HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-07-05, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1989.
Fascination with ‘Right One’ leads to hit play
BY KEITH ROULSTON
Anyone who looks around at the
avalanche of broken marriages
among family and friends may
wonder what marriage in the
1980’s is all about. It was those
thoughts that spurred Brian Wade
to create “The Right One’’, which
opened at the Blyth Festival to
night (Wednesday).
“The Right One” has grown out
of a half-hour radio drama for the
CBC radio series “Vanishing
Point”, Mr. Wade was explaining
the other day. While the resulting
play is considerably different than
the original radio show, the theme
remains the same, the whole idea
of “the right one” that people have
built up while waiting for marriage.
“In our society everyone is out
there looking for the ‘right’ girl or
man” Mr. Wade says. “When a
marriage doesn’t work out, they
say he or she wasn’t the right
one.” This myth about the “right
one”, he says, ignores the compro
mises and choices that have to be
made to make any kind of relation
ship work: whether the relationship
be between friends, lovers or
husbands and wives. Nobody’s
perfect, he says. There is a
constant tension between reality
and mythology. That theme of the
play has stayed the same since the
radio play, he says.
In “The Right One” Phillip gets
a chance to have second thoughts
as to whether Lisa is the right one
while he waits for the wedding to
begin. The wedding is delayed,
however, because an old flame of
Lisa’s has kidnapped her to prevent
the wedding. That lets Lisa do
some second thinking of her own.
The original radio play focussed
on Philip and his best man. Five
other characters including Lisa and
her kidnapper and others in the
bridal party have been developed
in the time since Mr. Wade sent
the original script to Festival
Artistic Director Katherine Kaszas
with the suggestion it could be
developed into a full-scale play.
The original story didn’t have
any definable setting but the
wedding now is set in the small
British Columbia coastal town of
Powell River where Lisa and Phillip
have gone from their Vancouver
home for a family wedding. It
seemed more interesting, Mr.
Wade says, for them to be in a
small town surrounded by the
bride’s family.
The small town atmosphere has
been helped by the time Mr. Wade
has spent in Blyth in the last few
years. He first arrived in 1985 when
“Polderland” was produced at the
Festival. Last year he spent the
entire summer at Blyth as the
playwright in residence, at the
Festival.
The play is billed as a comedy
and Mr. Wade feels there are some
very funny parts in it but he wanted
to do more than just entertain,
leading to his exploration of marri
age.
The story line of the show,
however, has proved so popular,
the show has become the second
play in the Festival’s history to sell
out before the first performance on
stage. It’s “great and terrifying”
he says. “It puts more pressure on
you. You don’t have any outs.”
And, he laughs, it’s hard to enjoy
that success when you have friends
and relatives wanting to see the
show and you can’t get them any
tickets.
“The Right One” opens tonight
and continues until August 18.Brian Wade
Theatre review
‘Sisters’ memorable
Entertainment
Theatre review
‘Changeling’ has everything
BY USA BOONSTOPPEL
When I heard the opening line of
“The Changeling” at the Third
Stage in Stratford complete with
‘thee and thou’, I was sure that I
wasn’t going to like this play. My
previous experiences with this
ancient language have left me
confused and bored. Yet, as I
listened and watched the actors
verbalizing this old English, I
became entranced in the story
unfolding before me and the appro
priateness of the language.
The Changeling is a play about a
young maiden, Beatrice, who is
desired by three men. One is her
betrothed, Piracquo, a man she
hates. Another is her father’s
deformed servant, De Flores, a
man she utterly loathes. The last is
Alsemero, the man she loves.
Taken over by selfishness, she
decides she must rid her life of the
two men she hates so she can
marry Alsemero. She devises a
plan where De Flores will kill
Piracquo so he’ll be out of the
picture and De Flores will have to
leave to escape detention.
De Flores murders Piracquo but
his price is Beatrice’s virtue, a
prize she grudgingly relinquishes.
In the meantime, a subplot
unfolds on stage as two servants
from Beatrice’s castle feign lunacy
to enter an asylum in the hopes of
seducing their doctor’s wife, Isa
bella.
As we return to the main plot,
Beatrice weds her flame Alsemero
and this is where things start to get
a little complicated for the devious
Beatrice. First of all, she is no
longer a virgin and must formulate
a plan to trick her new husband on
their wedding night.
Then, Piracquo’s brother de
mands vengeance on his brother’s
death and starts the search for the
murderer. These turns of events
lead the audience to the dramatic,
violent ending of the play.
This play is an example of the
style of Jacobean playwrights. The
Jacobeans were famous for their
broad comedy and dark dramas,
delving into the human psyche and
discovering blackest possibilities.
In, Beatrice we see how an unat
tainable love drove her to murder
and deviance. In the subplot of the
madmen and fools, the crude
actions and lines of double mean
ing and sexual undertones provid
ed witty though somewhat vulgar
humour.
It was the language of the era
this play was represented in that
initiated much of the humour.
Endless puns and double meaning
came out of the words fool,
madmen and maiden; words that
are uncommon or unacceptable
today.
Besides the humour, another
asset to the play is its suspense.
The subplot of the lunatics inter
rupted the play at a crucial point
and made you wait for the original
plot’s steamy conclusion.
Perhaps the best aspect of the
play were the superb performances
of some of the actors. The Third
Stage is a place where young artists
including the actors and directors
train themselves in Theatre. How
ever, young though they may be,
they were professionals in their
craft.
