The play was written by Jennifer Brewin, Leah Cherniak, Alisa Palmer, Martha Ross and Ann-Marie MacDonald, with the latter two also appearing on stage. This play is a sequel of sorts to the play The Attic, The Pearls & Three Fine Girls first performed some 20 years ago. We've never seen the earlier show but I don't think that was totally necessary.
The story follows the Fine girls, three sisters, two of whom are approaching middle age and their much younger sister. It is a comedy, with one liners flying fast and furious, a story that is rather Guingol in its grandest, veering towards absurdity and poking fun at everything from sex to art to professions.
There are secrets, there are half truths, there is a character who may or may not be off her rocker, there is an analysis of art, there is the question of what binds what person to another .. in other words, its a story about family. Now, we all know how funny and absurd that is
While the play happily, you could say giddily, bandies about some very huge concepts, it is a small play, with a small intimate staging, which is something you get at Tarragon. It is very classic theatre, with the words and the actors relying upon themselves to convey location and time and concepts.
The acting overall was excellent. This is a comedy and none of the performers was afraid to go big or go home as it were. Ms MacDonald, a highly celebrated author, who's book Fall Down On Your Knees I admired very much, displayed a penchant for physical comedy that took me totally by surprise. She plays the eldest of the three sisters and has an encounter with an excercise ball that pretty much brought tears to my eyes
Martha Ross was equally hilarious. As middle sister Jojo, she used her facial expressions to great affect; Tarragon's main space is so intimate we were able to observe every exaggerated grimace and wink.
Severn Thompson played Jelly, the much much younger sister, an artist, who's upcoming show and daughter's birthday provides the play with its central plot pivot. Her performance was a bit more subdued than the other two actors but she was able to hilariously portray the "spacey" (in a sometimes literal sense) artist without ever losing the core of her character, and that character's importance in the family
I'm not going on a great deal about the actual story mostly because the way it unfolds and the surprises that it hold and how they are conveyed are very much a part of the play's charms. The story has a great many twists and turns and the subject matter covered is incredibly varied: Universtity tenure, lesbianism, motherhood, art, theatre, menopause, what sort of wine to order at a lunch for three sisters who have not met for two years ...
As I said, the play is about family. Buckle your seat belts. Anything can happen. It always does
No comments:
Post a Comment