Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Can You See Me Yet? 1930's depression hits close to home...

As the Wild Side Festival at Centaur closes this weekend, with a ticket price from $10 to $12.50 per performance, one might be wondering how one can afford to go see more plays before the next affordable annual festival, the Fringe in June. As the official English Theatre winter season opens next week, with plays at Centaur, Segal Center and MainLine, and ticket prices climbing do to increased costs from funding and sponsorship cuts, we are all searching for some affordable theatre for these recessionary times. This is when we can go back to enjoy and support our grass roots amateur community theatre productions. Performances at the Players Theatre, like Can You See Me Yet?, can be enjoyed for as low a price as you'll find anywhere in the city, from $6 to $8. With very comfortable clean seats, plenty of leg room in the aisles, clean floors, and large clean bathrooms, inexpensive refreshments at the concession stand at $1, this intimate black box, with sufficient lighting and sound, comfortably seats only 103, so you might want to get your tickets in advance when attending productions.

Published in 1977, Can You See Me Yet?, written by Timothy Findley, examines life within an Ontario asylum during the depression era, in a world on the brink of war. Cassandra Wakelin (Alice Martin-Ellwood) is a new patient in the asylum, who confuses her fellow inmates with members of her own family. The honesty of the play and the vulnerability of its characters are well portrayed by the talent and flexibility of the cast where strong character-building is evident in each member of the ensemble. It was consistent and believable for the entirety of the over two and half hour (including intermission) play, from the small mannerisms of a character to the mere ability to be present on stage for most of the entire performance and not detract from the main focus in a scene. This was most obvious in the case of the physically challenging and well-disciplined role of Doberman (Charles Depman), a patient who believes he is a dog. And also with Clare (Gregory Vandemark) who played the role with an energy consistent and comparable to the performance of Brad Pitt in the film '12 Monkeys'. The costumes and set are both sufficient to the period and the use of space was well plotted by director Mike Lake.

Can You See Me Yet?
Closes tonight Jan. 24th 8pm. Tickets: 8$ reg. 6$ students.
Performed at the:
McGill Student Services Building
3480 McTavish, 3rd Floor
Montréal, Québec H3A 1X9, Canada
514-398-6813
Players' Theatre contact
foh.players@gmail.com


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