Search: Dark Heart

Produced by Eldritch Theatre. Closed, Dec. 4, 2022. Played at the Red Sandcastle Theater on Queen St. E. Toronto, Ont.

Created and written by Eric Woolfe

Directed by Dylan Trowbridge

Set and costumes by Melanie McNeill

Puppets by Eric Woolfe

Sound by Verne Good

Lighting by Gareth Crew

Cast: Mairi Babb

Lisa Norton

Eric Woolfe

NOTE: I was only able to see the second to last performance last Saturday night, but this show and its hugely gifted creator, Eric Woolfe and cast, warrant comment.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Eric Woolfe (the artistic director of Eldritch Theatre) arranged that I should have a printed programme rather than have to use the Q            R code, because I have been complaining so much when theatres don’t provide one. This does not constitute a bribe. A bribe would have been a two-scoop cup of Ed’s Ice Cream (next door) and that was not provided. I gladly bought it myself.

The Story. From the website to give a perfect sense of the wildness of the story:

“A weird-noir, hardboiled, cosmic-horror mystery told with sultry actors, terrifying puppets and dark, arcane magic. A warlock running from his past. A woman running from the End of the World.

“Rick Fischmascher is a rumpled private detective and warlock for hire, haunted by the death of his son (Howie), and entrenched in the arcane murder of a troubled opera singer. And he’s the chief suspect. Requiem for a Gumshoe is a weird-noir hardboiled mystery, re-telling of the Norse legend of Ragnarok in the pulpy style of Raymond Chandler infused with the cosmic horror of HP Lovecraft.”

Get the picture?

The Production. Because Eric Woolfe’s wild play suggests a world unbalanced, askew, off-kilter, designer Melanie McNeill has created a set that looks off-kilter too. The black door that leads off stage for some scenes and is actually the bathroom door for the theatre, is ‘framed’ with one white frame that is askew and another black frame behind that that tilts the other way. The result is an ‘optical illusion’ for most, but a dandy optical confusion if one is slightly sight impaired. The effect is the same—unsettle the folks.

Beside the black door is a larger area closed off by an opaque curtain. Behind the curtain is Rick’s office: a simple desk with all sorts of stuff behind it, including Rick (Eric Woolfe). I would not quite describe Rick as rumpled. He wears a fedora, a brown suit and a loosened tie. This suggests a certain care the man takes when he goes to work—a guy who wears a tie.  

I would describe Rick more as a man who is harried and brought down by the world and his worries. His son Howie died by drowning and he is desperate to find his body. His marriage to the sultry Myrna (a wonderful Lisa Norton) has gone bust. He is visited by a frantic Alice (an equally effective Mairi Babb) who is the opera singer frightened for her life and she wants Rick to help her. He’s not impressed that she sings opera. As Rick says to her: “I don’t go in for highbrow caterwauling. I like my music like I like my dames. Hot and rhythmic with plenty of syncopated percussion.” He tells her to come back the next day. Too late. She is found uh, erh, almost unrecognizable—shredded?—the next day. Rick’s interest is piqued at this turn of events so he wants to find her killer.

The events are many and fantastical. And there is magic and there are puppets. Rick does not carry a gun. He carries a magic wand that he uses to punctuate a point or to tap on a cup to magically produced coins or balls or magically make them disappear. Coins appear in his hand and then disappear through his fingers. And how he got that thread to combine with those razor blades he swallowed separately and then brought them out of his mouth, strung together, well, don’t ask. And he does this magic ‘innocuously’ while he is telling the story.

Puppets are manipulated by both Lisa Norton and Mairi Babb either worked on a hand or fitted on the head and manipulated that way. Each puppet is vivid, imaginatively created, angry and compelling. They represent the dark world that Rick and the other characters inhabit.

The Norse legend is evoked and it’s unsettling. A Norse god of sorts promises Rick he will see his son if Rick helps the god with getting something back from the Norse world. It was dense—I might have missed some points—but the Norse god tricked Rick leaving him bereft again.

Joining in the mayhem to guide it all with his own brand of ghoulish invention is director Dylan Trowbridge. He keeps the pace moving quickly. When a character dies it’s in the most gruesome, funny way—bits of guts in the form of shredded red boas fly through the air. Bits of corpse plop on the ground for an added “eeeewwww” effect. Trowbridge keeps the magic, the storytelling and the puppets involvement all in a seamless whole.

At the heart of Requiem for a Gumshoe is Eric Woolfe. Eric Woolfe is a gifted creator of weird work. He is keenly aware that for comedy to be successful—and his play Requiem for a Gumshoe is hilarious—the playing must be absolutely serious. He never tips his hand to show us where the joke is. He lets his dialogue do that. If anything, his Rick is pained and always has a furrowed brow or knitted eye-brows at the strangeness of what he is dealing with.

His dialogue is a mélange of gumshoe slang reminiscent of old detective stories or Damon Runyon. As an example besides the line about how he likes his dames, there is line that many characters are looking for: “The dread Necronomicon of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.” If there is a bit of a concern it is that occasionally the funny idea of a line is repeated perhaps too often and past the point where it’s funny. A bit of trimming might be in order.  

In any case one wonders, where does a brain come up with dialogue and stories like this? What was that man (Eric Woolfe) smoking when he wrote it? Or was he in a place where the air is rare (like Denver) and he was lightheaded by it all, and that got him going? No matter. Eric Woolfe produces works like this, the puppets, the masks and the ideas of a dark, angry world that are also hilarious. His plays are rich in clever, wild story-telling, full of their own dark, anger of a world gone wrong, and yet there are characters like Rick to try and set it right.

Comment. Requiem for a Gumshoe is the second in a trilogy dealing with the apocalypse. I am terrified and longing to see part three.

Produced by Eldritch Theatre.

Closed: Dec. 4, 2022.

Running time: 90 minutes.

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Live and in person at the Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace, Toronto, Ont. until December 4, 2022.

www.tarragontheatre.com

Written by Hannah Moscovitch

Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu

Set and costumes by Teresa Przybylski

Lighting by Louise Guinand

Sound by John Gzowski

Movement and choreography by Lina Jiménez

Cast: Rachel Cairns

Chantelle Han

Jesse LaVercombe

Diego Matamoros

A bristling examination of the murky world of big business when money seduces everybody and ethics and integrity are kicked to the curb, written by Hanna Moscovitch whose laser vison doesn’t miss a thing.

The Story. Bill is the CEO of a large car company. Lee is his COO. Justine is Bill’s adopted daughter and the company’s CFO, is also there.  Shannon, a public relations person with the company. Lee is her boss and he’s attracted to her, although Bill has warned Lee about not giving into his urges with Shannon. They are in a poor South American city to sign a deal and buy a manufacturing company named Systemus. There is trouble at home. Bill keeps checking his cell-phone for information. It seems a Brand Manager has been sexually harassing or compromising his female assistants and the issue must be contained even though the press seems to know about it.

At the same time Bill learns that although Lee just arrived the evening before, he had sex with a young woman who was sent to his room and who probably was underage. When this information is revealed, Lee doesn’t see any problem as it is a third world problem and the young woman was just a whore. What Lee wants more than anything is that the deal to buy Systemus, goes through. He has been working on this for a long time, and he wants it done.

Justine appears to have a moral compass. She does extensive charity work in Africa. She is aware of the toxic company culture and is intent on stopping it. She is aware of Lee’s lack of ethics. She also notes that Lee is Bill’s 5^th cousin. She wants her father Bill to fire Lee. Bill won’t do it for reasons that are eventually revealed. Justine is appeased in a way that is all too familiar in such cases. Everybody knows everybody’s secrets and uses them for their own advantage later.

