Small Parts
Solo Collective Theatre’s “Small Parts,” which just closed at Performance Works, has attracted a number of comments. Almost all have centred on the back story to the creation of the play. The playwright’s mother, diagnosed with terminal cancer, writes (for reasons never made clear) a very bad play, its various characters being body parts. The playwright lends his professional theatre skills to bringing “The Ovarian Dialogues” to life on stage.
Small Parts attempts to replicate the real-life events as a separate theatrical experience. As touching as the back story may be, sad to say as a stand-alone play it simply does not work.
It is ironic that the seeds of what might make it work are already in the play but the playwright failed to let them germinate and take root. I refer to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” as a template for the play. The opening is promising by utilizing the opening scene with the storm. But then the idea is dropped. After that we see only passing references that invoke Shakespeare – a character named Ariel who is ultimately “freed” and the phrase “brave new world.”
Much more could have been done to map Small Parts on to The Tempest starting with the characters, their names and their relationships. One character in particular illustrates the possibilities – Andrew McNee playing “Dan” is already there as a Caliban figure. Just call him “Cal”. Let Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda become Proserpine, Fred and Mandy mapped on to Irene (the mother), Nathan (the playwright) and Nory (a performer).
Defining new relationships between the characters and making them work would be a challenge and require a major departure from the back story – with no guarantee of success – but the result would have the potential to be a much stronger and engaging work.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Subway Stations of the Cross
Pacific Theatre’s website describes this offering in the following terms:
"A homeless man on a cardboard platform brings his own peculiar message from God. An unpredictable, mashed up meditation on the sacred and the everyday, told through the songs, stories, and poetry of a nameless vagabond."
This production can only be described as self-indulgent garbage – the kind of thing that gives the one-man-show a bad name. Its only redeeming feature is that it was mercifully short.
It is sad that after their previous show – the excellent “The Rainmaker” – Pacific Theatre should deliver this kind of production to its subscribers and followers.
Pacific Theatre’s website describes this offering in the following terms:
"A homeless man on a cardboard platform brings his own peculiar message from God. An unpredictable, mashed up meditation on the sacred and the everyday, told through the songs, stories, and poetry of a nameless vagabond."
This production can only be described as self-indulgent garbage – the kind of thing that gives the one-man-show a bad name. Its only redeeming feature is that it was mercifully short.
It is sad that after their previous show – the excellent “The Rainmaker” – Pacific Theatre should deliver this kind of production to its subscribers and followers.
Broken Sex Doll
I am happy to be challenged; I am prepared to be offended; I do not, however, welcome being bored. But this is exactly "Broken Sex Doll" managed to do.
It has been revived at the York theatre by the Cultch from a previous run in 2012. Why it was thought fit to be revived is a mystery. It takes a premise, worth perhaps 10 minutes as a comic sketch, and with the addition of a number of tuneless songs, stretches it out into almost two hours.
Who thought sex could be made so tedious? One has only to think of "Vixens of Wonderland," mounted in August at Performance Works, to see how material like this can be made raunchy and titillating and be a lot of fun in the process.
Very disappointing.
I am happy to be challenged; I am prepared to be offended; I do not, however, welcome being bored. But this is exactly "Broken Sex Doll" managed to do.
It has been revived at the York theatre by the Cultch from a previous run in 2012. Why it was thought fit to be revived is a mystery. It takes a premise, worth perhaps 10 minutes as a comic sketch, and with the addition of a number of tuneless songs, stretches it out into almost two hours.
Who thought sex could be made so tedious? One has only to think of "Vixens of Wonderland," mounted in August at Performance Works, to see how material like this can be made raunchy and titillating and be a lot of fun in the process.
Very disappointing.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Slaughterhouse Five
Just closed after a short run at Studio 1398 is Little Mountain Lion Productions’ presentation of “Slaughterhouse Five” – a stage adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel of the same name.
Having never read the novel or knowing much about it I came with no preconceptions as to what I was about to see. The play would have to stand or fall on its own as a work for the theatre. Unfortunately it fell with a resounding thud.
What was presented was an incoherent and self-indulgent mish mash that went from nowhere to nowhere leaving a trail of boredom in its wake.
The performances were lackluster with only one actor, Steve James, occasionally rising above the material to provide a characterization one could relate to.
