Theatre news from Edmonton

[Anne Nothof]

The students of Grant MacEwan Community College have mounted a brilliant
production of Barker's "Seven Lears" in the small "black box" rehearsal space
in the bowels of the Jasper Place Campus.  It is directed by DD Kugler,
currently artistic director of Northern Light Theatre in Edmonton, and formerly
of "Necessary Angel".  He is a Barker aficionado, and directed an
extraordinary production of "Women Beware Women" in Edmonton a couple of years
ago.  The seats were scavanged from junkpiles - and mounted on bleachers
surrounding a small circular playing space.  The entire area was entangled in
tree trunks and branches.  The actors wore long underwear, stained in earthtone
colours, over which they applied appropriate outwear to suggest the roles.  The
chorus was imprisoned under the bleachers, and their arms reached out between
the legs of the audience.  The acting by a very young cast was wonderfully
articulate, with every expression and movement counting, and underscoring a
devastating mix of humour and horror.
 
Theatre Network sponsored Lyle Victor Albert's "Scraping the Surface", a witty
monologue about the perils of growing up, told from the point of view of a
young man with CP - played by Lyle Victor himself.  Originally a one-act play,
which appeared at the Edmonton Fringe last summer, "Scraping" has been expanded
to a full-length work.  It abjures maudlin sentiment in favour of tough
insights into a very personal struggle to reach a wide audience.  This one
would travel well.
 
Stewart Lemoine's latest work with Teatro la Quindicina - "Fall Down, Go Boom -
A Skater's Tragedy" - written specifically to coincide with the World
Figureskating Championships in Edmonton, is an hilarious pastiche of the
skating world, tv commentators, vindictive coaches, and the trials and
tribulations of teams from the small underfunded fragments of the USSR.  The
miming of a pairs performance, sans skates, sans ice, is hilarious.  Lemoine
employs a Greek chorus and a couple of gods to provide a tragic dimension to
his spoof.  The topical satire particularly appealed to a thoroughly engaged
audience on opening night.
 
And finally, Albee's "Three Tall Women" opens at the Citadel.
 
Anne Nothof
theatre junkie