For Hannah Moscovitch to name the company they want to buy, Systemus, is Moscovitch winking at how close it is to the word “systemic’ which is how pervasive the rot is in Bill’s company and the company he wants to buy.  

The Production. Initially, the audience is looking at a dark stage with a large black covering over the stage and anything underneath the covering. When the lights go dark (accompanied by a growing noisy sound) it goes up on the rest of Teresa Przybylski’s startling, stark set. The walls are white and one wall seems to be leaning in slightly, pressing in unevenly. There is a bright red couch with an irregular shape to suggest it’s ultra-modern; there is a stocked drinks caddy to one side of the couch; and a dark, forbidding painting taking up the whole wall at the back. Sliding doors automatically open and close when a person enters or leaves this room. It’s the communal gathering room for that floor, in this spiffy hotel.

Louise Guinand’s lighting is blindingly bright—you could easily do open-heart surgery in that room’s light. It is so glaring one could not hide anything in that room under that light, even a person’s secrets. Which is the point.

Teresa Przybylski’s costume design is interesting and odd.  Bill (Diego Matamoros) wears casual but seemingly expensive clothes: a jacket, shirt, pants and casual shoes. This “look” does establish him as the head of a successful company. Lee (Jesse LaVercombe) wears a non-descript casual shirt and chinos. I thought that odd. Lee plays the power game at all times. He would look the part of a leading honcho of a company but really doesn’t here. He could be anybody with a drink in his hand. Justine (Chantelle Han) is dressed in a smart, form-fitting dress and heels. She looks the part of a CFO who needs to prove her point and make what she says matter, even though she is the boss’s daughter.  Shannon (Rachel Cairns) wears a buttoned-up jacket and skirt that is downright frumpy. She wears what seems like a silk shirt underneath, but that buttoned up ‘suit’ plays more on insecurity than establishing a sense of cool confidence in that high-powered job. There is a ‘look’ to a public relations person of a successful corporation, and this look isn’t it.  As I said, “odd.”

Director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu stages the first scene with Bill standing facing the audience, feet separated, firm stance. He spends most of his time peering into his cell-phone checking e-mails and texts or replying to them, while Lee faces him, drink in hand (it’s 6 am and that drink is not tea), tries to get his attention. As Bill, Diego Matamoros is quietly distracted by the cell phone and gives Lee off-handed attention. Bill is also cool.

Lee, played with barely concealed impatience by Jesse LaVercombe, waits, as does the audience to learn what is going on.  Lee coughs to get Bill’s attention. Bill keeps him waiting.  Bill called the meeting for 6:00 am and Lee has had a bad night. He arrived at this South American city the night before.  While Bill is his boss, Lee conveys an edgy pushiness I found interesting. Lee has a great sense of himself as a player, confident, one who ‘never blinks’ when faced with a challenge, like waiting for his boss to tell him why he called the meeting at 6:00 am and is ignoring him. It’s a powerful performance by Jesse LaVercombe. He plays Lee as a person who takes no prisoners and has no conscience about it, even when it’s his boss.  

As Bill, Diego Matamoros also has a certain power. He has the power to keep his COO waiting and slowly let him know that he can’t let his sexual urges get the better of him, and sleep with Shannon. Lee has been warned about this. Bill also knows that Lee slept with a young woman when he arrived. As Bill, Diego Matamoros is almost fatherly about this warning, rather than ruthless.  It’s fascinating watching these two characters played by these two actors, do the dance of power and one-upmanship.

The dynamic changes when Justine arrives. As played by Chantelle Han, she is forceful, confident and knows she must look the power part, so she is ‘power-dressed’ in her dress and shoes. There is nothing casual about her at this 6:00 am meeting.

Lee knows where he stands in the hierarchy of this company and so he confidently wrangles with Justine, publicly insulting to her in front of Bill and he seems to let him. It’s interesting to see how that balance of power delicately shifts from character to character. Justine is not above telling secrets in public to make her points and gain an edge, but it’s Lee who seems to be winning points.

Rounding out the cast is Rachel Cairns as Shannon.  Initially Rachel Cairns plays Shannon as meek and insecure, whose shoulders are hunched in the company of these players. She is aware of the Brand Manager and his penchant for sexual harassment but doesn’t seem committed to supporting those women who have been harassed. She seems more interested in having them remain silent. Perhaps her involvement with Lee might be a reason and her playing the corporate game. The staging of Lee and Shannon’s drunken sex-scenes seemed more awkward than passionate.

Hannah Moscovitch’s characters in Post-Democracy speak in blunt language. Lee’s dialogue is a string of monosyllabic words that jolt out. These are people who don’t converse in paragraphs because their communication is generally from a cell-phone screen. The dialogue is reminiscent of David Mamet, but with Mamet his characters are inarticulate. With Moscovitch her characters are in a hurry for the deal and power and don’t have time for chit-chat. The timing is everything with this ‘rat-a-tat’ dialogue and too often I felt the timing was off and the pace lagged.  

Comment. Hannah Moscovitch has written a devastating play in which she puts her laser perception and focus on the toxic culture in big business; where money is more important than morality; conscience, integrity and ethics are laughed at in favour of making a deal at all cost. Moscovitch so immerses you in this world you will be thinking about it long after you see it, and you should see it.

Tarragon Theatre presents:

Plays until: Dec. 4, 2022.

Running Time: 1 hour, (no intermission)

www.tarragontheatre.com

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Live and in person at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, Ont. indefinitely.

www.mivish.com

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.

A new play written by Jack Thorne

Directed by John Tiffany

Movement director, Steven Hoggett

Set designed by Christine Jones

Composer and arranger, Imogen Heap

Lighting designed by Neil Austin

Sound by Gareth Fry

Illusions and magic by Jamie Harrison

Music supervisor and arranged by Martin Lowe

Video designers: Finn Ross & Ash J. Woodward

Cast: Sarah Afful

Kaleb Alexander

Thomas Mitchell Barnet

Mark Crawford

Raquel Duffy

Sara Farb

Bryce Fletch

Brad Hodder

Luke Kimball

Hailey Lewis

Trish Lindstrom

Lucas Meeuse

Kyle Orzech

Gregory Prest

Fiona Reid

Katie Ryerson

Yemi Sonuga

Steven Sutcliffe

Brendan Wall

Trevor White

David D’Lancy Wilson

Shawn Wright

Explosively magical. Dazzling, dark, complex and gripping.

Background: J.K. Rowling wrote seven books to tell the story of Harry Potter, an orphan, who found his magic when he enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft to become a wizard. Harry meets Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who become true friends.  There have been several films that have also told the story based on the books. J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany created an original story for a theatrical production that played both London’s West End and on Broadway presented in two separate parts totaling about 7 hours? This new version has been condensed into one part that is 3 hours, 30 minutes long with one intermission. The programme offers a ‘spoiler alert’: that if you want to avoid story spoilers, then don’t read the character list.

The Story. It’s 19 years after the last Harry Potter book/story. While this is an original story, the previous seven books are referenced including incidents, characters and events. The adult Harry and his wife Ginny are at platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Railway Station, seeing their son, Albus Potter, off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. Albus is a solitary, lonely boy with few friends, and feels he can’t attain the ideal that is his father. Harry has a hard time bonding with Albus and vice versa.

Albus befriends Scorpius Malfoy on the train, who is also going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.  Scorpius is also lonely and aches for a friend, but that’s because his father is the much-maligned Draco Malfoy. Albus and Scorpius bond as friends trying to fit in and having a tough time. There is also Rose Granger-Weasley, the daughter of Hermione and Ron, and she too is on the train to Hogwarts.

