May. 26, 2010 - Issue #762: Timeland
Revue
Out of the cradle
Cradle to Stage ably presents three up and coming works
The evening begins with a staged reading of Erin Foster O' Riordan's Uncle Robert's Funeral, a slim dramedy about what happens when a woman accidentally hits the prized car of the eponymous Uncle while his family solemnly observes his funeral. There's only so much you can glean from a play when the actors have scripts in their hand and while it's a little too short to really pay off the family drama that is hinted at, O'Riordan at least manages to nail the character of the busybody Catholic League woman who's providing refreshments for all concerned.
Next up is Jim Herchak's Kiss Within a Kiss, which finds the flustered Kathy (Stephanie Wigston) as a last-minute replacement in a staged crime drama when her roommate falls ill. On top of the usual worries, the staged kiss will be her first ever, which throws a wrench into the already-troubled proceedings. It's a little bit of a too-cute scenario, and it doesn't quite find its emotional baseline, but Herchak at least keeps things breezy, and the play gets a lot of life from the cynical and put-upon stage manager (Amanda Blair), less concerned with art than making sure the play actually opens.
The final one-act, and the best of the lot, is Andy Garland's Sea of Green. Taking obvious cues from the recent uproar that followed the 2009 Iranian election—including the death of an innocent women becoming a rallying point for a mass of disaffected citizens—without specifically naming its place, it's a stirring tale of what happens to people when politics actually mean something. Showing its poetical roots—the play started as a series of individual verses—it follows 10 various viewpoints, expertly managed by director Taylor Chadwick for maximum potency. Intellectual arguments are subsumed under the less murky but more immediate realm of emotional reactions, and Garland's language captures the disillusionment and outrage in grand but strong metaphors that speak as much to the pomposity of political address as to the heightened outrage of his characters. Of all the plays on offer here, this one has the best chance of seeing life beyond the cradle. V
Until Sun, May 29 (8 pm)
From Cradle to Stage
Featuring Kiss Within a Kiss, Sea of Green, Uncle Robert's Funeral
Walterdale Theatre (10322 - 83 Ave), $12 – $16 vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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