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 SUMMERWORKS REVIEWS By Jon Kaplan and Glenn Sumi
Unhappy slap
A single slap destroys a young family in Five Fingers. Robin Fulford's drama relies on everyday details to carry a shitload of emotional baggage. Expert at weaving together poetic moments from past and present, Fulford reveals the violence and needs underlying the routines of Anna, Tuck and their infant son. Director Mark Cassidy finds the proper rhythms for the tiny snapshots that make up this sometimes sensual, sometimes shocking portrait. Sarah Neville's a sympathetic Anna, while Gord Rand's Tuck relies on little-boy charm, guilt and intimidation to win back his estranged wife. JK Fathers' day THE WAIT ROOM by Michael Valliant-Saunders, directed by Marjorie Chan. Presented by Kinetic at Factory Upstairs. August 10-11 at 9:30 pm. Rating: NNN A study of fathers and expectant fathers, The Wait Room brings together two nervous men in a hospital waiting room. Mark (Michael Valliant-Saunders) is a street kind of guy, while Dan (Sanjay Talwar) is an investment manager glued to his cellphone. Playwright Valliant-Saunders sets up class differences and assumptions each makes about the other, though he doesn't fill in enough back story for Mark. Under Marjorie Chan's direction, the actors fill out their characters with energy and emotion. JK Damned good
Eric Woolfe's funny-scary homage to creepy horror anthology programs on TV and gruesome comic books is SummerWorks at its best. Woolfe has mastered the formula and language of the genre, from Ron Kennell's faux-literary scaremeister host to the little plot twists that reward greed and avarice with bloody punishment. Michael Waller directs with obvious fun, and Paul Sportelli and Jay Turvey's music adds to the spine-tingling experience. Tone is important here, and Waller never lets his actors go over the top. Besides Kennell, Hume Baugh, Darren Keay and Melody A. Johnson take their multiple roles seriously and are all the more hilarious and frightening. The real standout is Kimwun Perehinec, whose law student mom-to-be and accent-chewing fortune teller are eye-poppingly good. GS Medium cool THINK ON HER written and performed by Karin Randoja, directed by Raymond Bobgan. Presented by Luule Productions at the Factory Upstairs. August 9 at 8 pm, August 11 and 12 at 5:30 pm. Rating: NNN With magnetic eyes, focused performing style and vibrant singing, Karin Randoja plays a medium who takes the audience on a journey into a dead woman's past. The skilful Randoja uses multiple voices and the intimacy of the venue to rivet our attention. The text she's created -- drawn from Katherine Mansfield short stories -- sometimes lets her down with its occasional narrative lapses and indistinct relationships. But the performance is sterling. JK Bravura Brebner
Is there a funnier, more off-the-wall playwright in Toronto than Morwyn Brebner? Don't think so. In two short pieces -- Our Father, in which siblings journey to the dying father who abandoned them, and Matador Love, the blind date from hell -- Brebner writes breathtaking dialogue, as outrageous as it is hysterical. And in Catherine Fitch and Tony Munch she has a pair of electric actors who work with director Kate Lynch to turn up the material's wattage to maximum. JK Fyffe flies
Gripping, smart and highly playable, Laurie Fyffe's The Malaysia Hotel plays with big themes that touch on politics and various levels of exploitation. In a seedy traveller's hotel in Bangkok in 1982, a Cambodian prostitute (M.J. Kang) tries to force a jaded Canadian teacher and writer (Leanna Brodie) to help her escape the country. From the turning on of the first light bulb and the sound of construction in the background, director Guillermo Verdecchia creates tension that doesn't let up until the play's powerful candlelit conclusion 55 minutes later. In two excellent parts for female actors, Kang and Brodie deliver note-perfect performances, evoking distinct worlds with separate mythologies and realities. With any luck and justice, Fyffe's play will become a classic two-hander, discussed and argued over but above all performed. GS Scattered S&M* S&M* by Gordon Portman, directed by Portman and Nicole Stamp. Presented by Seeing the Emperor Theatre at the Factory Studio. August 9 at 10:30 pm, August 11 at 6 pm. Rating: NN Gordon Portman's ambitious S&M* attempts to satirize gay playwrights and right-wing politicians, but it's too unfocused to make an impact. The play pits just-in-from-the-Prairies Jason (Duff MacDonald, way out of his depth as an actor) against bad-boy urban gay playwright Greg (the snakily charming Sean Tyson), juxtaposing their real encounters with fictional ones from Greg's plays. There are far too many subplots, and the scenes-within-scenes are confusing. Worse, we never know what Jason wants or what he's left behind. If he rejects Greg's in-yer-face political art, what does he choose instead? GS
Inventive inc CEASEFIRE by Lucy Simic, Stephen O'Connell and Sabrina Usher. Presented by bluemouth inc at Artword. August 10 and 11 at 9:30 pm. Rating: NNN A trilingual show -- English, French, Croatian -- by the inventive bluemouth inc invites the audience into direct, non-participatory contact with performers in Ceasefire, a multimedia piece about the Bosnian war. Dance, hand-held lighting and film projection into a birdcage are among the highlights of the piece. But while the movement and staging are always intriguing, the text isn't, though Stephen O'Connell's caged clarinetist draws attention with his speeches about birds. JK Auntie Albert THE SINGULAR LIFE OF ALBERT NOBBS by Simone Benmussa, adapted from a story by George Moore, directed by Mary Dwyer. Presented by Gabriel's and Red Letter at the Factory Mainspace. August 10 at 6:30 pm, August 12 at 9:30 pm. Rating: NNN Yentl meets James Joyce in this look at an ambitious waiter in 19th-century Dublin who turns out, after his death, to have been a woman. Adapted from a short story, the play still feels awkwardly literary, with clumsy narration and a detachment that distances us from the characters. And though we're told that the waiter -- performed with dignity and pride by Stavroula Logothettis -- has the emotions of a woman, we're never shown what these emotions are. The opportunity for a powerful feminist critique gets lost. Still, there are some lovely moments and fine acting, and Peter De Freitas's costumes are especially evocative. GS Car culture AUTOGEDDON by Heathcote Williams, adapted and performed by Steven Bush, associate artist Richard Payne. Presented by Happy Trails at the Cameron. August 9 at 7 pm, August 11 at 1 pm, August 12 at 5 pm. Rating: NNN Full of quotable lines, clever imagery and social consciousness, Heathcote Williams's Autogeddon examines the global devastation wrought by the automobile and its related industries. Engaging adaptor/performer Steven Bush brings all the dramatics he can to this dissection of car culture, taking on different voices and stances to give brief but satiric life to car commercials, Detroit warlords and the 17 million-plus victims of auto accidents. At times it's repetitious, but, then, we haven't yet learned the lesson about curbing our auto-mania, have we? JK First-class Flight
Mike McPhaden's Flight 198 has some problems landing, but it's a first-class ride. Set on a turbulent flight from Calgary to Toronto, the play shows the increasingly stressed-out relationships among four passengers. It's a fine premise, with a built-in question about whether the passengers -- and the overheard crew -- will survive. McPhaden's a gifted writer with a good ear for dialogue and a vivid imagination. What's impressive is how much we come to care for the characters. Bobby Del Rio gets major laughs as the monomaniacal lead singer of a rock band, and the seemingly miscast Emily Hurson is terrific as the band's scheming young drummer. Best of all is husky-voiced Veronika Hurnik as a bartender who's seen it all and hopes to change her life. GS Raver rules
