TMU grads take to the Stratford stage this summer in four plays

What do actors do in the town of Stratford when they’re rehearsing or performing on the Festival stage? Tarique Lewis (Performance Acting ’21), who plays Sampson in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance, says that “most of the time, I’d rather play spike ball or light a bonfire – just chill and not talk about work.”

Though he loves the thrill of performing for a live audience, the downtime gives him the physical and emotional stamina to get through 10-hour or longer days performing and rehearsing in multiple roles. It helps that Lewis is living with his friend and former classmate, Michael Wamara (Performance Acting ’21) and one of their coaches is their former TMU instructor, Tim Welham, a Shakespearean text expert. “It’s so great to have him here to help me dissect the text and really understand what my character is saying.”

In his role as Sampson in Romeo and Juliet, Lewis is really embodying his character to the fullest. “He’s the person that throws the first punch. The audience gets to see how the feeling he has snowballs into this whole tragedy.” His pre-show ritual is to do as many push-ups as he can. “It makes my body feel ready. I want to wield this sword on the first person I see.”

In the fourteenth century, when the story takes place, “men pride themselves on being ferocious. It was a very violent time,” Lewis explains. “Samson is very loyal to the Capulets, but he also has something to prove.”

Lewis draws often on the Alexander technique he learned while at TMU, a rigorous process of recognizing one’s lifelong movement and posture habits and aligning one’s physical presence with their character’s mentality. TMU also taught him “about the importance of listening and receiving – how to take what the person has said to you, and actually feel it before you respond with your next line.” The skill is especially vital in live theatre.

Wamara adds that the give and take of the same scenes day after day means the cast can build on their performances over time. “We make new discoveries,” he says. For example, recently, when his character, the cave-dwelling Guiderius, professed his brotherly love for his upper-class sister in Cymbeline, the power went out and everything went black. “The person who plays my father was like, ‘Wow, you must really love her’” and the audience burst out in laughter and applause. When they repeated the scene after power returned, “the energy was different.” His character’s love felt even more substantial than it had before.

While the two plays that Wamara acts in – Cymbeline and Wendy & Peter Pan – were written centuries apart, he finds commonality in his roles through his characters’ curiosity. Guiderius is curious about what more lies beyond the forest and the cave, while “for Curly, it's that childhood curiosity, of, ‘Ooh, What's that? Can I have that? Can I eat this? Can I play with this?”

Wamara said different TMU instructors provided various “tools in the toolbox” that he draws upon on stage, but he credits Professor Lisa Karen Cox as the person “who helped me own who I am and connect with people in a more genuine way.” She would give students only a piece of text, without further instructions. “Everything we created individually was so unique to each person in the room. She showed us how to act without guidelines and be imaginative about what we put out in the world.” TMU also helped him build endurance and a self-care routine for 10-hour days of rehearsals and performances. 

It helps, too, that Wamara can feed off the energy of the audience, including the many children in the audience of Wendy & Peter Pan. “They cheer and they boo,” says Wamara. Recently, when Wendy and Peter Pan kissed on stage, a loud “Ew!” could be heard from a small child in attendance. “We were just trying to keep ourselves together.” 

Lewis also has moments where he hears “a crazy laugh” or an outspoken reaction. “It's just something you appreciate, because it's an audience member showing how present they are.”

Such moments are even more meaningful after the pandemic put a pause on in-person performance, adds Wamara. “It’s been a wild experience, in the best way possible, to be around people who have just been working on stage for so long, and gaining experience from them and learning from them.”

TMU alumni and community members can take advantage of discounted tickets to Stratford through the TMU Alumni Discount Program.

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