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The Play's the Thing By Stephen Peithman
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Time Further Out
Plays that manipulate space and time
“
Spacetime” is a scientific concept that combines threedimensional
space and time as a fourth dimension. It’s
a concept that theatre takes to easily, as we see in this
month’s roundup of recently-released titles that play with
time and space in intriguing ways.
For example, Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay’s
award-winning play Albertine in Five Times presents the
story of one woman at five different moments in her life. Five
different actresses play the parts, and each Albertine warns
the others of what will come, or of what has already passed.
At the opening, Albertine at 30 is sitting on the veranda of
her mother’s house. Albertine at 40 is rocking on the balcony
of her house in Montreal. Albertine at 50 is leaning on the
counter of her restaurant. Albertine at 60 is walking around
her bed. And Albertine at 70 has just arrived at a home for
the elderly. Together, the five Albertines provide a moving
portrait of the extraordinary life of one “ordinary” woman.
Now available in a new, updated English translation by Linda
Gaboriau (commissioned for the Shaw Festival) Albertine in
Five Times is a fascinating human drama. [Talon Books, $16.95;
royalty information included]
Time also shifts frequently in BFF ("Best Friends Forever"),
by Anna Ziegler, as Lauren and Eliza are challenged by the
onset of adulthood is this emotionally affecting play about
friendship and romantic love. The story of the two best
friends in high school takes us from Lauren's present-day
love affair with Seth back to her and Eliza's elementary school
days, and back again. It comes as no surprise that the “forever”
part of this best-friends saga will be tested with serious
consequences. But it is to Ziegler’s credit that when the
expected does happen, it is still surprising—and devastating.
Two females, one male. [Dramatists Play Service]
At the heart of Ken Urban's The Private Lives of Eskimos is
a modern-day techno-thriller of the sort that Alfred Hitchcock
might relish if he were alive today. Marvin's life is thrown into
chaos when he receives the news that his sister has been
killed in a tragic train bombing. His only remaining connection
to her is the voice mail she left on his cell phone—which
he has just lost. His search for it leads him down a cyber noman’s-land,
filled with mysterious spam-speaking Eskimos,
black snow, a violent detective and a strange woman in a
distant land who claims to have acquired his phone through
“dishonorable means.” It’s a surreal, funny and often poignant
tale of loss and life, whose central character is both disturbing
and pitiable. Three females, two males, with doubling.
[Original Works, www.originalworksonline.com]
Frank Loesser created two of Broadway's most enduring
musicals, Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed In Business without
Really Trying. But he switched from the wry, urban sensibility
of those shows to unexpected homespun tenderness
in his mostly-forgotten 1960 fantasy charmer, Greenwillow,
which has been released for licensing by Music Theatre
International. This wistful, dreamlike musical, with a lush and
romantic score, tells a tale about restlessness, adventure,
magic and the pleasures of small town life in an undetermined
time and place. The show boasts a fine score, including
“Never Will I Marry” and “Summertime Love,” and “The Music
of Home.” (The original cast recording, with Anthony Perkins,
is available on DRG Records.) Ten males, 11 females, including
children, plus chorus. [Music Theatre International, www.
mtishows.com]
There’s no doubt about the time and place of the audience-participation
comedy, The Awesome 80s Prom, by Ken
Davenport—it’s set in 1989 at the fictional Wanaget High
Senior Prom. All the expected stereotypes are present—the
captain of the football team, the foreign exchange student,
the geek and the head cheerleader—and all are competing
for Prom King and Queen. It’s predictable stuff, perhaps,
except that it’s well written, and the audience gets to decides
who wins—so every performance can end differently. Eleven
males, eight females. [Samuel French, www.samuelfrench.
com]
In an isolated house at the edge of a cornfield, in the mountains
of Virginia, something almost beyond belief is happening
to the Cleary family. When Bridget Cleary goes missing
in the dead of the night, her husband and son scramble to
help find her. Then, as suddenly as she vanished, Bridget
reappears, talking about strange visitations and otherworldly
beings. