Lynn

Hi Folks, May 8 – 14 is CIUT FM’s spring fundraising drive. This is my shameless plea to donate to keep the only independent radio station going that covers the arts unlike any other outlet. The mainstream media has drastically cut down its arts coverage. Not CIUT FM. On my show, CRITICS CIRCLE, Saturdays from 9 am to 10 am, we do theatre and film reviews every week, plus interviews. I review theatre around the city and the province. We give voice to those who need to be heard. Our shows are all volunteer. Please go to https://ciut.fm noting CRITICS CIRCLE and donate so we can continue to provide needed arts coverage. Thanks. Lynn

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Live and in person at the Studio Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, Toronto, Ont. A Green Thumb Theatre Production. Playing until May 18, 2023.

www.youngpeoplestheatre.org

Written by Michael P. Northey

Directed by Rachel Aberle

Set by Kimira Reddy

Costumes by Melissa McCowell

Lighting by John Webber

Songs and lyrics by Kyprios, Chin Injeti

Cast: Caleb Dyks

Demi Pedersen

Content Advisory:
This play is about a teenager telling his story of drug addiction and eventual recovery. His story confronts the brutal realities of drug addiction and culture including references to situations of violence, crime, illness, overdose and death. There is some coarse language used.

From the show’s information: “Stan, a.k.a. “Definition” was a rising freestyle MC until his life’s passion lost out to his drug habit. Now on the road to recovery and preparing for a comeback, Stan confronts his demons and recounts his harrowing journey through the wild highs and deep lows of addiction. Featuring a live DJ and hip hop, this pulse-pounding sensory experience reveals the realities of addiction and the redemption that can lie in recovery.”

Playwright Michael P. Northey has written an emotion-charged, hard-hitting look into drug addiction, specifically crystal meth. It’s seen from the point of view of Stan, who dreams of being a DJ (his stage name is “Definition”) and gets his dream but then loses it all to drugs. The language is vivid, visceral and so illuminates the swift downward spiral of a young man losing control of his life to drugs, it leaves you breathless.

As Stan, a.k.a. Definition, Caleb Dyks wears sweat pants, a hoodie and a baseball cap. He has a lanky-loose-limbed walk. When he grabs the microphone to do his hip-hop songs he is so comfortable and graceful in the ‘performance’ that his arm jabs the air, his fingers flick for expression. Stan tells his story without sentiment. We see him go through the journey of hell to rock bottom so he can begins his recovery.

Caleb Dyks performs with energy, truth and conviction. He sells all of Kyprios and Chin Injeti’s songs. It’s all effortless. DJ for the show is Demi Pedersen. For the preshow Demi Pederson is almost invisible, just playing song after song with a special hard message about drugs, until the play starts. Then Pedersen acts with compassion.

I saw this with a group of teens from various high schools. It was fascinating watching them watch the show in silence. It got to them as it should. Cranked: The ReMix is an important cautionary tale for our young people with so many drug temptations flipping at them.

A Green Thumb Theatre Production presents:

Plays until May 18, 2023

Running time: 50 minutes.

www.youngpeoplestheatre.org

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Live and in person at the Tarragon Extra Space, Toronto, Ont. Plays until May 11, 2023.

www.tarragontheatre.

Written by Chelsey Woolley

Directed by Mike Payette

Set by Ken MacDonald

Costumes by Julia Surich

Lighting by Tim Rodriques

Sound by John Gzowski

Cast: Jessica B. Hill

Tanja Jacobs

Jeremiah Sparks.

A fractured family tries to find love and truth from one who disappeared and returned after 25 years.

The Story. Cecilia is waiting to welcome her long absent father Jules into her new, fixer-upper home. He took off 25 years before, leaving her and her mother, Rhondi, to fend for themselves. They would get postcards from exotic places. Jules apparently worked in properties that he managed all over the world. Now he’s come home and Jules gives Cecilia an explanation of what he’s been up to, that changes as she presses him with more questions. Cecilia’s mother Rhondi also has her own story about her wayward husband.

The Production and comment. Ken MacDonald has designed a wonderful set of Cecilia’s (Jessica B. Hill) fixer-upper home. It needs repair for sure. There are sections of the wall that are worn through. The walls need a coat of three of paint. The furniture is rustic. But the place is Cecilia’s and she’s happy with it. Jules (Jeremiah Sparks) is staying with Cecilia a few days and offers advice on how to improve the place. Then he changes his mind and decides to leave sooner with a vague excuse. I can appreciate that Jules has a lot to hide and reveals it gradually, but a character who keeps changing his story and changing his story, wears a person’s patience thin. One stops caring. That’s not good.

