My Toronto: Martha Burns
To U.S. audiences, actress Martha Burns is best-known for her work on the much-beloved cable series Slings and Arrows, where she co-starred with husband Paul Gross. To Canadians, though, she is so known for so much more, be it her various positions with the Soulpepper Theatre Company, her extensive youth outreach work or her constant presence on the Canadian theatre scene. As Burns prepared for her latest role in Graeme Gillis’s play A Boy Called Newfoundland, the actress spoke with the Post’s Barry Hertz about Cabbagetown, croissants and coffee.
Where the streets have no name We live in the area we fondly call the neighbourhood with no name. It’s sort of this area in between Rosedale and the Annex, just above Ramsden Park, where there are these streets that don’t seem to belong anywhere. Maybe someone will read this column and give it a name. We used to live in Cabbagetown with the kids when they were little, but when they grew up and became urban kids, we wanted to be near public transit. They can now take the subway and bike everywhere - they can take advantage of the best of Toronto from where we are.
Planting roots I’m from Winnipeg and Paul is from Alberta, and while our ties to the West are quite strong, I consider Toronto my home now. Doing the work I do - not just theatre work but education, too - I meet people from different parts of the city, and it ties you to places that just aren’t your own neighbourhood.... [We lived in L.A.] when Paul had a contract with CBS, but as soon as he had work back here, and started Due South, we bought a house, had a family and the roots just begin. Also, Toronto just gets more and more interesting. I get a sort of rush when I open the Saturday newspaper, since there’s just so much to see and do, such a varied array.
Parliament is always in session When Paul and I decided to first buy a house we thought Cabbagetown was downtown, but it isn’t really - it’s its own little world, not accessible by subway. We bought our first house from Ross [Petty] and Karen [Kain], and then they moved across the street and we became great friends. Cabbagetown has a real feel to it - the combination of the grittiness of Parliament and the funkiness was great. It’s always changing, Parliament Street: I still love going to Daniel et Daniel [248 Carlton St.], and there’s always some new Sri Lankan or northern Indian restaurant or Filipino bakery along there. The street is a great combination of tastes and treats.
Local liver lovers We have a wonderful neighbourhood restaurant called Avant Gout [1108 Yonge St.] where we go to eat their grilled liver dish once a month, whenever we need a dose of iron. We also have Patachou [1120 Yonge St.] around the corner, with wonderful coffee and croissants. The Harvest Wagon [1103 Yonge St.] and Pisces [1097 Yonge St.] in the Five Thieves [plaza] are always great for getting a special treat or entertaining.... I can end up in different parts of the city, and a great place to go, especially in the summer, is the market at the Wychwood Barns [601 Christie St.], which is one of the city best public spaces and where you can pretty much buy whatever you need, whether it’s vegetables or white fish from Georgian Bay.
Distilling a day When I’m working down at Soulpepper, I try to arrange all my meetings at Balzac [55 Mill St.], where the coffee is so delicious. Soma [55 Mill St.] also has one of the best hot chocolates I’ve ever tasted. I was busy doing another project over the last year and just started to go back to the Distillery area and I’m astonished and how many condos have gone up, and how it’s getting more and more people down to the neighbourhood and visiting stores and restaurants there. It’s working out to have established quite a neighbourhood feel - you can just have a great afternoon in the Distillery of looking at great art and seeing great theatre.
Stage stamina What interests me about theatre is there’s such a different stamina involved, the stamina of going to the theatre every night and telling a story. The film world is more about longer days and how there’s more to be accomplished in a day. I like it when I can do both mediums, because the one thing I find hard about theatre is working nights all the time - there’s always something that comes up. Other people are having this life and I’m going to the theatre.... Paul and I do go out to dinner often, and we’ve become really enchanted with the TSO, but that’s it for nightlife for us. If we do go out, it will more likely by what kind of exciting place we’ll go for coffee in the morning.
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