The story is complex, involves a time turner that turns back time; creates all manner of incidents that Albus and Scorpius feel they must correct; is full of the pull of good over evil and vice versa.

Those who have read the books and seen the movies will know what is going on and who it involves. Those who have not read the books or seen the movies have a synopsis in the program to bring them up to speed, but might find that some incidents might be confusing. Do not be deterred. It’s an adventure. Some references at my performance had some of the audience gasping in recognition of the information. I recall the same reaction when I saw the two-part version of the show in New York. The 10-year-old girl beside me gasped at a reference to a character. I could not resist. I asked this young stranger who the character was. The kid happily told me who the character was, going so far as to describe how that character took her tea and that she liked three lumps of sugar in the beverage. You want a kid like that beside you. I have also found that the Potter-mavens are happy and willing to fill you in about what you might miss.

The Production. While the story is complex and complicated, the production, directed by the brilliant John Tiffany, reaches out to every single viewer and draws them in to the story and holds them with the blazing theatricality and the jaw-dropping magic—often simple, sometimes complicated. (Bring Kleenex. Your jaw will drop so often that drool accumulates).

We are primed from the get-go by Steven Hoggett’s movement and Jamie Harrison’s illusions and magic. All through the production characters carrying suitcases scurry hither and yon, their arms stretched out, holding the suitcase as if the character is being led by some pull of the suitcase; as if some unseen wind is pulling and driving them about and the character has no will to stop it. At the train station Albus (Luke Kimball), Scorpius (Thomas Mitchell Barnet) and Rose (Hailey Lewis) are in their traveling clothes and twirl in place, again as if a wind is swirling them, and magically, their clothes turn into the robes, capes and other swirly bits of Hogwarts, before out eyes. Magic.

Characters disappear up a small opening in a wall. Other times then appear as if sliding down a chute in another wall. Two moveable staircases simply bring characters up and down in scenes. Other times apparitions appear in floating material that hover ominously over the audience.

Even the simplicity of scene changes is given a sense of magic. For example, a bed is wheeled on by a character wearing the flowing robes of Hogwarts and placed centre-stage. A bedspread is flipped out to cover the flat bed and with a flourish of flipping the robe over the bed, it appears that there are two characters in it ready to do the scene. Every scene change is finished by that flipping of the robe over the placement of a prop etc. to suggest that it’s quick, efficient magic (and in a way it is—in a world where everything is breaking down, in the theatre things work, efficiently and on time.)

There are so many simple theatrical effects incorporating theatrical techniques that are over 100 years old (chairs floating in blackness because stagehands dressed totally in black are holding the chairs aloft) mixed with complex theatrical magic tricks that the viewer is dazzled by the inventiveness.

Acting styles vary. Luke Kimball as Albus, Thomas Mitchell Barnet as Scorpius and Trevor White as Harry Potter almost shout their lines, as if expressing a consistent urgency. Often lines fly by so quickly, as said by Kimball and Barnet, that information gets lost.   

As Draco Malfoy, Brad Hodder illuminates a man on the edges of society who is living with questionable reputation. He is ram-rod straight, imposing and must stand aloof to protect himself. Sara Farb as Delphi Diggory is charming with a mysterious dark side. Fiona Reid plays both Professor McGonagall with confidence and command as the head of the school and Delores Umbridge as a feisty presence as well. Bringing a sense of calm to Harry and Albus is Trish Lindstrom as Ginny Weasley. She is the voice of reason and thoughtfulness when her son Albus and her husband Harry are frantic and bellowing. Steven Sutcliffe plays:  the heartbroken Amos Diggory, grieving for his dead son; Albus Dumbledore, perhaps the most gifted headmaster of Hogwarts and Severus Snape troubled, contained and watchful. Sutcliffe plays each character with intelligence, nuance and compelling economy.

The whole cast to a person keeps the pace of this fast-moving production almost a swirl of robe flipping activity.

Comment. Theatricality and magic aside, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is really about things that matter to us all, whether we are creative wizards or ordinary people trying to get by. It’s about a father and son trying to form a bond but being awkward about it; it’s about friendship between Albus and Scorpius, both lonely, unhappy and finding each other and knowing that this friendship can withstand any opposition; it’s about trust, loyalty, determination, fidelity and love. Always about love.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will dazzle the kid with magic without question and will remind the adult that magic exists, they just might have forgotten that. 

David Mirvish, Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender, Harry Potter Theatrical Productions present:

Runs indefinitely.

Running Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes, (with 1 intermission).

www.mirvish.com

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Live and in person at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. until Oct. 30, 2022.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Antoni Cimolino

Designed by Francesca Callow

Lighting by Michael Walton

Composer, Berthold Carrière

Sound by John Gzowski

Cast: Elizabeth Adams

Anousha Alamian

Sean Arbuckle

Peter N. Bailey

Wayne Best

Michael Blake

Ben Carlson

David Collins

Jon De Leon

Colm Feore

Christo Graham

Jordon Hall

Jessica B. Hill

Kim Horsman

Ron Kennell

Qasim Khan

Daniel Krmpotic

Diana Leblanc

Beck Lloyd

Jamie Mac

Devin MacKinnon

Hilary McCormack

Seana McKenna

Dominic Moody

Chanakya Mukherjee

Lisa Nasson

Lucy Peacock

Sepehr Reybod

André Sills

Emilio Viera

Bram Watson

Hannah Wigglesworth

Ezra Wreford

A production of Richard III full of pageantry and power opens the new, beautiful Tom Patterson Theatre.

The Story. Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III), has been embittered in life by being born ‘misshapen’ and often reviled:

“I, that am curtail’d of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature,

Deform’d, unfinished, sent before my time

Into this breathing world scarce half made up—

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them—”

And while Richard believes that he can’t be a lover, he has decided to be a cunning, malicious villain and murder his way to being king. He lets the audience in on the secret, he is a showman after. But as we know, it doesn’t end well.

The Production and comment. There is a lot to capture our attention as we enter the beautiful new Tom Patterson Theatre for the first time. The building (kudos to architect Siamak Hariri) is exquisite as it curves along the river bank. The theatre itself seems smaller than the original Tom Patterson, but it is just as warm and inviting and this time, very comfortable!

The stage looks like there is construction of some kind going on. Designer Francesca Callow has a trough dug into the stage with plastic covering over it. To show that it’s modern times (although the production is not set in modern times) there is a wheelbarrow with shovels and other digging implements. Near part of the ‘construction’ is a plastic structure that says: University of Leicester. Then I get it: director, Antoni Cimolino is beginning his production of Richard III in a parking lot in Leicester, Engl. where King Richard III’s actual bones were discovered a few years ago. Inspired.

When the production starts, proper, workers in construction overalls and gear come and look in the trough, ponder, peer and do very little—as is the case in many construction sights one learns quickly. Someone yells: “We’ve found something” as they peer into the abyss. Quickly, nimbly Colm Feore as Richard, scampers up out of the trough. (just as quickly, all the construction people disappear)  He holds a sword. He’s dressed in black leather; a small hump protrudes from his back. His legs are askew, one leg bent at the knee that way, the other leg jutting the other way. The walk is halting with the heal of one leg touching down softly, the other foot drooping along but not dragging. The walk is fascinating, nimble and often quick. Here is a character who will not be disadvantaged by a physical anomaly, even though it has twisted his personality.