As Jules, Jeremiah Sparks is charming, calm, almost shyly chastened and very smooth when changing his ever-changing story. Where is the truth? All Cecilia wants is the truth. As Cecilia, Jessica B. Hill walks a fine line between eager to ‘meet’ her father after so many years and anxious that he will disappoint her again with some lie or other. Rhondi (Tanja Jacobs) is Cecilia’s strong-willed mother, knows how her ex-husband operates and is prepared for anything he can throw at her. She tries to protect her daughter, but at one point one has to let an adult child be an adult and fight her own battles.

Playwright Chelsey Woolley has written an extensive programme note (glad of ‘something’ printed as a programme, albeit a folded page, but boy do I miss the full informative programme in my hands). Chelsey Woolley says that she read Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal a lot when she was writing Paint Me This House of Love. She notes: “I love Betrayal because of what is written, but more so because of what isn’t. There is a quiet yearning in that text. To me, it is a play about three people desperate for love, who just can’t figure out the formula.”

Well, it is tempting, isn’t it, to fall into the trap of thinking that Paint Me This House Of Love is a kind of riff on Harold Pinter’s Betrayal? Except it isn’t. Betrayal is about a married couple in which the wife has an affair with her husband’s best friend. It goes on secretly for years, until the wife tells the husband of the affair (betraying her lover) but still continuing the affair. Then after the affair ends telling the lover that she will then tell her husband of the affair, even though she has already done that, years before. Pinter being sly. His dialogue is pristine, spare and full of subtext.

Paint Me This House of Love is actually nothing like Betrayal. If anything, Chelsey Woolley’s play is more David Mamet with its machine-gun dialogue of sentence fragments whizzing through the air between Cecilia and Jules. The timing must be spot on and precise so the audience can hang on to these fragments and get the whole thought.  And under Mike Payette’s smart, sharp direction, it is. Both Jessica B. Hill as Cecilia and Jeremiah Sparks as Jules are so on the money in this furious exchange that the audience is never in doubt that these two people don’t know how to talk to each other, though, strangely, they listen. We get the idea of their awkwardness in the situation and with each other; of people who have a lot to say and don’t know how to say it.

It’s a terrific exercise for a playwright experimenting with form/technique, and for an actor wanting to stretch their chops. It’s just that the form/technique is so decidedly another playwright’s—Mamet. I prefer to hear Chelsea Woolley’s true theatrical voice.   

Tarragon Theatre presents:

Runs until May 11, 2023.

Running time: 2 hours approx.

www.tarragontheatre.com

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Live and in person at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Produced by Necessary Angel Theatre Company, in association with Canadian Stage and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Playing until May 14, 2023.

www.necessaryangel.com

Written by Pamela Mala Sinha

Directed by Alan Dilworth

Set by Lorenzo Savoini

Costumes by Michelle Bohn

Lighting by Hugh Conacher

Sound by John Gzowski

Cast: Fuad Ahmed

Shelly Antony

Dalal Badr

Alicia Johnston

Ali Kazmi

Pamela Mala Sinha

Mirabella Sundar Singh

NEW by Pamela Mala Sinha, is a play rich in South Asian culture, tradition, issues and stories. But it’s so packed with incident that one gets the feeling the playwright could not decide what to take out, so she put in too much. Judicious editing is in order to tighten and strengthen the focus of the play.

The Story. NEW is about three South Asian couples in 1970 in Winnipeg. Each has their own issues and stories.

We begin with Qasim. He’s a 42-year-old doctor working in a hospital in Winnipeg. He’s just been married, by phone, in an arranged marriage. His bride, Nuzha is 18 or 20 years-old, is in India and Qasim is in Canada. His mother insisted he go through with this arranged marriage, threatening to go on a hunger strike if he didn’t and Qasim has reason to believe her. Nuzha is flying to Canada to be with him. A wrinkle is that Qasim is in a relationship with Abby, a nurse who is white, who works in the same hospital and she doesn’t know of the marriage. He drops it on her just before he has to go to the airport.

The next couple is Sachin and Sita. She was a celebrated dancer in India but has not danced in Canada. Sita recently gave birth to a still born child and that has weighed heavily on both of them. Sita has become remote and depressed. Sachin does not know how to comfort her. And finally, we have Ash and Aisha. They are loving and modern thinking but there is pressure from home to have children.

