Spy series goes from slapstick to subtlety in new season

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This article was published 29/09/2011 (5149 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In keeping with the show’s spy-agency agenda, CBC’s InSecurity is employing a sneakier, stealthier brand of comedy in its second season.

“In Season 1, we were all pretty green, and it was more of an action-driven comedy,” series star Natalie Lisinska explains. “This year, because of the physical nature of (the first season) and how long scenes took (to shoot), they decided to break it more into A and B plotlines…. Acting-wise, it was going from slapstick, broad comedy to something more subtle and grounded, which was sort of a whole new challenge. It was a lot of fun, actually.”

InSecurity, which has its second-season première on Monday at 8:30 p.m. on CBC, follows the not-so-intelligent goings-on at a fictional Canadian spy agency called the National Intelligence and Security Agency. Lisinska plays Alex Cranston, the leader of a team of Ottawa-based NISA agents (the series is actually shot in Regina) that deals with issues ranging from terrorist cells to Wikileaks-style breaches in security.

The show’s humour is deadpan, and its characters are blissfully unaware of their shared dimness. In many ways, InSecurity is a callback to the inept-spy-guy attitude of the classic ’60s sitcom Get Smart.

Lisinska’s co-star, Matthew MacFadzean, calls any such comparison a huge compliment.

“I grew up watching reruns (of Get Smart), and I always felt like that was the best hour on TV,” he says during a recent interview at the Winnipeg Free Press News Café, where he and Lisinska stopped in during their eastward driving trip from Regina back to Toronto after wrapping production on InSecurity‘s sophomore season.

MacFadzean, who has performed theatrically in Winnipeg at both Manitoba Theatre Centre and Prairie Theatre Exchange, agrees with his co-star’s assessment of InSecurity‘s shift in tone.

“The characters have become a bit more layered, so it’s less about playing the joke than it is about playing the situation,” he says. “I think last year was more slapstick, so that when you read the scene, you knew where the joke was, you knew what you had to hit, and you just did the bit. This year, there’s no ‘bits.’ You’re in a situation, and you play the reality of it, and that’s where the humour is.”

He says the show’s attitude adjustment created a less-raucous atmosphere during shooting.

“The first season was easy, because you’d do a bit that was funny, and everyone around you would laugh hysterically,” he recalls. “This year, there was a whole lot less laughter from the crew, but I think, in the end, the payoff will be bigger for viewers in the long run.

“And I’ve heard it said that if the crew laughs, it isn’t funny.”

MacFadzean, who portrays naive but good-hearted NISA agent Burt Wilson, adds that the time is right for a show set in the shadowy world of intelligence gathering.

“I think one of the skills Canadians have is the ability to laugh at ourselves,” he says. “And the idea of Canadian ‘intelligence’ is kind of funny in itself, so I think the premise of our show is perfect for a Canadian TV comedy.

“We’re so inundated with American CSI-type shows — which, in themselves, are pretty funny — so I think everyone is ready to poke a bit of fun at them.”

Lisinska, a Vancouver native who co-stars in the upcoming Total Recall remake with Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel, and whose past credits include the cult-hit indie film Young People ****ing and Ken Finkleman’s series At the Hotel, says playing comedy of the straight-faced variety that InSecurity attempts is a particularly daunting challenge.

“It’s very hard,” she says. “But when it works, it’s a wonderful feeling — so satisfying.”

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca