Three Small Theatres – Part Two

Herewith, some comments on recent productions associated with the theatres described in Part One.

     Jericho Arts Centre

The resident company at JAC is the United Players of Vancouver.  They run a full season of plays, usually intelligently selected, and well-performed with high production values.  Later postings may comment on some of this season’s shows.

A guest resident company is the Ensemble Theatre Co-operative Which has been doing a season of three plays over the summer.  Again they set a high standard.  Last year’s “Farnsworth Invention” was one of my personal highlights.  Some of their offerings will not be to everyone’s taste.  “The Duchess of Malfi”, for example is one I might have missed without shedding too many tears.  But that is an issue of selection and not the quality of the production.

Most recently seen at JAC was the musical “Carrie” by the other guest resident company – Fighting Chance Productions.  Its program is largely devoted to musicals and their standards are high.  Recent productions of “Rocky Horror Show” and “A funny Thing Happened on the Way to  the Forum” were great fun.  The plot of Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, will be familiar to most – “Grease” with telekinesis and pig’s blood.  Again, it was an excellent production but I was left to wonder whether, as a musical, it was worth doing. 

Like so many musicals created in the last two decades the songs in Carrie all had a sameness about them – musically boring.  I would level the same criticism against the score of their previous production – “Spring’s Awakening”.   FCP seems to be at its best with revivals of older superior works and I am looking forward to their "Into the Woods" and “Jesus Christ Superstar” next year.

     The Community Theatres

As far as one can tell from the age and character of those in attendance, the JAC appears to draw its audiences with a diverse demographic from a fairly wide area while the two community theatres have a much smaller catchment area.  Observing the audience members in intermission one gets the sense that everyone knows everyone else and these companies rely heavily on a local core audience that is largely homogeneous.

This necessarily influences their programming and a season that will keep the local core audience happy has to be carefully constructed.  It is difficult (but I guess not impossible) to see either community theatre doing Carrie or The Duchess of Malfi.  Part of the formula for constructing a season acceptable to the core seems to be the inclusion of a “thriller” and this is what has been seen most recently at the Bernie Legge Theatre and the Theatre at Hendry Hall.

          Theatre at Hendry Hall

The most recent item at Hendry Hall was “Snake in the Grass” by the English playwright Alan Ayckbourn.  I have been impressed by the talent and production values that the North Vancouver Community Players bring to their work.  Their previous production – “Three Viewings” – was outstanding.  Whatever one might think of the “thriller” genre the production cannot be faulted.

        Bernie Legge Theatre

The thriller presented by the Vagabond Players provides an interesting point of contrast to Snake in the Grass.  It was “Murder by the Book” by King & Greenwood.

The Vagabonds have to their credit many fine productions.  I think particularly of “The Winslow Boy” two seasons ago.  So it is sad to label Murder by the Book as a total embarrassment.

The plotline oscillates between being either wholly predictable or totally incoherent.  The action is badly directed and acted (with one exception – Alex Ross – who managed to rise above the material and the direction).

Production values were equally sad.  The design lived up to the term “box set” with a vengeance.  The crowning touch of ineptness was a large clock on one wall of the set.  At various points the characters referred to the passage of time and glanced up at the clock.  Throughout all this the hands on the clock never moved.

All of this seems to be the responsibility of a single person who will remain unnamed.  This person is credited as the director and as set designer, set decorator and sound designer and must be at least partially responsible for the selection of the play. 

The Vagabonds can do much better than this and it is to be hoped that future productions will bear this out.