The lure of home and the strong hold on tradition affects each couple in different ways. They all live in the same international apartment complex so they offer each other support.   

The Production. Lorenzo Savoini has designed a multi-purpose apartment that serves as the domain of each couple depending on the scene. A ‘sur-title’ above the stage indicates where we are: “Qasim’s place,” “Sachin and Sita’s place,” “A concert” for example.

Michelle Bohn’s costume designs are exquisite, at times a mix of modern and traditional.  Sita and Nuzha are in beautiful traditional saris. Aisha is in modern clothes, slacks, shirt etc. At one point the couples have a traditional party and the men wear beautifully tailored, traditional garb, respectful of the tradition and comfortable amongst themselves.

The play opens with Qasim (Ali Kasmi) in a heightened phone conversation with his family in India. He is thrashing out the final arrangements of the dowery etc. and needless to say he is frustrated and anxious about the whole thing. As Qasim, Ali Kasmi beautifully modulates the angst depending on who is on the other end of the line. Ali Kasmi is such a fine actor as recent work would attest (Uncle Vanya, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoe, Behind the Moon) always finding the truth of his characters. As the play goes on Qasim spends as little time with Nuzha as possible. He says that he can’t stand to be alone with her. Kasmi says it not with revulsion but a hint of regret, thus filling the line with so many other emotional possibilities.

Qasim doesn’t tell his friends of the arranged marriage until he asks Sachin (Fuad Ahmed) to take him to the airport to pick up his bride. Nuzha (Mirabella Sundar Singh) arrives to a strange country, doesn’t know anyone and her husband is ignoring her.  To say she is lonely is an understatement. As Nuzha, Mirabella Sundar Singh gives a performance that is shimmering in sorrow and loneliness. When she arrives, she keeps her gaze down and does not look up directly in the eyes of her husband, nor anyone for that matter. It’s a beautiful and painful expression of her isolation.

But Nuzha finds a friend in Sachin since his wife Sita (Pamela Mala Sinha) seems to want to grieve alone. Nuzha shows her tenacity and curiosity when she asks for a bus schedule to go and explore the city. As Sachin, Fuad Ahmed, explains how to use the schedule with patience. Fuad Ahmed captures Sachin’s helplessness in trying to comfort and understand Sita, and is buoyed emotionally that he can be supportive of Nuzha. Mirabella Sundar Singh illuminates how Nuzha gradually gains more and more confidence in this strange place.  Emotions are fragile all round, to say the least.

Where is Abby (Alicia Johnston) in all this? She’s lurking around and pining for Qasim. Sita has planned a traditional party but only for her South Asian friends and that includes Nuzha. Abby shows up with a present. Tensions are high. We assume Abby wants to see her rival, even though common sense would suggest that she should not have come. Abby gets Qasim alone and asks if he’s dumping her because she’s white—Alicia Johnstone is so needy as Abby. Qasim quickly assures her that is not the reason.  But of course, the implication is that Qasim has to marry an Indian woman and one of his mother’s choosing—so an arranged marriage is the solution.

As Sita, Pamela Mala Sinha gives such a nuanced, detailed performance. Sita has many secrets and has to contend with so many emotions. There is the grief of the lost child. There is the grief of her lost artform—traditional Indian dance. In a lovely scene, Abby knows that various hand movements in classical Indian dance mean something and would like Sita to demonstrate some of those movements. Sita gladly, proudly shows her a few. Pamela Mala Sinha’s hands are graceful and poignant. She is of course playing a part based on her mother. The reverence is all there in Pamela Mala Sinha’s performance.

The entire production is directed by Alan Dilworth with respect and care. The staging is fluid. The whole production is beautifully acted and full of nuance because of Dilworth’s sensitive directorial hand.  

It’s interesting that playwright Pamela Mala Sinha has put these three Indian couples together and they have different backgrounds and religions (some are Hindu and others are Muslim) and they all live in harmony. I love that. They also accept Abby into their fold without negative assumptions it seems. But there are also references to certain traditions—the arranged marriage, the proper way to grieve for a dead child—that must be followed. I found those contradictions interesting.

