Second generation Canadian theatre talent, Nicolas Van Burek talks about connecting with his role as George Milton in the stage version of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the sociology of the arts and Die Hard: The Stage Version…

By: Kindah Mardam Bey

August 2007

Venturing to a performance of Steinbeck’s classic, banned book, Of Mice and Men I was expecting to see the weight of the play lay heavily on the shoulders of its star actor Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves, Transamerica) who plays Lennie. I was acutely wrong and somewhat taken aback by the man stood beside Greene playing the well-meaning, rough-around-the-edges George Milton, who was Nicolas Van Burek. What struck me on first impression (as my review of the play will attest to: click here) was how Van Burek emanated the same charisma on stage that a young Marlon Brando did on screen over fifty five years ago. Van Burek didn’t imitate, he simply had that quality; that magnetism that drew the audience in and rallied for Brando, even when he played a rogue, was somehow that potent essence that Van Burek had captured and bottled in his own personage on stage.

I simply had to know more, and so on a summer’s day I sat in Van Burek’s backyard amidst a haphazard deck furniture and a belting middle eastern fused cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic ‘I Put A Spell On You’ radiating from a CD player in the background. Some people learn through study and reflection, others like to roll up their sleeves, dive-in and get their hands dirty; Van Burek is a student of the latter. Even though Nicolas is the son of a famous Canadian within the realm of theatre, John Van Burek who is known within theatre circles for his advocacy and ingenuity in shaping Canadian theatre, nepotism was not held in court for Nicolas. Although Nicolas was a theatre brat, unlike an army brat, raised in theatre houses and amidst actors, and writers, he was short-listed but not accepted to any of the three major acting educational institutions of Canada, he took up Sociology at Concordia University for awhile, but hungered to roll up those aforementioned sleeves and get absorbed in his true calling.

Working in both stage and film, Nicolas Van Burek started to shape his craft from the age of nine. Van Burek describes to me the difference between the two mediums ‘You can get different things from film and theatre, but I find that theatre on film doesn’t relate well. It changes the nature of the concept. Theatre is an immediate medium; it demands a lot from both the actor and the audience. Film is more intimate and detail focused, and it allows you to play with time more. It is harder to show the progression of time on stage then on film. Plus you can’t blow stuff up on stage, but you can in film.’ I laugh at this comment and we digress into idea of ‘Die Hard: The Stage Version’ as each audience member gets both a program and a Teflon suit upon entrance into the theatre.

Yet it is the Stratford Festival of Canada stage that Van Burek calls home for now in his tenth season, with a highly successful run of Don Juan last year, and Van Burek has also played Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alan Strang in Equus, but now it’s all about Of Mice and Men. During trhe festivals off-season Van Burek seeks out the opportunities in film and also teaches in Michigan.

Nicolas tells me he read the book after getting the part of George Milton and immediately connected with the character ‘George has a desire for independence, and a will to survive that I connect with. Also, in many ways actors are like migrant workers of Steinbeck’s novel; we find a job, we do it for a duration and then we must move on and find new work. But I understood where George was coming from, and the director Martha Henry was really smart in approving that as I make a lot of sense in that role – I know what makes George tick. I have aspects of George and Graham (Greene) has aspects of Lennie, so the bond the characters have seemed to be something that worked out organically between the two of us; they say that necessity is the mother of invention, as it was the case with us.’

Van Burek has a great understanding of the novels themes ‘I think we work on a different scale then in the 1920s, but we still have similar issues concerning us. Migrant workers and the working poor; these are issues that still concern us today. But the theme of violence hovering within everyday existence is a strong and relevant concept back then and today. The play and novel has very few violent scenes, but both clearly show how the threat of violence is always there and that when a world is violent, it will always lend itself to violence.’

He continues ‘Steinbeck’s choice of words are so compelling; the writing is the ground that we actors walk on. As an actor you have to work harder if the writing sucks, and on the flip side, you have a lot to work with in the writing of Steinbeck and it is easy to stand on those words as an actor and produce a great performance out of it.’

Van Burek’s partial-degree/time-served was not a wasted venture as he draws lines of connection between his sociology studies and his world of acting; this is when the discussion gets really interesting as Van Burek fully stretches his keen perceptions about the state of theatre and society ‘young people no longer have a taste for oral tradition, they no longer have a taste for language. I think older people have lost interest with new media and its lightening pace; and now a huge generational gap has appeared. I don’t think theatre will die, like film won’t, as they are both lasting mediums, but society is changing and that reflects on the arts. Simply because youth haven’t had a lot of exposure to the theatre doesn’t mean they don’t want to. When young people come to shows their response is very strong because theatre is so engaging. It’s hard to compete with YouTube though, as new media is so quick and easily accessible, whereas theatre is not; but youth become interested when you get them involved. Places like the Stratford Festival with their $20 tickets for certain age groups, are really trying to get younger people involved.’

Van Burek furthers his ideas on the arts along the lines of funding, commercialization and the definition of the arts. ‘Public funding of the arts is what’s at stake, not private. The arts are almost being treated with hostility at times because they aren’t always commercially viable; but is spending money on futile wars money well spent? We have a shifting of values in society and we as Canadians have a strong sense of taking care of ourselves – we fear privatization in health care. Like health care for the physical being, the arts are not a luxury as they feed a different type of health. The arts are more commercial in nature now, with living organisms like the Hollywood Empire; but there is little artistic merit in all of that, and won’t feed our souls. I think we need to redefine what arts and culture is. Are movies? Where do things like the fringe festivals fit in?’

Single handedly Nicolas Van Burek seems to have deconstructed the arts from a sociologists point of view, in his backyard, on plastic deck furniture; thoughts that might have been better fitting for a classroom, or a symposium. I’m struck by Van Bureks’ obvious ability to tackle his talent with rolled-up sleeves and then to sit back and dissect it with a professors intellectualism. I ask Van Burek what the best advice he was ever given and he says ‘be like an iron wrapped in cotton.’ – it would be a very Zen comment if he didn’t look so pleased at himself for remembering the saying. Then he laughs at himself and says ‘the best advice I’ve ever been given was to tell the truth.’ So it would appear he does in both his performances and everyday conversation.

Nicolas Van Burek can be seen in Of Mice and Men until September 22^nd; he looks forward to playing Hamlet and Mercutio in his future at some point. He loves to see The Tempest performed on stage and ‘desperately needs to reread’ his favourite book again Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (the title of the Huxley classic is also taken from The Tempest).

To learn more about Van Burek or the Stratford Festival of Canada, go to www.stratfordfestival.ca