The Real Place

Animator Cam Christiansen gives Texas-born playwright John Murrell's imagination free rein, suspending the laws of time and space to create a visual accompaniment to his flights of poetic fancy. Despite its more fantastic elements, Murrell's work is grounded in a profound appreciation for the real. History and place play a critical role in his work, where everyone from Sarah Bernhardt to Walt Whitman puts in an appearance. But behind the spectacle, the mask, and the play itself, is a man happily creating his own world. This film was produced for the 2008 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.