Pamela Mala Sinha has filled her play with rich context history, tradition, attitudes and ideas. As I said, I loved that these three couples got along even with different religions. But Qasim adds a new context when he notes that he lost his country ‘in the partition’ when India was divided  into India and Pakistan.  This references the animosity and difficulties between Hindu and Muslim—so the fact that these couples get along is heartening. (An aside—Oh for a Canadian producer or Artistic Director with the guts to produce Anusree Roy’s stunning play Trident Moon that is about this very partition. It’s only had a production at the gutsy Finborough Theatre in London, England. It needs to have a full production here)

While there is much to admire NEW, I do have concerns about the play. It needs to be tightened and judiciously cut to create a more focused and cohesive work. At this point playwright Pamela Mala Sinha wants to say so much that the play seems scattered, sprawling and sometimes underwritten.

Aisha (Dalal Badr) and Ash (Shelly Antony) in particular feel underwritten. We know precious little about them. They are a loving, modern couple but despite their efforts (fertility trials, pressure ‘from home’), Aisha is not getting pregnant. As Aisha, Dalal Badr is both lively and concerned while Shelly Antony as Ash is supportive with his optimism.  

But there is a whole scene at a concert with a sexist comedian when Aisha disrupts him doing his act, to protest his anti-feminist message. If Aisha is a staunch feminist, then it should have been established sooner and with more detail. The scene comes from no-where substantiated by nothing. It should be cut.

Sachin tells us that Sita is a perfectionist and won’t go out of the house until she is adept at whatever she is focusing on. She has not learned English for that reason. This is something that has to come from the character, either shown in her action or her dialogue, not as information from her husband, again that is not developed.

Qasim and Nuzha would appear to be the more prominent of the couples since they are involved with many and various machinations in the storytelling. More attention is warranted in their development to justify the rather touching ending. One wants to be moved by an ending, not confused on where it came from or its justification.  

Comment. There are program essays giving points of view on issues supposedly NEW. One is from Pamela Mala Sinha as the playwright talking about her parents and where she began with the play. One is from Pamela Mala Sinha’s mother, obviously a model for Sita—a dancer, talking about her history as a dancer in India and how she developed that talent in Canada. There is a director’s note from Alan Dilworth giving his opinion of what the play is about. There is a video on the Necessary Angel website with each couple expressing what they feel the play is about, with Pamela Mala Sinha saying that if a person looks brown like she is, the assumption is that they are new to the country—hence the title.

This is all well and good, but the reference we go to to find out what the play is about, is the play! The ‘interesting thing’ about NEW is that it is not about these things noted in the essays or interviews. No one in the play looks at these characters and comments on their skin colour and ‘assumes’ they are new to the country because they are all of the same skin colour and are interacting with each other.

Sometimes I wish the creators would just let the play speak for itself and not impose any directive on it or at least focus clearly on what is actually meant to be said. Pamela Mala Sinha has a lot of fine, important ideas touched on in the play. I think another go-round to edit, solidify and focus on what the play is meant to be about would make it stronger.  

Necessary Angel Theatre Company in association with Canadian Stage and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre present:

Plays until May 14, 2023.

Running Time: 2 hours 25 minutes (1 intermission)

www.necessaryangel.com

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Live and in person at the Greenwin Theatre (5040 Yonge St), Meridian Arts Centre, Produced by the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. Plays until May 7, 2023.

www.hgjewishtheatre.com

Written by Emily Mann

Directed by Marcia Kash

Set by Sean Mulcahy

Lighting by Amber Hood

Costumes by Alex Amini

Sound by Richard Feren

Original projections design by Elaine J. McCarthy

Cast: Maria Ricossa

Cherish Violet Blood

Liz Der

Catherine Fitch

Karen Jewels

Caroline Toal

Malube Uhindu-Gingala

Gloria-A Life has lots of the facts of Gloria Steinem’s life but not the phosphorescence (as poet Emily Dickinson might say) that is needed to make a play sing. For much of the play it felt like a political rally of feminist empowerment, which is fine to a point, but it doesn’t make for great playwrighting.

Gloria Steinem, the American writer, political activist, organizer etc.  has crammed a lot of accomplishments into her 89 years. She had humble beginnings in Ohio but soon expanded her views when she went to Smith College. She was able to recognize that there was more to life than just wanting to find a husband, as many of her college friends thought.

After college she moved to New York City to eke out a living as a writer. While she wrote the celebrated story: “I Was a Playboy Bunny” that exposed the horrible working conditions of the job, she found that editors (usually male) only wanted her to write facile stories about women. They didn’t want hard-hitting stories. Steinem was tenacious. She endured the sexist, misogynistic comments of men about her looks, her abilities and potential. In time her assignments became more substantial. She was there at the founding of New York Magazine and then MS Magazine, devoted to women, weighty subjects and feminist issues.

