Culture of Creativity

FEATURES
F*&!ed
The Culture of
Creativity
Success in the arts comes in many forms, but for the successful artists
in this story, part of its source is the same: the culture of creativity,
integrity and encouragement at Royal St. George’s College. Each of these
individuals – which include Hollywood movers and shakers, an internationally accomplished opera singer and Juno-nominated punk rockers
– credit their RSGC experience for nurturing their artistic abilities and
empowering them to excel. While their creative journeys have led them
in different directions, they’re all grateful for the enduring influence
RSGC has had on their lives and careers.
14 The Shield 2011-12 • Royal St. George’s College
Loud, but Polite
“One teacher brought me to see Noam Chomsky
at Massey Hall and I still reference him in my lyrics.
Even books we read, like The Great Gatsby or Fifth
Business, I have these reference points I can pull
out and put into my songs.” —Abraham
Photo: David Waldman
BY SHARON ASCHAIEK
Damian Abraham (’99)
and Jonah Falco (’01)
Consider the maelstrom of a F*&!ed Up
concert, with its decibel-busting tunes,
poetically defiant lyrics and a massive
shirtless frontman growling into the mic,
and any number of words might come
to mind: savage; brilliant; unapologetic;
ground-breaking; sweaty.
But how about polite?
According to Damian Abraham and
Jonah Falco, lead singer and drummer,
respectively, of the Toronto-based
hardcore punk rock band F*&!ed Up, the
credo “manners maketh men” is one that
has guided their lives and musical careers
since they were first taught to embrace it
at Royal St. George’s College.
“One thing I took away is to treat
people with respect and common
decency. Everyone deserves that,” said
Abraham, who started at RSGC in
Grade 7. “I think people are going to
want to work with you if you’re a nice
person.”
Falco, 29, also began in Grade 7,
though with their two-year age difference, the men were only passing
acquaintances at school. He says the
school’s focus on encouraging the use
of manners and articulate behaviour —
making eye contact, speaking coherently
and being courteous — had more of an
influence on him than he realized back
then.
“It activated latent parts of my
personality that came and went and are
now with me. Manners are a useful tool
in life — it’s easy to not do but actually
easier to do. You won’t offend anyone by
being polite and clear,” he said.
What’s resulted for the men is a
collaborative and respectful working
style, which, combined with their talent,
hard work and creativity, has helped the
indie band attract worldwide followers
and critical acclaim. Since forming in
2001, the band has produced three studio
albums, two of which received Juno
nominations for Alternative Album of
the Year: The Chemistry of Common
Life in 2009, which won a Polaris Music
Prize; and last year’s David Comes to
Life (Matador Records), an ambitious
rock opera that Spin magazine called its
No.1 album of 2011.
Looking back on his days at RSGC,
Abraham recalls particular teachers and
academic assignments that influenced
how he makes music.
“One teacher brought me to see
Noam Chomsky at Massey Hall and
I still reference him in my lyrics. Even
books we read, like The Great Gatsby
or Fifth Business, I have these reference
points I can pull out and put into my
songs,” he said.
Even the biblical teachings he picked
up during chapel time at RSGC and
in comparative religion classes have
found their way into Abraham’s creative
process.
“I’m happy I have the understanding
of the archetypes of Christianity. That all
comes into play in the music in one way
or another,” he said.
Abraham said he also learned valuable
performance and people skills at RSGC
that serve him well as the band’s vocalist
and front-and-centre personality.
“I did a lot of plays and public speaking, and I think that helped me hide the
fact that I’m really anxious and shy inside.
I’m comfortable performing on a stage
and talking to the crowd,” he said.
What Falco fondly remembers about
RSGC was a small and intimate learning
environment that focused on each child
as an individual.
“Overall, the experience was one of
community,” he said. “You get to know
everyone on staff and get a lot of personal
attention. By the time you leave the
school, it feels like you’ve climbed a hill
and can survey everything.”
Falco’s musical life at RSGC involved
singing in the choir and playing the
trumpet — the drums came later, with
his interest in Toronto’s punk rock
subculture — and he recalls enjoying
access to modern and comprehensive
facilities, and learning from professional
musicians.
“The teachers had well-rounded
knowledge of instrumental music and
expertise in jazz, contemporary music,
and classical music. They were involved
in the professional spheres of music and
were bringing their experiences and
insights into the classroom,” he said.
Falco says he appreciated the ongoing
encouragement at RSGC to do his best.
“The staff constantly pushed me to
become more proficient at music, and
gave me opportunities to play, and put me
in school competitions,” he said. “That
was important and I took that attitude
with me.”
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David Hewlett (’87)
and Vincenzo Natali
(’87)
Actor David Hewlett and director
Vincenzo Natali, both accomplished
Toronto-raised screen artists working in
Hollywood, have thrived through their
longstanding artistic collaborations,
which first took root and were nurtured at
RSGC.
It was in the Junior School that
Hewlett and Natali met and became
fast friends thanks to their common
love of Star Wars, Blade Runner, Dr.
Who and other sci-fi hits of the day.
Both preteens also had different but
complementary creative streaks: Natali
had been experimenting with a Super 8
camera for years and Hewlett was a selfconfessed ham who loved being centre
stage. What they discovered at RSGC
was the freedom and support to express
their sci-fi interests and creativity in
different ways.
For Hewlett, best known as Dr.
Meredith Rodney McKay on the TV
show Stargate, that outlet took the
shape of one-on-one coaching through a
dramatic arts program started specifically
for him by the school’s chaplain, Father
Michael Burgess.
