Death and the Maiden

Altera Vitae's third production at MainLine Theatre is Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman. Produced with a lot of heart the selection of this play is a great vehicle for the company artistic director Carolyn Fe Trinidad in the lead role of Paulina Salas. For Carolyn this play is deeply personal, “I've chosen to do this play to bring out the silent scream in everybody.” and this does come across on stage in her performance. Also well cast is Sam Croitoru as Dr. Roberto Miranda who not only fits the role physically like a glove he also plays his part technically accurate to the hilt.

With each new production, the company partners itself with a valuable, charitable organization whose mandate is similar to themes in the play. This production is dedicated to RIVO an organisation working with survivors of torture and other forms of organized political violence and the ongoing effects of their ordeal.

This is my final review of the season, *pre-Fringe naturally, having covering 25 plays since the new year I was hoping to go out with a bang to cap off the season before my four months hiatus. Unfortunately this production is not the highly publicized and much anticipated bang that I was longing for. The play is of course very well written and the story is still current as a drama and very interesting with just the right amount of added humor so well suited to Carolyn Fe's talents, but this production does not measure up to the company's previous work in both direction and over all the scope of the design. I think that it is time for the company to try on a different venue for it's next production, Bent, fall 2009.

Flawed in both stage and light design from a pour stage layout and choice of set pieces (that even upstage the action) to a very tedious lighting plot that is either much darker than the actual material of the story or too far bright for the eye to endure. There are a couple of good effects that amount to a few clever tricks that are lost to the audience depending on where you sit in relation to center stage, however they're too few to outweigh all the rest of the mess because of either poor lighting or forced blocking. The pacing sags all too often making it difficult to stay focused on the unfolding story. Also the venue is heating up, as it tends to do seasonally, so the end result between not enough light and slow pacing is a few heads were spotted nodding off; this despite the only approximately 100 minutes one act with no intermission running time. Finally there is the very questionable casting selection of William Ward as Paulina’s husband Gerardo Escobar; it is perplexing. Not only is he far too young for the role, the relationship comes across at best as colleagues. Sadly there is no believable chemistry or compassion on the spousal level which is so necessary to convincingly pull the relationship together. Playing to May 24th. More info... http://www.alteravitae.com/death&themaiden/index.html

*See you on the Fringe...season preview "Fringe For All" June 1st Café Campus 7pm!

My Child - Secluded Spots - by Gleams Theatre

Secluded Spots includes two productions: My Child and Riverside Drive both currently playing at MainLine to May 10th. They are directed by Constantin Sokolov of Gleams Theatre. MY CHILD by Mike Bartlett, London UK receives it North American premier, originally produced in London in 2007. This production features a large cast of local talent including: George Bekiaris, Marc Poulin, Warona Setshwaelo, Christine Rodriguez, Jacqueline Van de Geer, and Ira Sokolava.

The one act play runs approximately 65 minutes and is about a father who finds himself being phased out of his son's life. Denied access to his son's life he goes to extraordinary means to hold on to him. Thrown into a violent world where good intentions count for very little the play offers an incisive honest look at what it means to be a good parent. The staging is immaculate and the use of space is impeccably well blocked. The artists bring us into their world and hold our attention throughout. Very challenging material that's well presented all things considered.

Where the production suffers is in the overall design. The space is not the easiest to work in especially for a production of this scale. Lighting, set and costuming are all in need of a creative eye. The ideal stage for this play would be to mount it in a space like the M.N. Hydro Quebec Studio, maintaining the minimalist perspective but with a killer lighting design, and some avant-guard costuming; -Oh, and maybe 'en francais' as a bilingual production...food for thought for the producers next endeavor. GO C IT!

With Bated Breath exhales on the Centaur stage

Those who've been anxiously waiting can now finally exhale, With Bated Breath written by Bryden MacDonald opened April 23rd @ Centaur as the final production of their 40th season. The production directed by both Bryden MacDonald and Centaur's new artistic director Roy Surette, features noteworthy performances from Neil Napier, Eloi Archambaudoin, and Felicia Shulman. The production continues to May 24. The photo is of Michael Sutherland Young and Eloi ArchamBaudoin, taken by Yanick Macdonald.

The tale is centered around a troubled young gay man from a small coastal town in Cape Breton who comes to Montreal to start a new life in the big city. Not a play 'for all', but homophobes should not be dissuaded by the provocative promotional publicity that is obviously geared to appeal and to attract a gay male audience. The play isn't really all that gay. Although it does cover a lot of issues of sexuality it doesn't focus on just that one orientation. In fact there are more tits than dicks, -Which will surprise some and disappoint others in that it does try to cover some familiar and some unfamiliar territory in a very short time in the one act of 90 minutes. If it succeeds in achieving that goal really lies in the eyes of the beholder as it is very subjective material. One may be left questioning if the play tries too hard to please and what is the actual point of it all.

By staging the play in the small space the production retains it's necessary close nit flavor and intimate setting with the audience. There are moments that are deliberately uncomfortable and an abundance of sexually provocative scenes; some that include nudity, some of which were less necessary. The set’s an issue in that the actors and their action were not properly considered in it's design; They’re not completely safe and secure in some transitions and some of the on stage action. Even the audience is at some risk in how the set spills out close to the first row and the exit. The backdrop was also constantly entangled with the actors in their exits and entrances.

It isn't an obvious choice to find such a dark play selected as the end of the season as a Centaur production, -A time when one expects to find lighter fair material, of which this play most definitely is not. However it is easy to understand the hype surrounding the production, -the staging such work on a Centaur stage that would normally be seen as an independent companies selection and mounted in a smaller space. Not since Mambo Italiano has there been full frontal male nudity and the subject matter of gay sexuality all in one production at Centaur. Of course many other lesser known and unfunded local English language companies and stages have featured similar topics and even the male nudity for years, but they don't benefit from the support that is at the 'big house'. It is fascinating and a relief to see that this type of material that is normally reserved only for the independents is now finally influencing the choices of the larger companies and finding its way to their stages.