She wrote about the birth of the Women’s Movement, feminism, empowerment, racism, and ultimately social justice.  She found that Black women were the initial leaders. She learned a tremendous amount from them and they embraced her because of her commitment. She was joined in sisterhood at rallies by the likes of Bella Abzug—a firebrand of a politician and feminist champion—Betty Friedan, Florynce Kennedy, a Black activist and Wilma Mankiller, an Indigenous Chief.

By her own admission, Gloria Steinem had a monotone voice and usually a subdued demeanor. It did not make for a dynamic speaker, so she usually spoke first and then women like Bella Abzug spoke, who had a rousing effect on the crowds.

Putting all this into dramatic form is tricky. While playwright Emily Mann has noted many of the facts about Gloria Steinem’s life, there are holes. References to her mother seem choppy. Often the shape of the play seemed like so many references to: “And then I wrote,” “And then I went to this rally,” etc. After a while the play is bogged down with political philosophy, the formation of many and various groups and many examples of feminist empowerment. It does not make for compelling playwrighting.

Maria Ricossa, as Gloria Steinem, is a vibrant actor playing a monotoned sounding, ‘contained’ personality, who looks striking in aviator glasses, poofy hair and the iconic slim pants and flashy belt. Ricossa moves with grace and plays Steinem with thought and nuance. But the ‘dry’ material and this less than compelling character, make it hard going.

The play is directed by Marcia Kash, an accomplished director of many productions. So I was surprised that in this case her direction is heavy handed. Six actresses play all the subordinate parts. Most of the male characters (editors, reporters etc.) are depicted as stereotypical New York accented clods who were thug-like and gruff. All the characters seem to bellow. The exception is Dr. John Sharpe of London, who before it was legal in England, referred a 22-year-old Gloria Steinem, for an abortion. Dr. Sharpe is played with compassion and understate by Malube Uhindu-Gingala.

Some audience members sit on the stage around the three walls of the stage—the rest of the audience sits in the auditorium. Arranged around the space are many Persian rugs with four padded cubes on which characters would sit. I wonder where this is. It seems it’s a suggestion of a gathering in Gloria Steinem’s apartment.  

And at the end at the show, at the bow, Maria Ricossa says that they are doing something different than a talk back. They are having a talking circle where the audience is invited to share their stories, after a guest speaker has given about a 15-minute talk. Not once are those in attendance told that those who need/want to leave could go. That has to be rethought.  

Harold Green Jewish Theatre presents:

Plays until: May 7, 2023

Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

www.hgjewishtheatre.com

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Live and in person at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, presented by Eldritch Theatre, playing at 922 Queen St. E., until April 30, 2023.

https://www.ticketscene.ca/events

Eric Woolfe, the always imaginative, intensely creative magical force behind Eldritch Theatre, has adapted two classics and brought them to the stage in a one-man-several puppets-and lots of magic-extravaganza.

Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis (1915) and HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness (1931) are the two weird tales in question.

In Metamorphosis, salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one day, ready to go to work as usual, when he realizes he’s changed into a cockroach overnight. Terrifying. He has lost his language and can’t communicate with his family, whom he supports financially. There is his sister, who wants to study music and his two elderly parents. He supports them all. This metamorphosis into a cockroach puts a crimp in that support. The sister brings him food but soon even she forgets to do that, the family just ignores him and Gregor dies.

Kafka writes of a world of being trapped in a world you don’t understand and can’t do anything about. The Trial, a man is accused of a crime but is not told what it is. He goes on trial but the details there are also not told him. He can’t find anyone to help. He is alone….and on and on.

In Metamorphisis Gregor is transformed. He is no longer the son that takes care of the family. He is now an odious ‘other’ to be shunned, starved and killed as if there is no connection to them at all.

Eric Woolfe has adapted the story with care. He has created all the puppets, from the cockroach to the harried looking sister, the angry parents and the forbidding boss, and flits around the make-shift stage for this tale, made of cardboard and stuff. The writing tells the story beautifully, spare, heartfelt, thoughtful. It is the most moving telling of this story I have ever heard. Eric Woolfe imbues this with kindness, compassion and prescience.

And now for something completely different: At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft.

At the Mountains of Madness is a science fiction-horror novella by America writer, H.P. Lovecraft. Interestingly it was initially refused for publication because it was too long. It then was published in serial form. This doesn’t stop Eric Woolfe who has adapted this with his usual arsenal of multi-syllabic words that tap-dance off the tongue, leaving one dazzled and breathless at his invention. It’s like listening to linguistic gymnastics. Woolfe makes words sound delicious.  