And then Feore speaks Richard’s first lines: “Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York….” Feore speaks in his ringing, clear, confident voice. His easy facility with Shakespeare’s language is renowned. There is such command. He is almost impish when he shares with the audience his plans for how he will be a villain and will connive, murder and manipulate his way to the Crown, not letting on that he is the centre of all the mayhem until it’s too late.

Richard’s audacity is fierce. He connives to have his trusting brother Clarence (Michael Blake) killed in jail. He stops Lady Anne (a wonderful Jessica B. Hill) on her way to bury her husband by wooing her. As Anne, Jessica B. Hill is both aghast and reviled. But when Richard urges her to kill him since she is so furious at him, she is conflicted. Jessica B. Hill takes Lady Anne through such an emotional journey in this one scene, it’s full of rage, grief, despair and pity. She knows she is doomed too, and that is heartbreaking.

Richard charms the Duke of Buckingham (a confident, courtly André Sills) to be on his side until Richard discards him. Richard plots to have his nephews killed; to marry Queen Elizabeth’s daughter and on and on.

This does not suggest it’s a clear ride for him. The royal women in the play stare him down. Seana McKenna as Queen Margaret is boiling bile when she rages in her crystalline voice at Richard for his past crimes; Lucy Peacock as Queen Elizabeth (‘poor painted Queen’) is a women who knows the fraught times in which she lives because of the dangerous Richard. It’s a performance of nuance and finesse. Diana Leblanc plays the Duchess of York, Richard’s mother. It’s a performance of anger, frustration, disgust and concern all because of her manipulative son.

Director Antoni Cimolino has filled his production with pomp, pageantry and fanfare. The tent scene before the battle of Bosworth Field is particularly impressive with billowing material, shadow and light, preparing the way for the ghosts of those Richard killed.

For some reason Cimolino has changed the gender and therefore the casting of the character of Tyrell. Tyrell is usually played as a man. Here the character is named Jane Tyrell and is played by Hilary McCormack. Tyrell is such a fascinating character; totally in despair, described as ‘discontented’ by whatever haunts him. He is asked to kill Richard’s nephews in the tower. He agrees without hesitation but one is intrigued by a character with such a deep-seated unease and unhappiness. There is such darkness and no sentiment in Tyrell. But Hilary McCormack does play Tyrell with sentiment and pity, so that she is emotionally moved by what she has arranged (two others actually do the killing). I found this confusing and seems at odds with the words.

And while one is always impressed with Colm Feore’s technical expertise with Shakespeare’s language etc. I did find his performance as Richard to be strangely unexplored as deeply as one would expect. To put all that effort into a halting limp and yet not illuminate the whole deformity when he came to the lines “Deform’d, unfinished, sent before my time/ Into this breathing world scarce half made up—” seems odd. Certainly when such lines just beg a moment to turn and show the audience and make them see,  seems like a missed opportunity. And truth to tell I found a lot of the performance let opportunities slip by without a sense nuance. Feore is commanding but I found that his performance should have gone deeper.

Still Richard III is a stirring play and the Tom Patterson Theatre is beautiful, do don’t miss the opportunity to see both.

The Stratford Festival presents:

Plays until: Oct. 30, 2022.

Running time: 3 hours approx. (including 1 intermission).

www.stratfordfestical.ca

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Live and in person at the Neighbourhood Food Hub, 1470 Gerrard St. E, Toronto, Ont. until July 3, 2022 produced by Talk Is Free Theatre.

www.tift.ca

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

From an adaptation by Christopher Bond

Directed by Mitchell Cushman

Musical director, Dan Rutzen

Choreographer, Cameron Carver

Set and properties by Kathleen Black

Lighting by Nick Blais

Costumes by Laura Delchiaro

Cast: Noah Beemer

Tess Benger

Joel Cumber

Gabi Epstein

Griffin Hewitt

Cyrus Lane

Jeff Lillico

Andrew Prashad

Glynis Ranney

Michael Torontow

Musicians: Samuel Bisson

Gemma Donn

Stephan Ermel

Dan Rutzen

Thrilling. Every single second of this dark, haunting musical is realized in Mitchell Cushman’s deeply imagined direction. The cast is sublime.

Background. In 2018, Arkady Spivak, the hugely creative (then) artistic producer of Talk Is Free Theatre, got the wild idea of ‘A Curious Voyage’, in which a group of adventurous people would sign on for a three-day adventure. The first day took place in Barrie, Ont. where the adventurous participants engaged in immersive role-playing and observing various theatrical activities. On the second day, first thing in the morning, the group got on a plane to London, England, landing at night, where a few more theatrical endeavors unfolded. On the third day the group engaged in various encounters with ‘strangers’ on the London streets. The day culminated with the group being taken to an abandoned building down an alley-way where they watched an immersive production of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Mitchell Cushman and starring a stellar Canadian cast engaged for this special occasion. Then the next day, the adventurous people flew home to Canada.  

This Toronto engagement of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ‘only’ involves the production of this celebrated musical, but it is every bit as thrilling and inventive as that Curious Voyage in 2018.

The Story. It’s 1846, London, England. Anthony Hope has rescued Sweeney Todd at sea and brought him to London. Todd escaped from a prison in Australia where he had been sent by an unscrupulous judge, Judge Turpin, based in London. We learn that Judge Turpin coveted Sweeney’s wife Lucy and created a phony charge to get Sweeney out of the way so Judge Turpin could make the moves on Lucy.

Sweeney returns to his old digs in Fleet Street—he was a barber in his previous life and he was named Benjamin Barker—hoping to resume his life with his wife and their young daughter, Johanna, and get revenge on Turpin. The barber shop is above Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop and Mrs. Lovett tells him, that alas, Lucy is dead. Johanna, now a young woman, is the ward of Judge Turpin. This sends Sweeney Todd into a vengeful frenzy. Mrs. Lovett recognizes that Sweeney Todd is in fact Benjamin Barker. She says that his barber shop is exactly as it was, and she saved his precious razors. And that is the beginning of his vengeful journey.

The Production. Director Mitchell Cushman didn’t revise his previous “Curious Voyage” production of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the Neighbourhood Food Hub location on Gerrard St. E. He completely rethought every second of the production to illuminate this haunting, moving musical of revenge and regret. And Cushman also reimagined how he would have the cast utilize every part of the multi-level space. The Neighbourhood Food Hub is also a working church. At times the audience sits in the pews, on the dais, stands on the stairs going up to another level, scurries to the basement etc. Accommodation is made for those with ambulatory issues, but one must be aware that this is an immersive production in which we follow characters all over the building, sometimes quickly.

Mitchell Cushman makes us aware and watchful of everything. So that silent man (Ensemble—Joel Cumber) sitting on the steps of the Neighbourhood Food Hub, wearing torn jeans, a worn jean jacket and toque, playing the ukulele, should not be overlooked as one might a homeless person. He follows the audience around, standing on the edges, watchful of everything that unfolds. Is he humanity? Kindness? You decide.

When we enter the church sanctuary and sit in the designated pews, we note that standing in other pews are various characters in costumes of 1846, looking crazed and haunted, eyes rimmed in black shadow, lipstick askew, hair disheveled. Every face indicates the cares of that hard world.

Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” establishes the world we are about to enter and who is at the centre of it. And just as suddenly Sweeney Todd (Michael Torontow) appears, hollow-eyed, vengeful and compelling. Michael Torontow gives a performance of such relentless drive, such all consuming rage as Sweeney that it is nothing less than explosive. And yet your heart breaks for him. The proximity to such a performance is gripping. Every single character locks eyes with the audience and doesn’t let up or let us look way. We are constantly drawn into the darkness and humour of the story because of the closeness to the company.

