Though David Jón Fuller has been called a staple of Winnipeg’s theatre community, it is safe to say that he has spent most his spare time over the last decade writing.
He’s published speculative short fiction in anthologies while polishing longer manuscripts. One novel, set in Selkirk, is about Icelandic huldufólk, trolls and a secret vínarterta recipe, and a second revolves around werewolves and vampires running amok in 1980s North Kildonan and listening to a lot of hair metal.
But Venue 13, the debut novel for Fuller (who works as a Free Press web editor) brings together all his interests: it’s a ghost story set at a BYOV — bring your own venue — production at a fringe festival.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
David Jón Fuller
It was released by Turnstone Press just in time for this year’s edition of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, on to Sunday.
Free Press: Do you believe in ghosts?
David Jón Fuller: No. But I know enough people who have had odd experiences that would indicate there are such things as ghosts, so I’m not saying they’re wrong, but I’ve never experienced that sort of thing.
FP: Do you believe in the theatre?
DJF: Yes! There are things unique to it that you don’t get from other ways of telling a story. Attending a packed show where the actors are really “on” as the play unfolds, gripping the audience with each moment, is very different from seeing something in a movie theatre that is possibly hyper-audial and -visual, but not always human-scale.
Live theatre isn’t “smaller,” necessarily, but it is often more intense emotionally, so it can feel very big. And after the curtain call, it’s over. The next performance may be just as good (maybe better), but it isn’t the same because there will be different people watching, on a different night. It’s a unique shared experience for the performers and audience.
FP: In 1993, you performed in the former Masonic Temple/Mother Tucker’s Restaurant building on Donald, which is the inspiration for the theatre in Venue 13. Did it seem haunted to you? Were there any spooky incidents?
DJF: I loved that old building, with the theatre space on the third floor, when it was known as Venue 8 during the fringe, and Venue VIII the rest of the year. For years it was a great launching pad for local plays, improv and other productions.
At the time I was in The Reverend Otis Show, I did hear rumours the place was haunted, but I never saw any signs of that. If I had, I might have been too scared to write Venue 13, or I would have written it as a horror story instead of a comedy.
FP: In 1999, you appeared on the front cover of the fringe program wearing Keanu Reeves’ costume from Manitoba Theatre Centre’s 1995 production of Hamlet. The image had you, thus attired, standing in place of the Golden Boy on top of the Leg. What was it like being a stand-in for both Keanu and the Golden Boy?
WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILES
A photo from the 1999 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival features (from left) Kimberly Ireton, Bertram Schneider, Carson Nattrass and Venue 13 author David Jón Fuller in Keanu’s kit.
DJF: It was surprisingly low-pressure. I happened to fit the costume perfectly. So Matrix-era Keanu and I were of a size. I’m not sure the more recent John Wick-era Keanu and I are, but you never know. Actually, he should wear one of my Icelandic sweaters and see how it looks…
FP: In Venue 13, the Winnipeg-based fringe festival is called Skeeter Fest. How is it different from the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival?
DJF: Probably the main thing is that it’s smaller in terms of the number of shows — the Winnipeg fringe festival is huge now and it was big even at the time I was acting in the 1990s.
ariel.gordon@winnipegfreepress.com
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David Jón Fuller on the cover of the ‘99 fringe festival program.