Tom McCamus, Leon Pownall (8/81 Man of Destiny)
Excerpt from Winnipeg Free Press 8/21/81: Tom McCamus
Nudity seems tame
by James Nelson
Nudity of a sort also appears in this season's production of Man of Destiny down the street at the festival's Royal George As it opens, Tom McCamus, playing Napoleon Bonaparte, is found taking a bath in a wine vat. He is carefully covered up when he steps from the tub and probably isn't entirely nude.
© Winnipeg Free Press
Excerpt from Syracuse Herald Journal 9/2/81: Tom McCamus, Leon Pownall (Dr. Victor Palance in "Shadows of Darkness")
Napoleon outwitted Shaw's 'A Man of Destiny' a sell-out at Niagara
By JOAN E. VADEBONCOEUR
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario Abel Gance's film isn't the only Napoleon causing a stir this year. The Shaw Festival's "Man of Destiny," a witty one-act by GBS, is attracting sellout crowds on the lunchtime series in the Royal George. The playwright's comedy whirls around a slip of a young girl who outwits the brilliant, bold strategist immediately following his initial campaign victory. Napoleon is resting at an Italian' inn before putting into action a battle plan that preceded El Alamein's World War II battle by 150 years, but worked on the same principal strike at the juncture between discrepant allies. But peace is disrupted with the news that his dispatches have been stolen from the lieutenant entrusted with them. The naive officer has been deluded by a youthful soldier into such confidence that he is appalled when the soldier goes off with the dispatches and his favorite horse. With typical Shaw irony, the thief also has taken a room at the inn. Napoleon quickly deduces that the loud, temper-prone woman is the person who feigned a soldier and deluded his officer. It becomes a contest of two agile minds for possession of the dispatches.
....
Camille Mitchell runs almost roughshod over Tom McCamus' Napoleon. The possibility is built in since she does double duty as the feisty lady and the eager youth. Her masculine voice fails her now and then, but generally, she is as convincing at one as the other. McCamus evokes the moody look associated with Bonaparte and sometimes he delivers the omniscence that should mark the birth of a legendary figure. Yet he often fails to project the dominating presence that is required. Peter Donaldson's lieutenant mutters and bluffs, but at last Saturday's performance, he never got the full measure of the fun written. Leon Pownall never missed an opportunity for a laugh in the part of the innkeeper. He has one of Shaw's best lines when he tells Napoleon that peasants view wine as cheap and don't mind spilling it, which he insists commanders equate with their troops' lives.
© Syracuse Herald Journal