There is so much invention in scene after scene of Mitchell Cushman’s direction it is tempting to fill a whole review with reference to scene after glorious scene. That’s not fair to future audiences—and of course the point of any review is to get people to go see the production. So here are only a few scenes that stood out in a production brimming with them. Cushman and his lighting designer, Nick Blais make wonderful use of shadow, light and silhouette. Many scenes in silhouette happen behind a white sheet. We see the interplay of characters behind the sheet. The most vivid is Judge Turpin (a charming, dangerous Cyrus Lane, who tries to whip out his lascivious thoughts about Johanna, by self-flagellation) reaching out in shadow, and elegantly moving Sweeney Todd out of the way so that the Judge can move in closer to Lucy. Simple, gut-squeezing, and effective.

Sweeney lives in a time of moral decay. People live by their wits. Sweeney begins his life of murder in practice for when he can get Judge Turpin in his barber chair to give him the closest shave he’s ever had. What to do with these ‘bodies’. Hmm. Mrs. Lovett (Glynis Ranney) is struggling in her increase her meat pie business. Hmmm? Aha!!! One does what one can, if you get my drift. Glynis Ranney plays Mrs. Lovett in a way that is so beguiling and frightening that you are left limp in your seat at the ease of duplicity. She sings “A Little Priest” with Michael Torontow as Sweeney that has a hint of joy between these two characters as they differentiate between meat pies considering ‘who’ represents the filling.  

Getting rid of the bodies as Sweeney gives shave after shave to unsuspecting customers is again bristling with imagination and elegance because of Mitchell Cushman’s creative effectiveness. It’s almost balletic with a touch of weightlifting.

The cast is sublime. And while it’s so pedestrian to just list the actor and their character, to do so with a total description would take up too much of your time, when you should be just getting a ticket. Gabi Epstein is a crazed and mysterious Beggar Woman who has obviously seen and experienced something that has changed her life. You won’t soon forget her haunted eyes. Jeff Lillico as Pirelli is arrogant, humourous and not who he seems. Griffin Hewitt as Anthony Hope is a man consumed with love for Johanna and desperate to have her in his life. As Johanna, Tess Benger is beguiling, ‘innocent’ and yet knowing. Noah Beemer as Tobias Ragg is a young man who would do anything to protect Mrs. Lovett. He is eager, loving, sweet and perhaps fragile minded with what he too has endured. And Andrew Prashad is a very proud Beadle, knows the power of his position and how to use it. Every one of these actors sings beautifully, in a strong, compelling voice. Each one invests 100% into illuminating their troubled, mesmerizing characters. It’s to their great credit and their gifted director that even when we think someone is a villain, there is such nuance and shading that we aren’t sure.    

Comment. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of Stephen Sondheim’s darkest, most compelling musicals. It’s about those troubled people we pass on the street without ‘seeing’ them. What Mitchell Cushman and his gifted cast have done in this glorious production is make us look, consider and pay attention.

Talk Is Free Theatre presents:

Running until: July 3, 2022.

Running Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes, approx. (1 intermission)

www.tift.ca

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Live and in person at the Festival Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. until Oct. 30. www.stratfordfest.

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins

Script adaptation by David Thompson

Director/choreographer, Donna Feore

Musical director, Franklin Brasz

Set by Michael Gianfrancesco

Costumes by Dana Osborne

Lighting by Michael Walton

Sound by Peter McBoyle

Cast: Eric Abel

Gabriel Antonacci

Robert Ball

Devon Michael Brown

Sandra Caldwell

Celeste Catena

Dan Chameroy

Amanda De Freitas

Henry Firmston

Bonnie Jordan

Heather Kosik

Bethany Kovarik

Amanda Lundgren

Jordan Mah

Chad McFadden

R. Markus

Stephen Patterson

Chelsea Preston

Jennifer Rider-Shaw

Steve Ross

Philip Seguin

Plus other dancers/singers

A rousing, raucous Chicago to welcome us back to the theatre, heavy on exuberance and speed, light on depth, nuance and realizing the cynicism of the piece.

The Story. This is Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse’s 1975 story of murder, mayhem and cynicism of a group of murderesses in Chicago in 1928 who were in jail for their crimes. Roxie Hart killed her boyfriend Fred Casely because he was going to walk out on her. She shot him and then convinced her hapless, but devoted husband, Amos, to take the blame. Amos was told by Roxie that the guy was a burglar, until he learned the truth. Velma Kelly did a vaudeville act with her sister until she found her sister in bed with her husband, so Velma killed both her sister and her cheating husband. Both Roxie and Velma engage slick-lawyer Billy Flynn to take their cases (separately). Billy Flynn knew every angle on milking and turning the press to his/his client’s advantage. Roxie was wilier and more street smart than Velma.

The Production and comment. The usual first line of Chicago is “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery…all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts.” But in David Thompson’s adaptation something new is afoot. The line now begins, “Ladies, Gentlemen, Everyone….”  indicating that in this enlightened world gender fluidity is acknowledged with “Everyone.”

Now that we are back in the Festival Theatre with its thrust stage, after an absence of two long years, director/choreographer Donna Feore has taken the rare opportunity to re-imagine Chicago. This means that one is not locked into re-producing Bob Fosse’s original and very distinctive choreography, with its hip thrusts, slinky sexiness and drop-dead cynicism of that dark time. It means that one does not have to go deep into the story to realize the nuance, subtleties, cynicism, greed, immorality, exploitation and all the darkness of the original because that is not the intention of this production. The intention of Donna Feore’s raucous, fast and furiously danced production is to have a good time, and certainly everybody in that boisterous opening night audience did that to the hilt. Feore’s choreography goes at break-neck speed and her dancers give their all, smiling, no matter how dastardly their characters, gyrate, high-kick, flip and fly through the air, leaving everybody, including the audience, breathless and smiling. If one doesn’t pay too much attention to the joyfully smiling singer-actor and the cynicism of the lyrics they are singing, one won’t find too much of a disconnect in this superficial production.

The Stratford Festival production of Chicago is light on depth and heavy on exuberance. Many of the performances of the minor characters are like cartoon characters, over-played, and ‘big’. While Roxie Hart (Chelsea Preston) and Velma Kelly (Jennifer Rider-Shaw) are two separate characters with Roxie being more calculating than Velma among other aspects, I found that aside from different coloured wigs, it was hard telling Roxie from Velma on the basis of performance. Both Chelsea Preston as Roxie and Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Velma are good dancer-singers, but there was little in the way of differentiating between the two of them. As I said, realizing the depth of character was not the point. Pure entertainment was the point.

There are two exceptions to this thought: Steve Ross as Amos Hart (Roxie’s hapless husband) and Dan Chameroy, the silver-tongued Billy Flynn, the lawyer with all the angles for manipulation. Steve Ross as Amos gives the most sublime, subtle performance of a man who loves his wife to bits, but is ignored and forgotten by her and mostly everybody he meets. He’s a loving, decent but simple man and it’s easy to take advantage of him. Ross is deeply moving when he sings “Mister Cellophane”, explaining how people “look right through” him and don’t remember his name. It’s a performance of detail, thought and a beating heart.

Dan Chameroy as Billy Flynn has the easy movement of a man in total control. He’s got flash and pizazz and is totally compelling. He knows how to keep his clients guessing and desperate, and everybody else unbalanced.  Flynn embodies the song “Razzle Dazzle” in which the flash and pizazz overpower the reality that it’s all fakery:

Give ’em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle ’em
Give ’em a show that’s so splendiferous

Row after row will crow vociferous

Give ’em the old flim flam flummox
Fool and fracture ’em

How can they hear the truth above the roar?