The story details a disastrous expedition to Antarctica. The events are dizzyingly convoluted, complex, sometimes confusing trying to keep track of it all, and wild. The narrator of the story is geologist Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University. The details are so horrible Dr. Dyer hopes to deter an upcoming exploration to Antarctica. He talks of discovering an ancient civilization, savage beasts ready to tear apart human flesh, danger, missing members of the group, found slaughtered with missing body parts. Gruesome. And magic, lots and lots of magic.

Eric Woolfe narrates the story, again, using the most inventive, forbidding looking puppets. He uses slides of maps, murder and mayhem. And to punch things up a notch, he uses a video recorder to show closeups of magic tricks to accompany the narration. Eric Woolfe’s dexterousness is effortless. Members of the audience, assumed to be professors and other scholars, are asked to pick a card, put it back in the pack, he puts the pack on the table, he might then open a locked box, take out a sealed envelope in which is the card that was picked. (the trick might be slightly different, but you get the gist of it.) The trick is mind-boggling and head shaking. Forget “how does he do that?” He does it. It’s magic. Deal with it.

Eldritch Theatre presents:

Runs until April 30, 2023.

Running time: 2 hours. (1 intermission)

https://www.ticketscene.ca/events

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Live and in person, presented by That Theatre Company, at St. Anne’s Center, 651 Dufferin St. until May 7, 2023.

www.thatartsgroup.com

Written by Caryl Churchill

Directed by Severn Thompson

Set by Steve Lucas

Sound by Heidi Chan

Lighting by Yusuke Takase

Cast: Jim Mezon

Craig Pike

This is a terrific debut of a new theatre company producing Caryl Churchill’s challenging, intriguing play about cloning, originality, free will and deception.

The Story. What do you do when you realize that you are one of a number of ‘yous’? Bernard realizes that there are ‘a number’ of men who are exactly like him because it seems he was cloned. He queries his father, Salter, who is aghast that such a thing has happened. Or is he? And did he know? Other Bernards appear. Who is the original? Are there more? A mystery.

The Production. Designer Steve Lucas has created a simple set that is both homey and otherworldly. The space is enclosed on three sides by an opaque plastic sheet. In the center is a floor of laminated tiling as you would find in a kitchen. A rectangular wood table with four chairs around the table is center. There are place mats and a salt and pepper shaker on the table. Yusuke Takase has created a dappled lighting effect in the room that gives a warm feeling.

Bernard (Craig Pike) is a young man who is a bit anxious. His father, Salter (Jim Mezon) enters with two mugs of coffee. Bernard is anxious because he has come face to face with ‘a number’ of people who are clones of him. As Bernard, Craig Pike gives a performance that conveys Bernard’s confusion, anxiety and general unease at such a situation. He is not belligerent or angry, he is confused and concerned. He has a lot of questions of his father, not the least of which are: Am I the original? How did this happen? Did someone steal bits of me when no one was looking.

As Salter, Jim Mezon plays him, in this instance, as equally confused and gruff that this could happen to them. He is totally unsure of what happened and as concerned as his innocent son. And then we meet another “Bernard” (also Craig Pike). He wears a black baseball cap, black windbreaker and keeps his head down and his emotions checked. He is watchful, calculating and dangerous. He has a different story from the first Bernard and he knows that Salter is not innocent of what happened. In this instance Jim Mezon reveals Salter’s culpability, his unsettled guilt that he was responsible for what happened and why. He’s flustered at trying to explain as Bernard remains silent. Bernard just keeps his head down and his eyes looking up under the brim of his baseball cap. This is a terrific way of challenging an ‘opponent—silence and a stare. And then there is another Bernard (Craig Pike), relaxed, unconcerned and mild-mannered.

Director Severn Thompson has guided this tricky play with confidence, sensitivity and quiet power. With simple costume changes between scene we see the various Bernards appear. The tension and emotions of Bernard one and two and that of Salter is to watch the rising angst of people caught in a terrible situation and the person who knows the truth and why. To watch Craig Pike as the various Bernards and Jim Mezon as Salter carefully modulate the rising emotions to an explosive end, is to see two actors who know their characters to their fingertips.

Caryl Churchill reveals these characters so gradually and carefully you are stunned when the various realities become clear, or what we think is clear—Churchill loves toying with her audience. The director and her gifted actors take this tricky play and make the production soar.