“He saw that it was something I really
wanted to do, so he decided to encourage
me. Talk about a school that’s focused
on the individual,” said Hewlett, 44, who
started at RSGC in Grade 4.
It was at the encouragement of an
English teacher, Mark Stephenson, that
Hewlett began acting in school plays.
“And that was it, I fell in love with it,” he
remembered. He so enjoyed the experiences that he began acting in professional
theatre, with RSGC allowing him to take
time away from class for rehearsals.
“The teachers must have felt, either
this guy is going to be miserable or he
should be doing what he wants to do,
so it makes sense to let him do that,” he
said.
Hewlett was even given the space
to pursue his creative endeavours in the
classroom. One year in geography class,
he was allowed to submit an assignment
on apartheid as a video project.
“It’s a subtle thing, the fact that the
medium was given credence, that it was
legitimate to teachers. It played a big
part in inspiring me to continue with it,”
said Hewlett.
Stephenson’s teaching also had an
important influence on Natali, who has
since directed 11 films. As Natali’s Grade
7 English teacher, Stephenson taught him
about what goes into creating a good story.
“He would write stories — his own
original stories — that were weird and
wonderful, and we would have to dissect
them,” said Natali, 43, who started at
RSGC in Grade 7.
Natali was also in several school
productions and what he remembers
most about those times were the insights
and guidance provided by teacher
Robin Fulford (now an accomplished
playwright), who wrote many of the plays
and who partly inspired him to direct the
annual play for the Junior School when
he was in Grade 13.
“He was a really brilliant, amazing
thinker who influenced me tremendously.
I think I learned a lot from him and so
many other teachers there about directing films just from being around great,
creative people,” said Natali.
teacher who gets shot by a disgruntled
student, played by Hewlett. In another,
called Death Kiss, he played a police psychologist investigating a crime. Along
the way, there was other assistance:
another teacher composed the music for
Exams and the pair also got to produce
all three films on campus, in one case
creating fake blood splatter by covering
the walls of a room in chocolate syrup
(it was a black and white film).
“It’s pretty amazing that we were
allowed to do all those things. It shows
you what kind of a place it was,” remembered Natali fondly.
Since RSGC, the men have worked
together multiple times: Hewlett has
had starring or supporting roles in
five of Natali’s films, including his hit
1997 sci-fi/psychological thriller, Cube,
and Splice, the 2009 sci-fi/horror film
starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley.
Currently, Natali is in Toronto directing
Haunter, an unconventional haunted
house film in which Hewlett will feature
alongside lead actor Abigail Breslin.
Both Hewlett and Natali say the seeds
of both their friendship and their profes-
Vincenzo Natali (L) and David Hewlett
Both men say that what most ignited
their creative talent and helped shape
their career paths were the amateur
movies they made together and the many
ways RSGC supported those endeavours.
Stephenson helped out again there.
In a film called Exams, he played a math
16 The Shield 2011-12 • Royal St. George’s College
sional successes were sown at RSGC.
“We were lucky enough to know what
we wanted to be from early age and St.
George’s was instrumental in keeping us
on track,” said Hewlett. “The teachers had
a genuine interest in what we were doing
and what we wanted to be.”
Robert Gleadow (’04)
For those who filled the modern,
dark-hued Brown Theater at Houston’s
Wortham Center last April for the
premiere of Maria Stuarda, Donzietta’s
magnificent opera about Mary, Queen of
Scots and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I,
what unfolded on stage was a spectacle of
political intrigue and amorous entanglement of a juicy love triangle.
For performer Robert Gleadow, a bass
baritone who, as Talbot, tries to protect
Mary from a date with the guillotine,
what took place behind the scenes in the
six weeks of rehearsals leading up to the
show was an exercise in self-discipline
Robert Gleadow
Photo: Keith Penner
— a skill he says he cultivated at RSGC.
“I was always in rehearsals for
something or another and I learned how
to take them seriously, not goof off — to
make the most of those times,” said
Gleadow, who attended RSGC from
Grades 5 to 13 on a vocal scholarship.
At 27, Gleadow is already an accomplished opera singer who has played
lead or supporting roles in La Bohème,
Tosca, Don Giovanni, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and other productions. But
Gleadow first began performing internationally while at RSGC, when he took
part in multiple international choir tours.
“It was huge to be able to do that —
those trips were a lot of fun and opened
my eyes to the world,” said Gleadow,
who has performed in Canada and across
Europe, including Spain and the UK.
A chorister at the school, Gleadow
also remembers how he was allowed
to reorganize his academic schedule to
accommodate choir commitments.
“There is a large respect for the choir
there, so the teachers were really accommodating if you needed to leave class for
rehearsals,” he said.
Gleadow’s training in professional opera
began right after he graduated in 2004,
when he was accepted into the Canadian
Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. Two
years later, he was invited to join the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artists Program
at Covent Gardens in London, England.
By 2007, he was playing the lead role of
Figaro in the Canadian Opera Company’s
season-opening production of The Marriage
of Figaro at the Four Seasons Centre for
the Performing Arts. Since then, he has
been juggling a steady stream of opera and
concert roles alongside family duties: he
and his wife have two young boys, with a
daughter on the way.
Gleadow says an important part of
his RSGC experience that helped him
get ahead was training under professional
opera singers.
“Some of my teachers were in the
[Canadian Opera Company] Chorus; it
helped to see people doing what I wanted
to do, to have those real-life examples,”
said Gleadow, who later worked with
some of those instructors in COC
performances. “I don’t think their impact
on me can be overstated.”
La Bohème
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College
17
Photo: Gary
Beechey