Interestingly, Dan Chameroy as Billy Flynn sings that song realizing all the smarts and depth of it. Two beautiful performances from Steve Ross and Dan Chameroy.

Donna Feore’s superficial production of Chicago is a rousing way to welcome an eager, willing audience back into the theatre to cheer and roar, no matter what.

The Stratford Festival Presents:

Plays until: Oct. 30, 2022

Running Time: approx. 2 hours, 30 minutes.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

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Live and in person at the Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Hamlet continues at the Stratford Festival.

www.stratfordfestival.ca

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Peter Pasyk

Set designed by Patrick Lavender

Costumes by Michelle Bohm

Lighting designed by Kimberly Purtell

Composer and sound designed by Richard Feren

Cast: Graham Abbey

Maev Beaty

Austin Eckert

Jakob Ehman

Ijeoma Emesowum

Matthew Kabwe

John Kirkpatrick

Kevin Kruchkywich

Josue Laboucane

Andrea Rankin

Anthony Santiago

Tyrone Savage

Michael Spencer-Davis

Norman Yeung

And others.

Interesting attempt by director Peter Pasik to freshen up Hamlet resulting in some less than helpful decisions for the play.  But at the centre is the assured, gripping performance of Amaka Umeh as Hamlet.

The Story. Prince Hamlet is in mourning. His beloved father Hamlet Sr. died suddenly two months ago and his mother, Queen Gertrude, married Claudius, Hamlet Sr’s brother, almost immediately. This swiftness adds to Hamlet’s concern. He has come home to Elsinore from school in Wittenberg to mourn his father’s death rather than celebrate his mother’s  marriage.

And strange things are happening in Elsinore. There is talk of the Ghost of Hamlet Sr. being spotted roaming by palace guards who are on duty at night. Hamlet is alerted. He ‘meets’ the Ghost who says he was poisoned by his brother, Claudius. This enrages Hamlet and he surges into action to cut himself off from his girlfriend Ophelia and plot the downfall of his uncle. It’s messy and ends badly for everybody except Horatio, Hamlet’s trusted school friend.

The Production and comment. The production was delayed for about two years because of COVID and then other blips and delays interfered, and finally, Hamlet  opened this 70^th celebratory season of the Stratford Festival, with the gifted Amaka Umeh as Hamlet, as planned.

I can appreciate a young director, like Peter Pasyk, who is given a plum assignment such as Hamlet at a prestigious theatre festival such as Stratford, and he wants to flex his creative muscles and breathe new life into the piece, add a modern component that speaks to a different audience. I get it. But as Pasyk cut the play and added and melded scenes, I had to wonder what the point was if the power of the play was diminished. After all, the reason we are in the room is the play.

Pasyk has set the play in modern times. Michelle Bohen’s costumes for the men are stylish suits, understated but fashionable clothes for Gertrude (Maev Beaty), and hip clothes for Hamlet’s school friends and Ophelia (Andrea Rankin). Horatio (Jakob Ehman) is in casual wear. Hamlet, as befitting a grieving son, wears a black doublet, skinny black pants and boots. Considering  our  technical age, cell phones are used, especially by Polonius to see what messages Hamlet sent Ophelia for any incriminating comments. When Polonius (Michael Spencer-Davis) and Claudius (Graham Abbey) eavesdrop on a conversation Ophelia is to have with Hamlet, the Palace tech-guy puts a ‘wire’ on her so they could over hear the comments. Lots of security people in that palace talk into their wrist watches to communicate with each other. I didn’t see any ear wires for the same purpose, but perhaps I just didn’t see such a device in the darkness of certain scenes in Kimberly Purtell’s  lighting design.

As the audience files into the theatre, an imposing man in a suit and wearing a dark face mask, surveys the audience from edge of the stage. Behind him is a see through rectangle and in it is the body of Hamlet Sr. laying in state. When the production starts proper, the man is now at the top of the balcony overlooking the audience and the body of the dead king. The man carefully takes off his mask and moves his mouth around in pronounced movements as if his face and mouth have been encased in that mask for two years. The audience laughs because they get the joke—they all have been wearing that confining mask for two years and this is perhaps the first time for many people to be in a theatre with others.

Then the guard looks down on the body of the late king laying in state and he goes down to stage level, looks over into the box of the king and puts his hands on the sides of the box for a closer look,  which sets off the alarm that indicates someone is touching the box. A double laugh here too.  

Here’s the problem, with acknowledging that joke of the mask and the inadvertent setting off of the alarm,  it upstages one of the most gripping first scenes of any play, never mind Shakespeare, that something is terrifying the people on guard at that palace and it’s the ghost of Hamlet Sr. (Matthew Kabwe). The guards are so spooked that even when they don’t hear something in the gloom, they yell: “Who’s there!” The actors have to work awfully hard to get the audience back into the play with that ‘original’ first scene and truth to tell, as it was played on that small balcony with a mirrored wall behind them, the scene is confusing and muddy.  

I wonder why director Peter Pasyk did that to the play, upstage it with ‘business?’ I  wonder where the body is in the palace in such a clear box/coffin/casket ? Is he still laying in state two months after his death and just after Gertrude and Claudus got married? Why? Is that a custom in Denmark to have the body visible like Lenin’s tomb? And really, the guard wouldn’t know that the casket was ‘armed’ if someone touched it?  I don’t think so, not even if he just got the guarding-gig. Logic does have to enter into a director’s choices, it’s not just on a whim.

Hamlet is delighted when he’s told the Players have arrived. He’s loved their work in the past and is familiar with their abilities, especially with the Player King (Anthony Santiago). So again it’s puzzling why Peter Pasyk inserted a scene in which the Players sing a lilting song to a ukulele accompaniment, which diminishes them to the level of a ‘hippy group’ of troubadours. Again it diminishes their importance.

The Mousetrap Scene where Hamlet will catch the conscience of the king and trap him in his deceit is effective when Claudius gradually sees what is happening there—he’s faced with how he managed to kill his brother—yells for  “Light!! Give me some light!” and the whole auditorium snaps up with light for intermission. Very effective.

Claudius has a scene after this in which he faces his darkness at what he’s done. He usually is at prayer trying to find solace, but also to acknowledge what he’s done. Pasyk has decided to have Claudius offer part of his confession to Polonius, telling him what he did. I suck air really slowly here. Why on earth would you do that—share this information with another member of court? It makes no sense. Is this improving on Shakespeare? I think not. Is this trying to show that Polonius is also complicit in what is going on there? We know that. It’s in the words of the play! Look how he treats his daughter. We don’t need the obvious underlined. Again this is a mystifying decision by the director, that again weakens the play.

Graham Abbey is a fascinating, charming Claudius, so convincing as a caring step-father, and Michael Spencer-Davis is a lively Polonius, Maev Beaty seems almost understated as Gertrude and Andrea Rankin is fragile-minded as Ophelia. So much of this production seems half-baked. It’s cut so much that often the reasons for lines are removed. I don’t think it’s enough to know that Laertes (Austin Eckert)  has a powerful poison that he will use to win his sword-fight with Hamlet, we have to know that he bought it from ‘a mountebank’ in France. That’s a fascinating look into the kind of man Laertes is, and that he purposefully bought it is cut from his speech. Mystifying. So much of this production requires further, deeper thought so that choices make sense. Up to a point it’s “Hamlet-Lite” = Hamlite.

