At Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, Toronto, Ont,
Written and directed by Aaron Jan
Set and costumes by Aram Heydarian
Lighting by Samuel Chang
Sound by Kevin Feliciano
Cast: Michelle Chiu
Isabel Kanaan
Bria McLaughlin
Marina Moreira
Christine Nguyen
Angela Sun
A very ambitious attempt at looking at the outsider in society and its consequences that could do with another rewrite to clarify and a seasoned director to clear up the clutter.
The Story. Six friends from high school reunite to talk about what happened years before. In high school they were considered outsiders either because they were lesbians or because of their ethnicity. They decided to do one good deed per month. One project was to find out who was responsible for killing a swan so brutally. They never could solve that mystery in high school. Years later they revisit that question to solve it once and for all. Deep-seated animosity of some of the group comes to the surface. They are all shaken by that and by the discovery of who was responsible for other troubling events.
The Production. The main playing area is a raised square wood platform. Around that are strategically placed mounds of (swan?) feathers. Over the course of the play there are sound effects of babbling water, birds tweeting, and an undercurrent of rumbling when director Aaron Jan wants to emphasize a sense of foreboding.
Aaron Jan’s direction is busy most of the time and frantically busy some of the time. When a character speaks she jumps onto the platform, faces the audience and speaks the lines, often at breakneck speed, suggesting the urgency of the thought, then jumps off. At times the jumping onto and off of the platform looks more like a gymnastic exercise rather than acting in a play. The result is complete annoyance. Action/dialogue also happens around the platform, but most of the time it’s on it. It’s a particularly awkward way of staging scenes. Also too often the various actresses playing the six characters sink into screeching the lines, again, when the character is excited, rendering the dialogue incomprehensible. I wish Aaron Jan had simplified the staging by getting rid of the platform and helping his cast to stop flapping their arms in wild emotion and calm the screeching.
Comment. I can appreciate a young theatre artist such as Aaron Jan wants to make his mark and have his say. I have no problem with that. My concern is that Mr. Jan is both the playwright and director and in both cases the writer needs a ruthless editor and the director needs to rein in his penchant for over-staging. In such cases the director suggests cuts to the play or at least questions the playwright. Similarly the playwright might query the director on the usefulness of some staging. But if the playwright and the director are the same person well then editing the script and simplifying the direction/staging aren’t going to happen, are they?
Aaron Jan’s script is unwieldy because of the excessive use of narrative to describe scenes or the actions of characters. One wonders if they are hearing the reading of a novel or actually watching a play. The dialogue is packed with accusations about the incidents and happenings of years before. I found the play bogged down in an ever complicated story without much point to it, longing for the conclusion.
I can appreciate Mr. Jan wanting to write a play that reflects the stories of people of colour or a certain ethnicity. Swan is not the best example of that wish. I hope that when Mr. Jan writes his next play, he has a trusted editor, and that when tempted to direct his own play he resists temptation.
Presented by Little Black Afro.
Opened: Nov. 4, 2016.
Saw it: Nov. 5, 2016.
Closes: Nov. 13, 2016.
Cast: 6 women.
Running Time: 2 hours + approx.