Ambitious, multi-dimensional and anchored by a terrific performance, richardthesecond is SummerWorks' most adventurous show. Written and acted by Matthew MacFadzean, it follows a cocky raver who volunteers for a genetic experiment that brings mind-blowing results. As much as the video, music and flashing lights provide eye and ear candy, they're also a keen observation on our world. But it's MacFadzean -- we first see him holding a refracting mirror ball and Star Wars light sword, the pop-cult vision of a ruler -- who gives Richard an increasingly aware and fearful soul beneath the rocker's edgy, flashy exterior. JK Nautical nugget BEYOND ZEBRA written and directed by Torquil Colbo. Presented by Thunderpot at the Factory Studio. August 10 at 5 pm, August 12 at 12:30 pm. Rating: NNN Beyond Zebra is weird. It's also one of the most original and haunting shows at this fest. Narrated by Muckle Muggeridge (director/writer Torquil Colbo), an eccentric student of folkloric beasts whose grandfather discovered the mythical aquatic Ray Woman of Newfoundland, the show creates its own believable world of Dr. Seuss-style gibberish and nautical adventures. There are some rough sections, but the charmingly offbeat Colbo and the impassioned discoveries he and we make along the way are well worth the voyage. GS Mixed message NORTH, EAST SIDE STORY by Shawne McKeown and Marilo Nunez, directed by Pragna Desai. Presented by 4 Devils Productions at the Factory Studio. August 10 at 11 pm, August 11 at 8 pm, August 12 at 5 pm. Rating: NNN Here's an example of playwrights sticking too closely to the idea that the stakes should always be high. Roommates Claire (Marilo Nunez) and Laura (Shawne McKeown) are locked out of their apartment on the slummy northeast side of town (and that would be where, exactly?) when one of them discovers a stash of coke in her knapsack. Oh yeah, one of them has to pee, and another's father is dying. There are some very funny details in the writing and the performances are fine. But everyone, including Mike McPhaden in a cute cameo, has a different acting style, leaving the audience to wonder whether they're watching a social drama or a sitcom. GS Harris legacy ONTARIO, 2055 by James Harkness, directed by Martin Albert. Presented by this could happen at the Cameron. August 9 at 8:30 pm, August 11 and 12 at 6:30 pm. Rating: NNN James Harkness takes Rupert Brooke's play Lithuania and gives it a corrosive Harrisonian touch, showing what "common sense" will do to humanity. A poor, fearful rural family offers hospitality of a sort to a rich city man, but the action is less powerful than the ominous tone of this brutal new world and its sharply etched characters. Margaret Lamarre and Martha Cronyn give strong performances as a desperate mother and daughter beaten down by care and panic, while director Martin Albert introduces a note of danger as a callous neighbour, and Craig Erickson radiates unwitting condescension as the upper-class twit. JK Duo ascends UNPOSSIBLE ELEVATOR written and directed by Michael Rawley. Presented by Shaking Ground at the Factory Studio. August 9 at 7:30 pm, August 11 at 2 pm, August 12 at 8 pm. Rating: NNN Phobias and secrets knit together the two characters, Him and Her, in Michael Rawley's perceptive, entertaining and verbally fanciful Unpossible Elevator. Her (Ellen-Ray Hennessy) has trouble with rain, Him (Geoffrey Whynot) doesn't want to step back in an elevator. Over the course of a prickly meeting, they reveal their reasons. Rawley's best play to date, Elevator is lifted several extra floors by the work of the two actors, whose chemistry, sense of comedy and understanding of the humanity beneath the humour are a winning combo. JK Scouts' honour THE BOY SCOUTS' MANUAL written and performed by Louis Negin, direction consultant John Turner. Presented by Mollie and Erik at Artword. August 10 at 6:30 pm, August 11 at 8 pm. Rating: NNN There's as much humanity as camp in Louis Negin's The Boy Scouts' Manual, a faux biography of the put-upon Lawrence Goldstein and his high-profile alter ego Lorenzaccio Gold. Set at a mature gay scouts' meeting, the piece is full of unexpected humour. But while there's a convincing zip in the delightfully outrageous writing -- which could use some further shaping -- it's not always matched by Negin's performance. At times its hesitancy goes beyond the shyness of one of his key characters. JK Jamaican jam YAGAYAH written and performed by debbie young and Naila Belvett, directed by ahdri zhina mandiela. Presented by b current at Artword. August 9 at 8 pm, August 11 at 12:30 pm, August 12 at 2 pm. Rating: NNN There's no SummerWorks