Perfection
Created, performed and written by Mark Correia
With help from Erik Berg
Magician-comedian Mark Correia lives to present a perfect show. He asks us to write something on a piece of paper that would make his show perfect, even before we see it. I put down Gateau St. Honoré but I think that was wishful thinking.
He proceeds to set up various tricks, joking during the set up. He then rushes towards a table laden with various paraphernalia that is important to him, and completely knocks over the table.
Mark Correia is a charming presence as he bumbles through his set ups, (borrowing a cell phone for a trick and then breaking it by mistake) and jokes, and draws out the suspense of the trick. The tricks are audacious, complex, impossible (?) and eye-popping. Never mind wondering how a trick is done. It’s done by magic, silly! And Correia does it all with style.
The Chemical Valley Project
This plays in a double-bill with Perfection which seems a weird paring, but never mind.
Created by Julia Howman and Kevin Matthew Wong
Written and performed by Kevin Matthew Wong
From the program: “Aamjiwnaang, an indigenous community of 800 residents, is smothered by the Canadian petrochemical industry. Two sisters, Vanessa and Lindsay Gray, have dedicated themselves to fighting environmental racism and protecting their community’s land and water. In The Chemical Valley Project, theatre-makers Kevin Matthew Wong and Julia Howman document and explore Canada’s ongoing relationship with energy infrastructure, its colonial pas and present, and indigenous solidarity and reconciliation.”
Kevin Matthew Wong is a committed and personable guide through this thorny subject. He uses video projections on a large screen at the back of the theatre to illustrate his points. There is clever use of gauzy fabric on which are projected dialogue, images, and information. It’s smoothly delivered, and while what is happening to this community is infuriating, it’s not theatrically dramatic or a play. It’s a TED talk, a lecture. One can’t help but admire Mr. Wong’s commitment to the issue.
Nashville Stories
Written by David Bernstein and Jake Vanderham
Directed by David Bernstein
At the top of the show one of the performers says there is no program because “you would throw them out anyway.” Isn’t that why God invented re-cycling? He then read, at break-neck speed, on his cell-phone, who was in the cast. Me, I like a program. It tells you who plays what. It gives you all that neat stuff such as why they decided to do this show; it lists all the personnel, the band etc. The SummerWorks program book has some of this information but not who plays what character, so I’ll just ignore that cause it’s not important, otherwise it would have been properly provided, right?
This is about sad Garth Brooks and his friends Dolly Parton and Shania Twain and how they try to cheer him up after his marriage breaks up. It’s based on Brooks’ infamous 1999 album, ‘The Life of Chris Gaines’. The writers “conjure a surreal hoedown featuring a live bluegrass band.”
I guess ‘surreal’ is another word for ‘drivel.’ The writing is witless, deadly-unfunny, rambling, confused and only clever it seems to those performing it. They all are having such a good time at our expense. The acting is one-noted on purpose I suppose—surreal? The band plays well but I can’t remember the last time I saw a group of musicians who looked like they were bored out of their minds and would rather be anywhere but there.
I kept hearing a jangling noise behind the seats (the ‘back-stage is behind the seats in the theatre, where we could see the ‘performers’ waiting to go on.’) I thought it might be a man fondling his change in his pockets and was too deaf-stupid to hear the noise. I kept looking back to see who that might be and didn’t see anyone at first. The distracting noise continued. Eventually when I looked back there was a ‘performer’ in a short jean skirt, with rows and rows of silver bracelets on each wrist. Every time she moved her arms the bracelets clanged. They were clanging so much I thought she must be doing jumping jacks back there or semaphore with flags to occupy her time until she made an entrance. And eventually she did….to play the worst rock star in the world. How can you be in the middle of noise of your own making and not hear any of it? A puzzlement.
Nashville Stories is dreadful.
Serenity Wild
Written by Katie Sly
Directed by Audrey Dwyer
NOTE: Another production without a program and the SummerWorks Program doesn’t even list the actors because I guess the company producing this didn’t provide the names. (Sigh!).
Amy was abused by her step-father when she was younger. She now has intimacy issues with her boyfriend Liam. She is also emotionally ‘closed’. Liam seems as needy as Amy in that he’s desperate to help her and be there for her, but something as simple as hugging her eludes him.
Katie Sly has written an intriguing play about the effects of child-hood sexual abuse that has deeper implications in adulthood. While the play deals with important issues the characters talk at each other not to each other. Characters don’t listen to the argument and rather respond to the criticism that they are not listening. This makes for tedious viewing. Much of it seems like the same argument repeated.
Liam is described as loving to Amy. His behaviour and words suggest otherwise. He’s needy himself and creepy in that need. Both Amy and Liam are interesting characters that could do with re-examination and re-writing.
Explosions for the 21st Century
Written, designed and performed by Christopher Ross-Ewart
Directed by Graham Isador
What an explosive surprise of a show!
Christopher Ross-Ewart is a sound designer with an intellectually curious mind about sound in our culture and an impish sense of humour in presenting that curiosity. He takes us into his world of common sounds for shows—explosions are common as is birdsong, and the occasional fart. But then he delves deeper, explaining how our world has become noisier and more dangerous with regards to sound. Some sounds that he had to create for a show imitated sounds that were heard for real with deadly results. His explanation for making a sound more pronounced is masterful.
Christopher Ross-Ewart is a thoughtful writer with a curious imagination, a charming way of presenting his thoughts, and most important, he gets us to listen in a deeper more attentive way.
www.summerworks.ca