A particular irritant was the failure to provide a program or at least a cast list. All it would have taken was $5 worth of photocopying. But having seen the show I can well understand the reluctance of those involved in it to leave behind any documentary evidence of their participation.
Just closed after a short run at Studio 1398 is Little Mountain Lion Productions’ presentation of “Slaughterhouse Five” – a stage adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut novel of the same name.
Having never read the novel or knowing much about it I came with no preconceptions as to what I was about to see. The play would have to stand or fall on its own as a work for the theatre. Unfortunately it fell with a resounding thud.
What was presented was an incoherent and self-indulgent mish mash that went from nowhere to nowhere leaving a trail of boredom in its wake.
The performances were lackluster with only one actor, Steve James, occasionally rising above the material to provide a characterization one could relate to.
A particular irritant was the failure to provide a program or at least a cast list. All it would have taken was $5 worth of photocopying. But having seen the show I can well understand the reluctance of those involved in it to leave behind any documentary evidence of their participation.
Facts at Jericho
Playing at the Jericho Arts Centre is the United Players production of “Facts”. Set in an interrogation room, the principal characters are an Israeli police detective and a Palestinian police inspector working together to solve a murder that occurred in the West Bank.
Despite the context having a somewhat dated feel about it, the production is definitely worth seeing. What makes it really worthwhile is the dynamic performance of Jerry Wasserman as the Israeli detective. It was truly a joy to watch.
Unfortunately this was not matched by his Palestinian counterpart who came across as too young and lacking the authority and gravitas his position called for. It would have worked much better if the pair had been more closely matched in terms of age and apparent experience.
A bouquet to the sound designer who managed to get the sound of the security apparatus just right.
Playing at the Jericho Arts Centre is the United Players production of “Facts”. Set in an interrogation room, the principal characters are an Israeli police detective and a Palestinian police inspector working together to solve a murder that occurred in the West Bank.
Despite the context having a somewhat dated feel about it, the production is definitely worth seeing. What makes it really worthwhile is the dynamic performance of Jerry Wasserman as the Israeli detective. It was truly a joy to watch.
Unfortunately this was not matched by his Palestinian counterpart who came across as too young and lacking the authority and gravitas his position called for. It would have worked much better if the pair had been more closely matched in terms of age and apparent experience.
A bouquet to the sound designer who managed to get the sound of the security apparatus just right.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Two Postscripts
Additional thoughts on previous postings.
Snapshots
Was my depreciation of the music of Stephen Schwartz shared by the producers of Snapshots? I note with interest that the music used to frame the audience’s arrival and played during the intermission (there must be a term for it) was the show music of Leonard Bernstein. Schwartz’s tunes did not fare well by comparison.
Subsequent Conversations (Neil Labute at Douglas College)
I was left puzzled by the choices made in relation to the set design for this evening of playlets. All of them involved a cast of two or three actors (usually two) playing in a physically intimate environment (two of them set in the front seat of a car).
But the set itself was huge in relation to the needs of the material. A large performing area – largely unused – with a number of levels which suggested no particular time or place. It was the kind of general purpose set one might expect to find for an epic drama or Wagner opera. Only a fraction of the available performing area was used for the playlets.
That said, the set would have been a great design for a different offering and was well-executed. Since the main justification of the production itself was to provide the students with a showcase for their work this was simply to give the stagecraft students, as well as the actors, a chance to show their stuff, whatever the demands of the playlets might have been.
Additional thoughts on previous postings.
Snapshots
Was my depreciation of the music of Stephen Schwartz shared by the producers of Snapshots? I note with interest that the music used to frame the audience’s arrival and played during the intermission (there must be a term for it) was the show music of Leonard Bernstein. Schwartz’s tunes did not fare well by comparison.
Subsequent Conversations (Neil Labute at Douglas College)
I was left puzzled by the choices made in relation to the set design for this evening of playlets. All of them involved a cast of two or three actors (usually two) playing in a physically intimate environment (two of them set in the front seat of a car).
But the set itself was huge in relation to the needs of the material. A large performing area – largely unused – with a number of levels which suggested no particular time or place. It was the kind of general purpose set one might expect to find for an epic drama or Wagner opera. Only a fraction of the available performing area was used for the playlets.
That said, the set would have been a great design for a different offering and was well-executed. Since the main justification of the production itself was to provide the students with a showcase for their work this was simply to give the stagecraft students, as well as the actors, a chance to show their stuff, whatever the demands of the playlets might have been.
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