Comment. Playwright Caryl Churchill is one of the theatre’s leading playwrights. Her plays are challenging, evocative, brilliantly conceived and ahead of their time. A Number was written in 2004 when Churchill was 68. She is now 84 and continues to confound and dazzle at the same time. This is the first production of That Theatre Company. In no uncertain terms they are announcing that they are here, fearless and ready to challenge us. Welcome.

That Theatre Company presents:

Plays until May 7, 2023.

Running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)

www.thattheatrecompany.com

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Live and in person at the Five Points Theatre in Barrie, Ont, produced by Talk Is Free Theatre. Run: April 26-29, 2023.

www.tift.ca

Created and performed by Vanessa Smythe

Dramaturgical support by Mitchell Cushman

Vanessa Smythe has backache. Her physiotherapist suggested energetic street dancing type exercise to alleviate the pain. So, she squatted down, put one hand on the ground, put both legs out, on the ground and the legs scurried in a circle around the one hand. She also kicked her legs in the air, did stretches and then jumped up to stand on her two feet. She was breathless and smiling. She is also pregnant and due in June. I sucked air slowly and hoped that ‘the little heartbeat in there” (as she refers to her impending baby) would not agitate the waters and burst forth before the end of the show.

Vanessa Smythe is a charming, personable performer.  She talks about memories she had when she was in grade two. She might have played the flute when she was really young and thought that ‘talent’ would look good on a resumé when she was auditioning for an acting job. The reality of that talent is hilarious in her carefully tempered, nuanced telling.

She speaks of discovering her love of poetry when she meets and is smitten by a poet who changes her life in a way, through poetry. She talks about her love of family—goofy, sweet, moving. And she talks about the startling appearance of raging hormones after six weeks of being pregnant. The weeping, the emotions, the fragile feelings that can be evoked just by saying “Valentine’s Day” and her loving husband, who has been working, and did the worst thing possible—(I can’t bring myself to say what that is). It’s all handled with Vanessa Smythe’s gracious, open-hearted, loopy sense of humour. The segues flow naturally and with ease. The observations are clear, inventive and perceptive.

She saves the last comments of this wonderful, thoughtful show, for “The little heartbeat in there.” When that little heartbeat decides to be born, that will be one loved kid.

Talk Is Free Theatre Presents:

Run: April 26-29, 2023

Running Time: 1 hour (no intermission)

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ont. playing until May 6, 2023.

www.theatreaquarius.org

Music by Johnny Reid, Matt Murray and Bob Foster

Book and lyrics by Johnny Reid and Matt Murray

Directed by Mary Francis Moore

Choreography/movement by Yasmine Lee

Music supervisor, Bob Foster

Set by Ken MacDonald

Costumes by Samantha McCue

Lighting by Kimberly Purtell

Sound by Josh Liebert

Cast: Michelle Bardach

Dharma Bizier

Nicole-Dawn Brook

Liam Crober-Best

Jay Davis

Alyssa LeClair

Jeremy Legat

Lawrence Libor

William Lincoln

Sweeney MacArthur

Clea McCaffrey

Andrew McAllister

Jamie McRoberts

Kaitlyn Post

Aaron Reid Ryder

Julius Sermonia

Adam Stevenson

MUSICIANS: Bob Foster

Peter Bleakney

Chris Corrigan

Ethan Deppe

Trevor William Grant

Evan Hammell

Andrew Murray

Spencer Kagain Murray

Rachel O’Brien

A lively, buoyant celebration of family, community and resilience. A beguiling score, but the book needs attention to flesh out the story and fill in the holes in the plot.

The Story. It’s 1954 in Lanark, Scotland, a mining town. Everybody knows everybody. The women are hardworking mainly tending their families. The men seem to be hard drinking after a day working in the mines.

Maggie is a young widow raising three young sons herself. The story chronicles her journey as well as those of her sons. Each character has their issues, some more serious than others.

The Production. Designer Ken MacDonald has created a set of two large apartment buildings, each with many windows. Presumably, this is where the citizens of this community live. There is a clothes line with towels on it, hooked to one of the buildings and is attached to a pole down from it. To show the passage of time from scene-to-scene lighting designer Kimberly Purtell illuminates various windows in both buildings to show people are there. The illuminated windows are not always the same from scene to scene.