But  the play rests on the shoulders of Amaka Umeh as Hamlet. This is a performance brimming with intelligence, energy, dazzling wit, confidence in the language and how to speak it, and a bracing, compelling  presence. The performance is fearless, quixotic, moving and heart-breaking. At one point Hamlet removes his doublet to reveal a kind of undershirt. What we see are protuberances that are either small breasts or pectoral muscles. It’s the first time there is even a thought to the gender of the actor playing the lead because the performance is so assured in realizing the depth of the character. Talent will all. Talent removes even the thought of knowing the gender of the actor playing Hamlet.

At the bow, a beaming Amaka Umeh leads the company in a unified bow from the waist. Then Amaka Umeh steps forward for the ‘star-bow’ and with a flourish performs the most elaborate theatrical courtesy you ever saw, informing one and all that one gifted woman played one of the hardest parts in literature, and she was brilliant.    

The Stratford Festival Presents:

Continues at the Stratford Festival.

Running time: 3 hours, 1 intermission.

www.stratfordfest.

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Live and in person at the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Playing until Oct. 8. www.shawfest.com

Written by George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Sanjay Talwar

Set by Sue LePage

Costumes by Joyce Padua

Lighting by Nick Andison

Original music and sound by John Gzowski

Cast: Neil Barclay

Patrick Galligan

Martin Happer

Marla McLean

Travis Seetoo

Donna Soares

Graeme Somerville

Jonathan Tan

Jenny L. Wright

Fascinating play and bracing production.

The Story. The Microbe has happily occupied its time by keeping The Patient (Miss Mopply) bed-ridden with sickness, so much so that The Microbe is now ill. Added to Miss Mopply’s malaise is her fidgety, anxious mother, The Elderly Lady (Mrs. Mopply) who has been distressed because all her children have died from sickness. So to protect her ill daughter, Mrs. Mopply has kept Miss Mopply tucked up in bed, in a dark room, with the blinds closed preventing any light from entering, and the window shut tight, so that nothing resembling fresh air will enter. She has also coerced the frustrated Doctor to give Miss Mopply a new prescription. He knows that fresh air, light and getting out of that bed will do a world of good for Miss Mopply, but Mrs. Mopply is a force, and he has no choice but to acquiesce to her demands.  Mrs. Mopply is not a ‘helicopter mother’—they hover protectively above their children. Mrs. Mopply is a ‘blanket mother’—she lays across her daughter and smothers her with excessive, unhelpful ‘care’.

Added to this scenario are: The Nurse (Susan “Sweetie” Simkins) who is tending to Miss Mopply and The Burglar (“Popsy”) in cahoots with The Nurse. They plot to rob Miss Mopply of her real pearl necklace, fence it and take the money and go flee to a tropical place for fun and relaxation. A twist is that Miss Mopply insists that she be included in the plot as well.

At the end of Act I The Microbe (Travis Seetoo) tells the audience that the play is virtually over but that all concerned will discuss various things and each other for the next two acts. George Bernard Shaw did have a quirky sense of humour.  

The Production. We get the full force of the pampered and opulent life of Miss Mopply (Donna Soares) in Sue LePage’s Act I bedroom. The bed is covered high with a duvet, pillows, fluff, stuff and gloom. No light from yonder window breaks into this bedroom. The window is closed and no outside light glimmers in.  As Miss Mopply, Donna Soares plays the invalid to the hilt—whiney, petulant, demanding.

We hear Mrs. Mopply (Jenny L. Wright) before we see her: her footfall is loud, insistent and suggests short, sharp footsteps in heels. Every step is full of angst, agitation and worry. If this is director Sanjay Talwar’s suggestion or Jenny L. Wright’s invention, it’s brilliant in establishing the obsessive annoyance of Mrs. Mopply. As anxious as Mrs. Moppy is, that is as laid-back as Marla McLean is as The Nurse. She is cool and has seen it all. Graeme Somerville is The Burglar and he is smooth, articulate and philosophical. He is also the Honourable Aubrey Bagot, a devoted man of religion. The hapless Doctor (Martin Happer) tries his best to tend to his patient but Mrs. Mopply runs interference, and her fierce foot-fall is frightening.

In Act II and III we are in “A sea beach in a mountainous country.” I don’t know how that is possible, but it’s Shaw so you take it on faith. For this Sue LePage has many rocks around, a sturdy wood chair, a trunk and other stuff suggesting someplace primitive.

So far Shaw has discoursed on smothering mothers who know nothing about the benefits of fresh air, good food, sunlight, exercise and getting out of bed first thing in the morning. Then in Act II and Act III he goes for the gusto. There is pompous Colonel Tallboys (Neil Barclay) in charge of the area for the British Empire who knows nothing of the people or the language or how to govern. He would rather paint watercolours. The real person in charge is Private Napoleon, Alexander Trotsky Meek (Jonathan Tan). Naturally being a pompous colonial representative of the governing British Empire, Tallboys has nothing but contempt and exasperation for Meek. As Tallboys, Neil Barclay always seems to be at the end of his tether with the calm insouciance of Meek. Understandable, since Jonathan Tan as Meek has all the answers to all the questions and more. Meek knows the language of the natives, the customs of the people, respects them, has a sense of organization and a keen managerial style. And he carries it off with a slight smile and obsessive agreeableness. Tallboys knows how to mix watercolours.

Added to this, The burglars, now ensconced in this place with the money they got from the pearls, are bored. Susan “Sweetie” Simkins is now passing herself off as The Countess Vabrioni complete with accent. Miss Mopply plays her maid and is fully recovered to robust health. And The Honourable Aubrey Bagot is now free to look dashing in a white suit (kudos to costume designer Joyce Padua) and talk about religion to his heart’s content, that is until his furious father, The Elder (an irascible Patrick Galligan), finds him and tells him how disappointed he is in his religious son. The Elder is a confirmed atheist. Lots of fireworks between father and son on these subjects. There is also Sergeant Fielding (Martin Happer) who has a word or two about duty, women, men, relations, relationships etc.

Director Sanjay Talwar efficiently, effectively establishes each character and their place in that world. He uses the space really well and I note that characters are always on the move in order to command attention. It’s not wasteful movement. It’s effective. His direction if full of whimsy, impish humour, respect for the text and inventiveness in realizing Shaw’s dense philosophy.  

Comment. The cast is very fine and the result is a bracing production that tackles the issues, and gives the actors space to let the arguments breathe and sink in. Sure, Shaw is talky. He wrote this in 1932 when he was 76 years old. He has a lot to say. He always does. And it’s fascinating.

The Shaw Festival Presents:

Plays until: Oct. 8, 2022.

Running Time: 3 hours.

www.shawfest.com

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Live and in person at the Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Playing until October.

www.shawfest.com

Damn Yankees

Words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross

Book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop

(based on the novel by Douglass Wallop, “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant”)

Directed by Brian Hill

Music direction by Paul Sportelli

Choreography by Allison Plamondon

Set and costumes by Corry Sincennes

Lighting by Mikael Kangas

Sound by John Lott

Magic and illusions by Skylar Fox

Cast: Shane Carty

Élodie Gillett

Patty Jamieson

Gabriel Jones

Allison McCaughey

Mike Nadajewski

Drew Plummer

Kimberley Rampersad

Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane

Jay Turvey

Kelly Wong

And several others.

The Story. Damn Yankees a musical in which a man sells his soul so that his favourite baseball team can beat the Yankees for the Pennant. Damn Yankees is a 1955 musical comedy with words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, based on Wallop’s novel “the Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.”

It’s based on the Faustian myth of selling your soul to the devil to get something impossible. Joe Boyd is a middle aged, out of shape salesman who loves the Washington Senators, even though they always lose to the dastardly New York Yankees. He wishes they had a long-ball hitter and would win. Enter Mr. Applegate (also known as The Devil—in flashy clothes).

