HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-08-16, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2012. PAGE 19. Thriller premiere wraps up Festival season
Being part of a big family can be
tough and, if Cheryl Foggo and
Clem Martini’s recently premiered
play The Devil We Know is any
indication, it can be tough but
rewarding.
The play takes place in the
bedroom of twin teenage African-
Canadian girls; Vivian (Tiffany
Martin) and Verna (Meghan Swaby)
in their family home on Ottawa
Street, just outside of Regina,
Saskatchewan in 1944.
Soon after the stage is set (and set
it is, with the exception of some
minor redecorating, the play takes
place in the girls bedroom in its
entirety), Tony Munch, playing
Walter, a down-on-his-luck drifter,
enters the scene.
The duo, despite being twins are
as different as they can be.
Verna is strong, outgoing and as
in-your-face about every aspect of
her life as one can be, while Vivian is
more quiet, less impulsive and,
perhaps due to polio, much less of a
physical presence.
The duo of Martin and Swaby play
off of each other well, really
bringing the idea that they are twins
and have lived with each other and
shared their lives for more than a
decade.
Underneath the giggling, the
pranks and the squabbles, however,
is the perpetual and communal
disdain for the disease which has
laid Vivian out for much of her life.
Vivian hates the disease, of course,
because of how it’s forced her to
lived a confined life in her bedroom.
While she seems to enjoy reading
and writing and getting lost in the
story of Anne of Green Gables, there
is always something in the way that
Martin plays Vivian that leads you to
believe she wants more.
Verna, on the other hand, hates the
disease because she feels it has
changed the dynamic of her family.
She sees her sister being treated
differently, she sees herself
becoming caretaker and errand girl
for her sister and she sees a wedge
being driven between Vivian, herself
and her father because he doesn’t
want to face the disease.
As much as Munch becomes an
antagonist to the twin girls
throughout the story, in the
beginning you feel that the real
enemy they face is the disease.
While the first half of the play
heavily focuses on the character
development of the twins, it does so
in a way that helps the audience
begin to understand what they are
going through both as teenage girls
and as a minority in the 1940s.
Martini and Foggo paint the picture
of hardship and adversity due to the
challenges faced in the not-so-
distant past but also paint a timeless
struggle of siblings trying to find the
balance between themselves and
their parents.
Munch’s portrayal of Walter
indicates that the drifter is always
looking for that one big score to take
his life from living on the street to
Easy Street and he will do almost
anything to accomplish that goal.
Whether he is threatening the life
of someone to get what he needs or
literally tearing a building apart
looking for what he believes will
make his life what he wants it to be,
Munch plays Walter as a man
possessed in his search for the
big payoff and does so to
perfection.
He plays a man driven, a man in
pain and he does so while
maintaining an edginess that never
really indicates how far he might
go.
While it’s often difficult to say
where direction begins and actors
and technical staff’s genius begins,
Blyth Festival Artistic Director Eric
Coates chose a magnificent play on
which to end his tenure in Blyth.
The actors all worked towards
their end goal; a climactic scene of
conflict resolution, without
waivering and without ever giving
anything but their best and some of
that must be traced by to Coates’
own dedication to making the play
fantastic.
Coates, who has said he is looking
forward to his new position as
Artistic Director with The Great
Canadian Theatre Company because
of the freedom of choice that
accompanies it in what productions
to pursue, stepped outside of the
usual fare of the Festival to bring this
play. It contains an edginess, a
starkness and a gritty honesty that
isn’t always forefront in the plays
put on at the Festival. It deals with
serious topics such as racism but the
story itself remains the priority for
everyone involved in portraying it.
The music and lighting added
subtle hints of atmosphere, further
adding to the development of both
the characters and the dramatic
tension that accompanies the final
scenes of the play.
One of the great aspects of this
play is the timelessness of it. There
has always been a struggle between
individuals who are different; be that
the difference of character between
the twins or the difference of their
family versus the socio-economic
statuses they have been dropped
into. It could have easily been set 40,
30, 20 or 10 years or even 10 days
ago and the message, and most of
the story could stay the same.
The final scene of the play is filled
with dramatic action and results in a
conclusion of the events of the
(mostly) real-time day that is
portrayed in the play leaving only
one question; How did the story end
for the protagonists?
The Devil We Know is the final of
the four plays set for the Blyth
Festival’s 2012 season and the
final that will be performed under
Coates. It runs through Aug. 31.
Check www.blythfestival.com for
showtimes.
50th
Wedding Anniversary
The family of
Leslie and Yvonne Knight
invite their family and friends
to an “Open House”
to help celebrate their
50th Wedding Anniversary
at the Brussels Legion
Saturday, August 25th, 2012
from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
BEST WISHES ONLY
or if you wish donations to the food bank or Cranbrook Presbyterian Church would be appreciated.
Robert and Doreen
Raymond
~ 60th Wedding Anniversary ~
Robert and Doreen Raymond of Brussels recently
celebrated 60 years of marriage with a party given by
their family at a cottage in Point Clark. On August 9th,
1952 they were united in marriage on the lawn of
Doreen’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Menzies and a
reception followed at the Cranbrook Hall. They have
three sons and two daughters, the late Murray
Raymond, the late Bruce Raymond and wife Maureen,
Keith Raymond and wife Loree, Collen Smith and
husband Douglas, and Carol Raymond and companion
Kevin Carter. They have also been blessed with 18
grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. On August
4th, 2012 Robert and Doreen were greeted by family
and friends congratulating them and sharing their best
wishes. Guests arrived from as far away as Florida and
Alberta. In lieu of gifts guests were asked to bring
donations for the Huron East food bank on their behalf.
Robert and Doreen were greatly touched and thankful
for the love and caring actions of those that shared in
the celebration. They feel that they are truly blessed.
Entertainment Leisure&
Playing a dangerous game
The Devil We Know is the fourth and final premier for the
main stage at the Blyth Festival this summer. Through the
superb acting of Tony Munch as Walter, left, Tiffany Martin
as Vivian, right, and Meghan Swaby as Verna, not shown,
playwright Clem Martini and Cheryl Foggo’s story of a set of
twins in a dangerous situation in 1940s Regina comes to
life. (Terry Manzo photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
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