Torquil Campbell in TrueCrime-photobyDahliaKatz-1429.jpgDahlia Katz
In his new one-man play True Crime, Torquil Campbell (of the indie-pop band Stars) plays the real-life con man Clark Rockefeller. Unlike that shady character, however, Campbell himself would never steer us wrong – at least not on purpose. We asked the highly opinionated actor-musician about his current passions.
What he just saw: "Gorillaz. Damon Albarn is a hero of mine, in the old fashioned, I-can't-believe-what-he-does way. Nobody works harder; nobody makes it look easier. The Gorillaz show at Air Canada Centre this week was two hours of pure fire and joy. The crowd looked like actual people instead of algorithmic hipster-bots invented by a microbrewery. The sound was the best I have ever heard in an arena. Everyone there danced and shouted and basically were so fun and raucous that they got the show they deserved. Simply amazing."
What he's looking forward to: "Seeing Middletown at the Shaw Festival. My wife Moya O'Connell and a gang of some of my favourite friends and artists are taking on this beautiful, funny, strange meditation on how the little things in life really turn out to be the biggest things of all. There aren't very many places on earth where you can see actors of this calibre. Get in your car or on the bus and go see them. The Shaw is a testament to the truism that theatre is the art form of the ACTOR, not the director or playwright or anyone else."
What's he's tuned into: "I am obsessed with true crime, and the new bottomless pit of the stuff into which I have managed to fall is the world of true-crime podcasts. Crimetown, about organized crime and politics in Rhode Island, is the best of the bunch. Produced by the guys who made HBO's The Jinx, it's funny, scary and filled with stories that until the rise of Donald Trump we would have said were impossible to believe."
True Crime plays at Stratford Festival, July 16, 10:30 a.m. $25. Stratford, Ont., 800-567-1600 or stratfordfestival.ca; Future dates in Toronto, Calgary and Victoria. Info at crowstheatre.com
Brad Wheeler