He offers to change Joe Boyd into a much younger, fitter man named Joe Hardy who is a master at hitting the ball and throwing. But Joe has to leave his wife Meg and go off for the season to do it.  Joe wants an escape clause—if he asks to be let out before the end of the season, then he can go back to his wife as he was before; if not then he is the possession of Applegate forever.

But of course, there are complications. Joe gets homesick for Meg, so he goes back to his old neighbourhood, as this young man, asking to rent a room from her. Of course there is a bond between them, in spite of the age difference. Mr. Applegate sees this bond then plots to break that up by sending in Lola, his best homewrecker to seduce Joe and get him away from Meg and play the game, but then, Applegate will cheat on the bargain as well. Good vs bad; love vs evil, all the supposed deep stuff of musicals.

The Production and comment. It’s 1955. Women are expected to be homebodies by their baseball-loving husbands, and ignored during the six months of baseball season. They are called “old girl” by their husbands as a term of endearment. Meg Boyd and her friends are devoted to their husbands but when the six-month baseball season arrives they can kiss good-bye to any attention from their husbands. They are glued to their tv sets watching the game, cheering and lamenting their beloved Washington Senators and damning the New York Yankees who always beat them.

So often actors are directed to be caricatures: screechy, whiney and anything but believable. Such is the case of Sister Miller (Élodie Gillett) and Doris Miller (Allison McCaughey). Really? We are to believe that women in the 1950s are as witless as these actors are asked to behave? Sad. And the same with the ball players? So disheartening.

Applegate has women on payroll who are home wreckers. The best is Lola and she is called out when Joe gets homesick for Meg and goes to the house to rent a room, not of course telling her who he really is.  

I found the musical, sexist and misogynistic to women—and offensive. If it’s of its time, that’s where it should remain and move over to make room for more applicable and timely musicals.

That said, I thought this production directed by Brian Hill was plodding, slow-moving and dreary with a few bright moments. The choreography by Alison Plamondon is pedestrian and derivative. We all wait for the entrance of Lola, the seductress who will bring Joe back into the fold.

Kimberley Rampersad plays Lola. In a very weird entrance upstage and in gloom, we see two long legs flicking in the air. Then the body of the person appears and the legs touch down on the floor, followed by the rest of the body of Lola in a tight red dress, cut high up the leg. I don’t think Ms. Rampersad is helped by either direction or choreography. There is such an effort to make Lola seductive, after we are told that she is seductive, that it is far from effortless. In fact it is labored, obvious and mannered.

Director Brian Hill tries to inject some modern notes to make this musical seem timely. Some of the casting is gender bending—I note there is a woman subtly cast as a Washington Senator ball player. At the bow several of the ball players bow, as men do and that one lone woman, curtsied. OK we get it.

Many of the Cory Sincennes’ set pieces have photos of many women in 1950s dresses as if they in advertisements—and many of the women are Black. Very admirable, but that would never happen in 1955.  You can’t have it both ways—do a sexist musical and think you can make it ok by adding modern touches.

Not all is lost, though. There are a few bright spots in the production. I thought Brian Hill’s direction of the transition of Joe Boyd (a stalwart Shane Carty) to young Joe Hardy (Drew Plummer) was smooth and impressive. As Meg Boyd, Joe’s devoted wife, Patty Jamieson is true, honest and totally believable as the confused, loving and conflicted wife of this guy who just disappeared without a note or reason. I love the ache of the performance.

As Applegate (the slick Devil) Mike Nadajewski is sublime He is effortlessly seductive, manipulative and sly. He is always thinking of the next plot, he’s dangerous and he sings like a dream. As Joe Hardy, Drew Plummer had to sub in at the last minute as the understudy, and he does an admirable job and has a strong voice as well.

But on the whole, Damn Yankees is a dud.

Presented by The Shaw Festival

Runs until: Oct. 9, 2022

Running Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, with 1 intermission.

www.shawfest.com

Gaslight

Written by Johnna Wright and Patti Jamieson

(based on the play Angel Street  by Patrick Hamilton)

Directed by Kelli Fox

Set and costumes by Judith Bowden

Lighting by Kimberly Purtell

Original music and sound by Gilles Zolty

Cast: Julia Course

Kate Hennig

Julie Lumsden

André Morin

The Story.  A husband, Jack, tries to drive his wife, Bella, insane, suggesting she is losing her memory of simple things, in order to eventually rob her.

British playwright, Patrick Hamilton wrote a dark mystery called Gas Light (two words) in 1938. When it played in New York the title was then changed to Angel Street and it went through many titles.

Canadians, Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson felt they could revise the play and take out many of the pejorative aspects facing women at the time. The basic story is the same to a point. Jack is trying to drive his wife Bella insane by noting things she has forgotten or lost in the house.

That’s where the phrase gaslighting comes from: the malicious effort in trying to convince you you are imagining things to try and drive one crazy.  Jack notes that Bella’s mother was insane and that Bella is going that way too, in spite of his care of her. Bella believes it too. She hears noises in the attic and no one else in the house does. She senses that the gaslight in the house flickers for no reason in the house. Things disappear and she can’t account for it. She must be going crazy.

In the old version of this play, an old detective, who is wise to the situation, tries to assure Bella she is not going crazy and that her husband is doing this because he knows there are jewels in the house and he’s trying to get her out of the way so he can find them. Bella then trusts the detective to help her.

In this new version of the play writers Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson remove the detective altogether and have Bella fend for herself and solve the mystery and realize the ruse.

Again, we have a dated play that treats a woman as something to drive crazy, full of the misogyny of the time in London and elsewhere, with a well-meaning effort to make the woman self-reliant. I just think it’s fluffing up old dust. Why bother? There are so many more and better plays than this that speak to a women’s issues.

The Production. While I do have issues with the play, I thought the production was terrific, thanks to the thoughtful, sensitive direction of Kelli Fox, and her wonderful cast. The lights in the theatre subtly went down and just as subtly went up on Judith Bowden’s set.  There are dark furnishings, paintings on the wall, a sense of foreboding in the place.

Julie Lumsden plays Bella with a sense of heightened concern. She is obviously anxious and puts in great effort to be calm. She is the psychologically battered wife who is always seeking her husband’s approval and acceptance. She plays up to him. Is attentive, all in an effort to please him so he won’t be critical of her.  As her shifty husband Jack, André Morin is all poise, calm and concern. He rarely loses his temper and always seems so concerned about his wife’s fragile mind. It’s a measured, compelling nuanced performance. Kate Hennig plays Elizabeth, a no-nonsense maid with a sense that something is not right. Elizabeth has a history with Bella’s family and a great sense of justice.  And Julia Course plays Nancy, another maid who is flippant, arrogant and knows how to play Jack to get what she wants.

All in all, a terrific production of a problematic play.  

Comment. The Shaw Festival is dedicated to the works of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries.  George Bernard Shaw was one of the most complex, iconoclastic, irascible, forward thinking, philosophical writers of the 20^th century, or any century for that matter. Among other things he championed women’s writes and issues.  In a world in which women’s rights are under fire, Shaw’s championing of women’s issues is needed more than ever. 

So, it’s mystifying, if not blinkered and tone deaf, to see that the Shaw Festival is opening its 60^th summer season with two dated, misogynistic, sexist clunkers like Damn Yankees and Gaslight. 

The Shaw Festival Present:

Runs until Oct. 8, 2022

Running Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes, 1 intermission.

www.shawfest.com

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