Written and directed by George
F. Walker
Featuring Martha Burns, Peter Donaldson, Jerry Franken
and Jenny Young
Factory Theatre
Run extended through March 7th www.factorytheatre.ca
Reviewed by Robin Breon
Would it be possible
for the Factory Theatre to celebrate
its 40th anniversary season without a new play by George F. Walker?
Well, it
looked iffy for awhile but eventually artistic director Ken Gass prevailed
on
his long running in-house thoroughbred playwright and got him back onto
the
track after a ten year hiatus from that fast gallop to the finish line
that is
the business ofproducing
plays.By Walker's account, the
dead heat that produced his latest tale of marginalized aspirations was
ten
days in the writing.
Gwen (Martha Burns) and Ned (Peter
Donaldson) are part of
that vast middle class who, through no fault of their own, veer off the
road
one day and are just unable to regain control of the vehicle driving
their
lives. Their son has disappeared, and, as the play opens, it is clear
that
there is something seriously wrong with their daughter, Karen (played
by Jenny
Young). What is wrong with her is clearly psychological and here of
course is
where Walker challenges us to figure out the who, what, why, where and
how of
it all. Because Karen is so far off balance - neurotic, schizophrenic,
various
neurosis', pathologies ... it's all a bit much to deal with right off
the top.
Luckily we have the ghost of Kurt Vonnegut in the form of actor
Jerry Franken
to help guide us through the evening.
Eventually everyone begins to fall off the
map with Gwen
and Ned going from staid middle class to flat on their ass within the
context
of a darkly humorous scenario that is the Walker trademark. Martha
Burns and
Stratford stalwart Peter Donaldson are well matched for the soon to be
radicalized pair who are desperately trying to claw their way back into
the
mainstream. Jerry Franken as the placid, somewhat avuncular author
turned
imaginary psychiatrist, Kurt Vonnegut, listens to their frustrations
and
anxieties with a knowing sense of bewilderment and bemusement.
But it is left to the thoughtful work of
Jenny Young as
the disturbed Karen to give closure to it all by a lovely and heart
rendering
performance that begins with shrill dissonance and ends with a quiet
(and
wholly functional) resolve that is almost pastoral in its simple sotto
voce
that is just perfect for the role and the play.
Upcoming this summer for Walker and his long
time
collaborator, composer and sound designer John Roby (who also
contributed the
fine sound design for And So It Goes), will be a spot under the
big top at the
Stratford Festival with the opening of their new musical, King of
Thieves,
their take on the 18th century classic of the marginalized, The
Beggar's Opera.
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