the mask demands something of us. The same goes for objects. There is a trigger of curiosity, and wonderment is set off. It is then up to writer/performer to organize these objects into comical or even tragic events, to pull the objects and stories into a coherency, into a story, into a scene, and finally into a play.

"For me, found objects are the actual evidence or bits of out humanity that has been discarded, and the artist recycles them into a story, into a play, and into art. Humans are natural collectors. As individuals, we in a lifetime collect, archive, hoard mountains of objects and name them as keepsakes, mementos, curios, souvenirs, or talismans, touchstones, 'objets d'art.' The importance of these objects of course varies from person to person, but it is artists who resort, recycle, and reconfigure objects that inspire scenes, stories, dream sequences, nightmares, keeping the eye of conscience on the contemporary, the universal, and the personal. Visual artists are particularly keen at this, although in the past few years many crossover artists have established a reputation in contemporary theater.

"What attracts me to create and write these stories? I believe it is hidden stories or abandoned stories that real objects contain. I was adopted as an infant and never really knew my true story. As an artist, I believe I became viscerally attracted to hidden stories, and that an object contains and holds a certain resonance, certain hidden truths, that can be unlocked. I am also aware of the intense human need to collect and display everyday objects, and it is my hope that these objects will have a theatrical life that can delight and enchant the audience and inspired my writing."