NOW AND THEN, one has that rare experience of discovering a new play at one of our finest all- Canadian theatres.
I was deeply impressed, and occasionally astonished, by Calgary playwright Stephen Massicotte’s The Clockmaker — at the Tarragon until Oct. 24 (seen during previews). There are good reasons why this moving, thoughtprovoking drama received the city’s 2009 Outstanding New Play Award.
The Clockmaker’s plot appears simple: a shy, nervous clockmaker named Heinrich Mann (played by Christian Goutsis) finds himself in a mysterious place that appears to be a kind of after-death limbo, questioned morbidly and accusingly by Monsieur Pierre (the solid Damien Atkins).
Then, we see the clockmaker in his repair shop, visited by a lovely young woman carrying a shattered clock that soon becomes a metaphor for her shattered life, as she is married to a brutal, violent husband.
The woman, Frieda (Claire Calnan), stomps off in a rage after being told that her clock is beyond repair.
But then so is the clockmaker who has fallen head over heels in love with her. She returns home where she is taunted and beaten by her sadistic husband, Adolphus (a very scary Kevin Bundy).
Not too interesting, you think? Think again. The play is so much more than the sum of its parts. It confronts the big questions of life: What is love? and why is it so often intertwined with anger and control? What is the meaning of time and of memory?
When we hear it announced, “Welcome to eternity!”at the play’s end, it is nearly as moving as the eternity depicted in the last act of Thornton Wilder’s marvellous play Our Town.
Bob White’s direction is crisp and intelligent, much like most of this play.
The Clockmaker is far from perfect, and it can be confusing at times. But this is an often extraordinary play. Don’t you forget the name of the playwright, Stephen Massicotte. It is well worth remembering.
When we think of Cirque du Soleil, we think giant tents, haunting music, astonishing acrobatic acts and clowns. Their latest production, Banana Shpeel, is a marked departure in the cashcow formula that has thrilled audiences around the world since 1984.
Banana Shpeel got miserable reviews on Broadway last year, but in its present incarnation, it’s very good.
Forgettable music aside, the clowning has never been better, and several of the acts echo Cirque at its singing, dancing and contortionist best. And the costumes are also some of the most garishly colourful of all time.
When you see Vanessa Alvarez juggle with her feet, you are in awe.
Tuan Le, keeping a half-dozen hats flying (both in the air and on and off his head) will have you gasping. Dmitry Bulkin’s “sports acrobatics,” with his perfect body, will make your eyes bulge with pleasure. And the three female Mongolian contortionists will have you shaking your head in awe.
Banana Shpeel is hardly great theatre, but it’s far more than simply clowning and circus acts.
This is a very entertaining experience, and my ears are still ringing from the non-stop howls of laughter from the young children sitting behind me.
Check out Banana Shpeel and see how good modern vaudeville can be. Ed Sullivan must be looking down from heaven and grinding his teeth in jealousy. Banana Shpeel runs at Mirvish’s Canon Theatre until Oct. 10.
