WARNING! THIS PLAY CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:
SMOKING
SURREAL VIOLENCE
FOUL FOUL RACIST LANGUAGE
MEAN PEOPLE HURTING EACH OTHER
"a tricky play to pull off.
very dense
a black comedy...
full of subtly interconnecting stories,
shifting motivations,
and the playwright’s characteristic wordplay
–obscene, philosophical, absurd–
...needs a team of talented actors with good direction and set design
Happily for Torontonians,
has done just this"
The initial tableau establishes the dynamic tone which will continue
with some modulations, for the next hour or so.
It is a tension built of violence, fatigue, and desperation.
A dingy American hotel room:
(designed by Adam Belanger)
(designed by Adam Belanger)
stained walls,
iron radiators with exposed pipes,
, while outside the window are the cold stones brick wall
It starts just before midnight in a single decrepit motel room rented by the
forty-something Carmichael (Luis Fernandes),
“Do you know what it feels like to be waved goodbye from a distance with your own hand?”)
Sick, shocking, mean, raw and uproariously funny,
Carmichael is holding any available scum to account
for his own torment and disfiguration,
a sysiphean task from the world of mamet or tarantino
like memento only bloodier
we have been basking in the psychopathic glory of
Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's scribblings.
Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's scribblings.
for the last couple decades.
this piece was borne of the marriage of
Mcdonagh's sensibilities
and those of american actors Christopher Walken
and Sam Rockwell.
This production tends to lean away from
channeling Walken-ness, or Rockwell-ness
and Carmine Lucarelli's direction seems genuinely interested
in getting everry laugh and lurch out of the script,
rather than allowing one comic tone
to dominate the performance
through Walkenesque kitch or camp
Mcdonagh's sensibilities
and those of american actors Christopher Walken
and Sam Rockwell.
This production tends to lean away from
channeling Walken-ness, or Rockwell-ness
and Carmine Lucarelli's direction seems genuinely interested
in getting everry laugh and lurch out of the script,
rather than allowing one comic tone
to dominate the performance
through Walkenesque kitch or camp
Toby (Ronnie Rowe), local weed dealer,
handcuffed to a radiator alongside his partner in life and in weed dealing
(and hand dealing), Marilyn (Sam Coyle)
Toby and Marylin, the latest small-time thugs to be
sucked into Carmichael's world of pain and madness,
play for us the only human relationship within the piece.
They are each by turns conniving, back-stabbing, and accusatory
they cry. they fear their imminent death.
they swear. (wouldn't you?)
Ultimately the pulpiest of all the play's characters,
these two while more real are given less depth
(read: monologues)
than Carmichael and Mervyn
Ultimately the pulpiest of all the play's characters,
these two while more real are given less depth
(read: monologues)
than Carmichael and Mervyn
David Lafontaine, always a good foil to Fernandes' oft-manic energy,
as Mervyn the Reception Guy (or the Boxer Shorts guy)
tackles the task of being the only sympathetic character through
much of the action. we must do our best to relate to his
burnt out, yet still hungry portrayal of an american outcast.
When the action comes to its climax,
it is up to Lafontaine and Fernandes to tenderly
depict our last few moments with
"these two sad guys"
as the lights of the police cruisers flash in the distance
- A Behanding in Spokane
- at Unit 102 Theatre, 376 Dufferin Street
- Thursday June 20 through to Saturday June 22
- Monday June 24 through to Saturday June 29
- performances begin at 8 PM.
- Tickets are $20. Performance on June 25th is PWYC.
- For tickets, information and directions, email unit102tix@gmail.com