show with more palpable warmth and humanity than yagayah, a tale of two Jamaican women whose friendship is tested when one moves to Canada. There's great chemistry between writer/actors debbie young and Naila Belvett, whose blend of dub, storytelling and singing resonates deeply under ahdri zhina mandiela's direction. There's equal drama in the sad fact that when one character "comes to foreign," she has a three-part battle to fight, as a black immigrant woman. The chance for change? It comes from revolution, passion and the reclaiming of past strengths. JK Free spirits LITTLE FREEDOMS conceived and directed by Adam Nashman. Presented by 3 Degree Dance Theatre and Bald Ego at Artword. August 11 at 2 pm, August 12 at 12:30 pm. Rating: NNN The lighthearted tone of Little Freedoms, a largely dance-based piece conceived by Adam Nashman, carries us into the city streets and a tempestuous bistro. Add some comic text by Stan Rogal and the result is a fantasy world that begins and ends under a street lamp. In between is a whack of good dancing -- tap, modern, hiphop, jazz -- given life by the company, notably Nicola Pantin in a pas de deux with a rolling table. JK Kischuck key VAN GOGH written and performed by Bill Kischuck. Presented by Whiplash Theatre at Artword. August 10 at 8 pm, August 11 at 5 pm. Rating: NNN A monk and the spirit of artist Vincent Van Gogh meet on the road to Arles. They discuss spiritual revelation and their envy of each other's link to heavenly truth. Far from being an undramatic debate, Bill Kischuck's Van Gogh is heavily indebted to Noh theatre, and his performance is focused and riveting. With a deep, resonant voice and precise physical characterizations, Kischuck controls the performance space, holding his audience with narrative, dance and chant. JK Pale Rainbow CAVEMAN RAINBOW by Caroline Gillis, directed by Matt Baram. Presented by Prairie Girl at the Factory Studio. August 10 at 8 pm, August 12 at 2 pm. Rating: NN Caroline Gillis's 1992 one-hander about a mysterious young woman who we gradually learn is living with a disease begins brilliantly, with well-chosen words that make us imagine things she has lived through or fears. But the script strays, and director Matt Baram, ever eager with slide projections and snatches of music, doesn't focus our attention away from the more self-indulgent bits. Neither does performer Erin Malin, who's likeable but not memorable. GS Martyn misses SPARTA written and directed by Sarah Martyn. Presented by Mad George Productions at the Factory Mainspace. August 11 at 10:30 pm, August 12 at 4:30 pm. Rating: NN Theatre Passe Muraille darling Sarah Martyn (Sheroes) has been thrust way too early into the spotlight, and Sparta, her third play, exposes that fact. A superficial and maudlin look at a country family and their secrets, it lacks any genuine feeling or honesty. It's a fake. The actors struggle with their underwritten roles, with only Dinah Watts emerging as someone with any inner life as a busy lawyer. Martyn, who shouldn't have directed, has missed the real issue -- namely, why did the two very different parents get married in the first place? GS Travis's pickle TRAVIS THE CARPET CLEANER HELPS FILL THE BAD PATCHES written and directed by David A. Brand. Presented by Sears Ontario Drama Festival and Wendie and Me at the Factory Mainspace. August 11 at 8:30 pm, August 12 at 6:30 pm. Rating: NNN After unsuspecting carpet cleaner Travis (Joel Bojeczko) is lured into the home of a mysterious couple (Shauna Hunt and Kevin Hesketh), he has a heck of a time getting out. Sharply and stylishly directed by writer David A. Brand, this absurdist sex farce mystery has a manic energy that's part dell'arte and part Looney Toons. I would have liked a bit more about the couple's history (they make a pun on 'just ice' that doesn't resonate) and things go on longer than necessary, but the denouement is lovely, and the fact that this is a student-written and -performed production is a cause to rejoice. GS  |
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FIVE FINGERS by Robin Fulford, directed by Mark Cassidy. Presented by the Five Fingered Company at the Cameron. August 10 at 8 pm, August 11 and 12 at 2:30 pm. Rating: NNNN