The Fox and the vittles

New play set in Chinese restaurant showcases Toronto actorโ€™s versatility

I can say this about David Fox: he can’t be typecast. The 70-year-old Toronto actor is set to star in The Golden Dragon, by playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig. In the play, Fox will stretch his character acting abilities by portraying an aging Asian cook as well as a 32-year-old female flight attendant and a young married hotshot businessman. That is versatility.

The only way Fox is differentiating his characters — aside from his acting — is through an apron (and possibly a wig).

“It’s an exciting and ambitious project,” Fox says. “We [the cast of five actors] play against race and gender.”

Fox says the casting choices complement the central themes in the play — the misconceptions and prejudices that happen among people in an urban environment in everyday life.

“One of the issues is: of all the rules we live our lives by, there are injustices… we make judgments based on misunderstanding,” Fox says. “It [the play] has a lot to do with sexism, ageism and racism.”

The Golden Dragon is set in a small Asian restaurant where a young cook who is an illegal immigrant is looking for his long-lost sister. Lives come together and stories unfold among the diners and restaurant employees.

The play especially showcases how, despite our best intentions, everyone is prone to making snap decisions about others that often aren’t real or true, Fox says.

“It’s a dark message,” Fox says about what transpires.

In the Tarragon Theatre production, directed by award-winning Canadian director Ross Manson, Fox says the set is bare and the actors take turns moving their props around.

It’s the kind of production Fox prefers. After almost 40 years in the business, the veteran actor says he likes it when theatre possesses “theatricality” and relies on the audience’s imagination to do some of the work as well.

“We tell the audience where we are and let the audience take that part of the story.”

He says too often theatre has tried to mimic the realism of film, which can take away excitement from the viewer.

“An audience wants that involvement,” Fox says, referring to the collaborative nature of theatre and the connection audience members can have with the actors and story that’s live in front of them.

Born and raised in Swastika, Ont., near Kirkland Lake, Fox says acting was something he gravitated to early in life. He says it was trying to keep up with his older brother, who excelled in athletics, that drove him to find something he was good at, which turned out to be performing. He joined his school’s drama club and found it was the right fit.

After studying at the University of Western Ontario, Fox moved to Brantford and began his career as a high school theatre arts and English teacher. But he continued to act, taking roles in community theatre whenever he could. Fox says eventually, after about 10 years of teaching, he took his dog for an evening walk and had a revelation that made him turn to acting professionally for good.

“I’m going to continue acting until I fall over. Which might be soon.”

“I realized, if I stayed a teacher, the nightmare the world would become,” Fox says. “I said ‘I’ve got to do it. I can’t see myself staying in this business and retiring; the world would be an enemy.’ ”

So Fox quit his job and moved to Toronto. And he hasn’t regretted the career move for a second.

“I’m so glad I made the jump,” he says.

Fox’s philosophy has been to travel to where the work is. Although Toronto has always been his base, he has starred in plays across Canada. Many Canadians would recognize him for his regular role as the teacher Clive Pettibone on the popular TV series Road to Avonlea. Fox has made other TV appearances, most notably on the CBC drama Being Erica as well as in film alongside big-time Hollywood heavies Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in the 2011 thriller Dream House.

But in the theatre world, Fox has a much more diverse background.

“I like to think of the theatre as home, but when it comes to film and TV, I’m a good tourist,” Fox says.

In the early ’70s, when Fox started looking for professional acting work, he says theatre actors hardly got paid.

“It wasn’t as structured then,” Fox says. “There’s more of a focus on career now, and everyone wants an agent.”

But Fox kept at his labour of love and over the years he has built an impressive résumé of characters.

This past fall, Fox played an estranged brother in Arthur Miller’s family drama The Price at Soulpepper — to much critical acclaim. Last year Fox played Stalin in the dark comedy Lenin’s Embalmers (by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen) at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre — again, rave reviews.

At Theatre Passe Muraille, Fox has played various rural characters over the years, picking up a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his portrayal of a farmer who’s lost his memory in Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy.

He’s played the lead in a Northern Ontario touring production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and he’s performed in major theatre centres across the country.

Being so dedicated to his work in the theatre, Fox says it does impact him at times since he isn’t always around for film or television auditions, but he’d rather be performing than waiting for a call.

When Fox is in Toronto, home is South Riverdale. Married twice, Fox has two adult sons. He’s lived in the east end since 1972 and likes its mix of residential and industry.

When asked how he keeps fit for the hours he spends stomping the boards, Fox says he does a lot of walking but also says his body seems to adapt to whatever play he’s in. “You get into a routine and the body develops its own muscle memory,” he says.

Fox points to William Hutt, the distinguished late Canadian theatre actor known for playing many heavyweight classical roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, as an actor he admires.

“His presence was inspiring,” Fox says. “He had a tremendous magnetism.”

When the elderly actor fell ill in 2007, Fox took over his role at the Stratford festival in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance.

Given that Fox, like Hutt, has dedicated his life to performing and seeking out work, it’s no surprise that his future plans are focused on work. “I’m going to continue acting until I fall over,” he says. “Which might be soon,” he adds, laughing.

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