The keeper of the fools was
splendid in his imitation of a
perverted social outcast. The char
acter was Lollio in the play and
Jeefrey Hirschfield in real life. He
played the part of the lech so well I
wouldn’t have dared go near him
for fear of being attacked! He was
also adept at plying the crowd with
jokes with poker-face calm while
making suggestive movements
with his body.
The servant De Flores, played by
David Keeley, exhibited a passion
ate performance. His soliloquies
were full of desire for the bitchy
Beatrice and hatred for his despic
able appearance. You couldn’t help
but feel sorry for him because he
was so ugly and so vulnerable
about his looks that Beatrice could
twist him around her finger after
Sddccto Marg McCullough
on her 75th birthday
July 7
AND FRIENDS GOTCHA!
she paid just a little attention to
him.
What is truly amazing is how
despicable in appearance these two
men looked on stage yet how
attractive they are in real life. The
costume and make-up designers
really expressed their creative flair
with these two men.
The interludes of the lunatics
really allowed artistic impression to
show. Clothed in rags at first,
their costumes change in the
events of a dancing routine for
Beatrice’s wedding and a dance of
enjoyment at the asylum.
This play is going to appeal to
most. It’s full of life, humour,
violence, wit, deviance and sus-
pence. In these aspects, it provides
good entertainment. But it also
leaves a lingering question in the
mind of the viewer. The play is
called The Changeling so the
question remains who is the
changeling? The obvious answer
would be Beatrice because she was
a demure maiden who turned into a
lustful murderess. However, on
careful consideration, other charac
ters also fit into this mold and it’s
interesting to examine this issue.
There is also a moral aspect to
this play as the evil ones are
punished for their wicked deeds
while the convicted innocent are
given restitution.
I began the play with resignation
that I was going to have to listen to
some incomprehensible babble for
two hours. I left the theatre after
fully enjoying the show.
BY BONNIE GROPP
Never have I seen three sisters
more beautiful nor more memor
able than those I saw in Stratford
recently.
The Avon Theatre’s production
of Chekov’s Three Sisters is a
masterpiece. The story centres
around the Prozorov sisters, Olga,
Masha, and Irina, who find them
selves at the turn of the century
trapped in the drab life of rural
Russia following the death of their
father. The military provides the
only society to speak of and it falls
short of the glittering society the
sisters remember in Moscow 900
miles away. They long to live there
and look to their brother Andrey to
become a distinguished university
professor and return them to the
excitement and intellectual stimu
lation of the city.
Three sisters is a bittersweet
look at the twists and turns life
deals us and the way it can make a
mockery of our dreams-.. ■
Olga, the eldest sister played by
Wenna Shaw, is a spinster high
school teacher who dreams of
njarriage more than anything else.
Her sister Masha, portrayed by
Lucy Peacock, is married to Kuly-
gin, an uninteresting but good
man. She begins to love Vershinin,
a married man with two daughters.
His wife is neurotic and Masha first
pities him, then discovers that his
attention relieves the boredom of
her routine. Vershinin also grows
to love her.
The baby of the family, Irina,
played by Sally Cahill wants to
BLYTH
FESTIVAL
COME AND
CELEBRATE
OUR BIRTHDAY!
SUNDAY, JULY9, 1989
1:00 - 4:00 P.M.
BLYTH FESTIVAL "GARAGE"-
DINSLEY STREET
It’s been 15 years since that memorable Opening Night
in July, 1975 when Harry J. Boyle’s popular play,
MOSTLY IN CLOVER premiered.
And we’re celebrating!
Join us in celebrating this anniversary at a special
informal get-together on Sunday, July 9th, at the Blyth
Festival “Garage”.
Take theopportunity to tour our new rehearsal hall and
technical facility on Dinsley Street in Blyth.
There will be cake, coffee and chat along with many
special guests returning for this exciting celebration.
We have some special surprises in store for you on that
day!
— du Maurier Council for the Arts Ltd.
|| || Celebrates
the 15th Season of the Blyth Festival
work, to be useful. Yet, after
holding down two jobs, finds it is
not what she expected. She then
decides to marry Baron Tusenbach,
a man somewhat older than her.
Unbeknownst to her, however, he
has been challenged to a duel by
her rejected suitor, Solynoy.
In the final act the brigade has
been called away to Poland and
Vershinin leaves the weeping
Masha. Olga is resigned to spin
sterhood and is now headmistress
at her school, and Irina hears the
Baron has been killed.
Chekov was certain that he had
written a light comedy and was
convinced when the cast wept that
the play was destined to fail. For
his part John Neville manages to
keep the mood of the play fairly
light by emphasizing the humour.
While the final act is perhaps a
touch depressing I was so mesmer
ized by the entire production I still
found it entertaining.
The three sisters along with the
entire cast were perfect in their
roles. I felt as if I was watching a
story acted out by the individuals
who were involved rather than by
actors and actresses. Wenna
Shaw’s portrayal of Olga was as a
sympathetic, kind, and dutiful hu
man being, who accepted what life
gave her. Lucy Peacock as the
frustrated Masha was cool and
indifferent, yet showed a warm,
humourous side when her spirit
was awakened by the handsome
Vershinin. Sally Cahill takes Irina
from an innocent naive child to a
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