The Deal with O’Neill
Uptown theatre critics find the gems at O’NeillFest
Janice Sawka and Barb Stewart

C+
Before the Fog of Thirst
Winnipeg Experimental Theatre Works
Until Feb. 4, WCD Studio

New theatre company Winnipeg Experimental Theatre Works is dedicated to presenting productions that are new and avant-garde. No one could call the plays of Eugene O’Neill new, but WETW’s director, Rachelle Fordyce, has decided to put a fresh spin on three of the playwright’s shorter works.
Fordyce has adapted three of O’Neill’s early one-act plays, Before Breakfast, Fog and Thirst, into one work, and the company achieves various levels of success with this approach. Before Breakfast is used as an introductory work to the expressionistic plays Fog and Thirst, which Fordyce has spliced together into one piece.
Before Breakfast is a dark monologue by the caustically unhappy Mrs. Rowland (shrilly captured by Kendra Jones), whose poet-husband, much to her surprise, is even unhappier in their marriage than she is. The rest of the cast make sound effects, and the sole props are a chair, a red ribbon and a backlit screen that allows the shadow of Mr. Rowland (Conrad Sweatman) to take part in the proceedings. The company offers an intriguing presentation of this one-act tragedy.
As both Fog and Thirst present characters adrift at sea, Fordyce’s combination of the two is not out of the blue. She has both plays enacted simultaneously, with the characters of each on opposite sides of the stage and the dialogue cutting back and forth.
The effect is interesting but needs strong actors to carry it off with complete success. In this case, the work is only as strong as its weakest link, and one of the players is not able to impart the strength the play deserves.
WETW should be commended for its effort, even if the company isn’t entirely successful with Before the Fog of Thirst. — BS

B+
Desire Under the Elms
University of Winnipeg Theatre Students’ Association
Closed Jan 29, U of W’s Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall

The University of Winnipeg theatre students have turned out a very satisfying production with their presentation of Desire Under the Elms.
First-time director Matthew TenBruggencate has done extremely well for a novice, and the cast and set easily transport us back to a dilapidated farm in the mid-19th century.
The biggest stumbling block could have been the dialect, a curious blend of down-home hillbilly and New England-area colloquialism, but the actors handle it smoothly, particularly James Firby and Brett Donahue as brothers Peter and Simeon Cabot, respectively. These two also have great chemistry.
Toby Hughes, as downtrodden stepbrother Eben Cabot, seemed to lose focus once or twice but nonetheless had a magnetism all his own in a haunted, defeated sort of way. Michael Higgins was convincing as the strong but self-deluding, aging patriarch Ephraim. Mel Marginet at first seemed a little flat as Abbie, the scheming new wife out to inherit the farm, but grew into her part and shone at the climax as a woman undone by her own treachery.
The pacing was fine, and the play moved along nicely. TenBruggencate has a gift for blocking his actors, making full use of the stage to create the indoors and vast outdoors of the homestead but always having the actors move with purpose.
This-here play is dag plum jus’ abaut raight. — JS

B
Diff’rnt
Westwood Collegiate Theatre
Closed Jan. 27, Westwood Collegiate

The visual and performing arts students of Westwood Collegiate gave a performance typical of young thespians — that is, varied and inexperienced but full of vigour.
Brenae Maxwell and Scott Forbes were a little stilted and obviously self-conscious as lovers Emma and Caleb, but both loosened up noticeably as the play wore on, and both were better in the second act, which was stronger in terms of pace and action than the somewhat dragging first act.
At the other end of the spectrum were Opal Anderson, who was a lot of fun as Emma’s smartass kid brother Jack, and Dan Mitchell, as the greedy, lying Benny. Mitchell was obviously having a blast up there onstage, a cocky young guy really enjoying playing a… well, another cocky young guy. His energy was infectious.
The problems were mostly of the simple, physical variety. With all the actors so young, it was very hard to discern between adult and younger characters. It didn’t help that Maxwell, whose character is supposed to have aged 30 years in Act 2, looked older at the start of the play than she did at the end.
On the production side, set-decoration staff should’ve taken note of the script because all the characters in the second act remark on how Emma’s house has been radically redecorated and modernized. The set we see doesn’t change except for one prop.
Still, the inclusion of high school productions in festivals such as this should always be encouraged — these people are the audiences, patrons and performers of tomorrow. — JS

A
The Hairy Ape
Theatre Incarnate
Until Feb. 4, The Park Theatre Movie Café

Presented in the style of late-’60s experimental theatre (complete with actors running howling into the audience), The Hairy Ape is a winner for Theatre Incarnate.
This O’Neill play has eight scenes, which directors Brenda McLean and Christopher Sobczak have cleverly presented as an eight-round boxing match. In this corner: Man. In that corner: Life and struggle.
The play was written in 1921, at a time when many college students and intellectuals believed big business was in bed with the government, deliberately creating wars just to sell their products. Apparently not much has changed.
The famous silent classic Metropolis (1927) had the same idea and, sure enough, when the characters of this play shamble onstage, high key lighting throwing their shadows on the wall, it looks like something out of that classic film. Bouquets to McLean and Sobczak for making full use of their venue, the vast, high-walled Park Theatre.
The cast appears in grungy tank tops. They’re the labourers aboard a ship, shovelling coal for the boilers. While the leader, Yank (Delf Gravert), boasts of his physical prowess and declares himself the true power behind the machines, another swab, Paddy (Karl Eckstrand), declares, “We’re feeding these engines with our lives and our lungs!” and yearns for the days of the sailing ships. He is laughed down by the drunken, brawling group, which will later morph into everything from high-society snobs to caged monkeys.
Each castmember does excellent physical acting, shovelling the coal in pantomime with such vigour that you tire just watching them. Special mention has to go to Gravert, who aptly handles the 1920s tough-guy dialogue. He ensures the dated lines are a force as powerful and masculine as originally intended.
The Hairy Ape is a must-see. — JS

B-
A Touch of the Poet
Pi-Sin-Ian Revolver
Until Feb. 5, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ Studio

At two hours and 50 minutes, A Touch of the Poet is a long haul for audience and actors. Presented by the Pi-Sin-Ian Revolver theatre company, A Touch of the Poet never quite gets up the momentum to get off the ground. Then again, how far can you get when characters are constantly changing their minds in the middle of marathon monologues? When there is action in the story, it all happens offstage.
We see the central character, Cornelius Melody (well played by Scott Pangman), harangue his daughter for being a whore, then insist she’s a well-bred lady, then give her tips on how to be a whore, then demean her for considering them — all in the same speech.
This happens several times. It’s all part of Melody’s frail mental state as he vacillates between his impoverished upbringing and the privileged background he dreams of. When he struts around grandly, the family moans. When he sinks low, they moan that he isn’t strutting around grandly. When he finally makes up his mind between reality and fantasy, the family wishes he’d made the other choice.
With such a script, it’s the actors who must provide the drive. But aside from a few good performances, most of the cast seemed to be holding back, as if reserving their strength for the long night ahead. This uncertainty was telegraphed to the audience.
Ultimately, the production is unsatisfying. It just never gets anywhere. — JS

CORRECTION: In last week’s issue the review of The Rope was mistakenly credited to Barb Stewart. It was written by Janice Sawka. Uptown regrets the error.

For ticket and schedule information visit www.oneillfest.com.