Gone fishing -with Trout Stanley @ TSC.

There is nothing fishy about Trout Stanley by Claudia Dey playing at Theatre Ste-Catherine until Feb. 21st. It is the second week for this production and there is a reasonably full house for this benefit presentation for Herstreet (http://www.laruedesfemmes.com) on a snowy Wednesday evening in Montreal. Produced by Found Wave Theatre, a co-operative: Glenda Braganza, Stéphanie Breton, Vanessa Matsui, Caitlin Murphy, and Shannon Topinka. http://www.foundwave.ca

One is first greeted with the set, which is striking, -especially on the TSC stage, were we are more accustomed to a more bare stage, or a sparse stage design. It compliments the play and assists the actors in creating 'their world'. Establishing exactly what and where is 'their world' isn't obvious at first, and a lot of the physical elements on stage are not obvious either, -in that we question if they are 'real' or 'fake', i.e. fantasy. What they all are is fantastic: the set, the staging, the sound, and the costumes, are all essentially perfect for this production.

The physical action and the interaction is most compelling, -again when we consider that it is on the compact TSC stage with a full set, -we quickly become accustomed to a less is more approach to the choreography and detailed blocking. The performances are spot on and the casting is as well, -with each character having individual balanced moments to shine on their own as well as in the pairing of each scene. Stéphanie Breton's portrayal of Sugar Ducharme is hysterically funny and very endearing, and the character whom I connected with most in this dysfunctional three-way. The characters of Vanessa Matsui's (Grace Ducharme) and Vincent Leclerc's (Trout Stanley) are exact polar opposites and they play off each others magnetism to perfection.

There were a few funky light transitions, -rather abrupt in some places, and a few too many (unnecessary) blackouts, -but it Is hard to get precise lighting in this small performance space.
Just long enough in running time, the pacing is also parfait, so the time flies by in both acts.

Go C It!