Reviewed
by Robin Breon
When
the world is in peril and depression looms large, one needs the voice of a playwright
that calls out for hope, life, optimism and the lightness of being. So three
cheers for Albert Schultz and the Soulpepper Company for choosing to stage William
Saroyan's evocation of the good side of our nature, The Time of Your Life. And Schultz is literally the
only theatre director in this city that has the company with the talent and
resources necessary to stage a broad canvas production that just makes it look
so easy to bring twenty four actors unto the stage to tell their story.
We
can only imagine the spiritual uplift audiences must have experienced when the
play premiered in 1939. The barroom setting is appropriate in that it was only
six years earlier - in the middle of a depression - that President Franklin D.
Roosevelt took on the pietistic Anti-Saloon League and other Christian
fundamentalist forces of his day by signing a bill legalizing beer and wine
which for the first time since Prohibition was enacted in 1920 allowed people
to have a sociable, legal drink. And drink they do in The Time of Your Life, and chew gum and tap dance and
tell tall tales so that by the end of the evening one understands why some
plays are called "classics" of the stage.
Schultz
followed his good decision in choosing the play by casting it impeccably. Joe
Ziegler is
perfect as the lovable philosopher/rentier known only as Joe who is embodied by
a noble spirit and a sensitive heart. From his perch in Nick's bar (with Nick
played by the equally sympathetic Derek Boyes) they watch the world come
through the swinging double doors: the ladies of the night, the bourgeois, the
kid who's looking to break into show business, the unemployed musician. Even a
man who calls himself Kit Carson.
Saroyan
is in no hurry to let the story unfold and neither is Schultz. The play just
seems to pull you into its embrace and refuses to let go until the very end. To
say that Stuart Hughes is terrific as Kit Carson is almost unfair in that I don't believe
the role allows an actor the possibility of failure. Patricia Fagan plays the prostitute Kitty Duval
and poignantly shows us the complexity of alienation and failed ambition as
does the youthful showbiz comer Harry (Jeff Lillico) who is ambitious enough to
believe he's still on the way up.
And
by the way, absolutely none of this beautiful symmetry inherent in the play and
articulated by Schultz's fine direction could have been possible without the
spot on casting of jazz pianist Denzale Sinclaire who effortlessly acts and plays
his way through the show with a grace and style that provides exactly the right
ambience.
I
could continue to mention all of the actors in this first rate ensemble and
probably should but suffice it to say when such strong actors play the smaller
roles - as only a true repertory company can do - it makes for a very strong
production.
Today's
times are indeed dark. "No foundation all the way down the line",
says the Arab man (Mike Ross) who anchors one end of Nick's bar throughout the entire
play. Thank god for Saroyan whose voice continues to call out to us and ask if
anyone is still awake at the wheel.