In quick succession we are introduced to a pregnant Maggie (Dharma Bizier) and her loving husband Big Jimmy (Jay Davis), a musician with a guitar. (Do we know they also have two other sons?) He sings her a song “I Love a Lassie” and never appears again. I’m not sure if it’s that day or soon after, but it’s the end of the shift at the coal mine for the week. Women, many with baby carriages, wait for their men to appear and give them their pay packets. The men go off to the pub. The women go home. Maggie is the last in line waiting for Big Jimmy. A man rushes up to say that there has been an accident and Big Jimmy didn’t make it. Maggie goes into instant labour and passes out.

Fast forward about 14 years. Maggie has eked out a living doing mending, cleaning etc. Her boys are: Wee Jimmy (Aidan Burke), a young scholar, Tommy (William Lincoln), has hopes of being a soccer star and Shug (Lawrence Libor) who inherited his father’s guitar and hopes to go to California and be a singing star. Tommy and Wee Jimmy keep their heads down and devote their time to their passions. Shug gets involved with a political group of rowdies who loath Catholics and try and make trouble any chance they get. Maggie frets about Shug. There is trouble and dreams are shattered.

I loved how Costume Designer, Samantha McCue suggests that Wee Jimmy’s clothes are hand-me-downs: the pants are too short for him (falling just above his ankles), and there are patches on the legs. With a change in wigs, facial hair and clothes, we get a sense of time passing as the boys mature.

The direction by Mary Francis Moore moves the action of the large cast seamlessly. She does not give in to sentimentality when one of the sons leaves home, tempting though it might be. I thought that was impressive.  

Yasmine Lee’s choreography is simple and evocative for this group of hard-working people who we can believe are not dancers, but are connected to suggest there is a close relationship with each other.

The cast is very strong with first rate singers. Leading the group is Dharma Bizier as Maggie. We get a clear idea of the strength of character Maggie has, from Dharma Bizier’s commanding performance. She is a belter who conveys the heart and soul of her songs; the anguish when her sons are troubled; the joy when they succeed. “Unbreakable” sung a bit into Act I establishes the moral fiber of Maggie. It’s a powerhouse rendering.

For much of Maggie the focus seemed to be on Maggie and her three friends Betty (Nicola-Dawn Brook), Sadie (Jamie McRoberts) and Jean (Michelle Bardach), rather than just Maggie,  as they sang songs of resilience, frustration and tenacity: (“Friday Night in Lanark,” “Everyone’s Gone,” or “Queen for a Day”). Each one, but especially “Everyone’s Gone,” is like an angry anthem. The music by Johnny Reid, Matt Murray and Bob Foster is compelling and catchy. One wants to hear the music again. The lyrics by Johnny Reid and Matt Murray further the story and flesh out character, providing an urgency to the drama.

But the book, also by Johnny Reid and Matt Murray, needs serious attention. The relationship between Big Jimmy and Maggie should be fleshed out so we can learn who Big Jimmy is and how solid his and Maggie’s relationship is before he earns his song that begins the show (“I Love A Lassie”). We need to get more than a glimpse of Big Jimmy in Maggie’s life to have a stake in her pain and suffering at his sudden loss. Another scene that fleshes out their relationship will put his death in perspective.

Further attention is needed to hone in on whose story this is. Each friend has a story. One woman is ‘secretly’ beaten by her bully husband until he’s challenged by the group of feisty women. Another wonders if she will ever marry, etc. Are the friends a chorus or individual stories that splinter the narrative? A decision should be made.

There is a deadly skirmish in which both Tommy and Shug are involved with thugs who are itching for a fight. It’s unclear who is responsible for the death although one goes to prison. Does that mean one brother took the fall for the other? That should be clarified.

Shug, a consistently brooding Lawrence Libor with a powerful voice, has been tightly involved with a group of bullies who pick fights with the Catholics. And yet at the end of the story he leaves for America. Why? How did he make this decision and why? What does he plan on doing there if he has sold his father’s guitar (and how much was that worth if it paid for Shug’s passage?) So many questions that need to be clarified. Some characters such as ‘randy’ Geordie Parven (Sweeney MacArthur), who aggressively comes on to Maggie and Charles (Jeremy Legat), Maggie’s gay brother, seem like caricatures. They need developing. At times the story feels like it’s just a sketch rather than a fully developed journey of these characters.

Comment. Maggie is based on Johnny Reid’s grandmother. It’s a story of a woman who would not back down, was resourceful and resilient. The music and songs are rousing and seductive. The show needs a strong book to match. The present effort needs to be ruthlessly revised and rewritten.

Theatre Aquarius Presents:

Runs until May 6, 2023.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes (1 intermission)

www.theatreaquarius.org

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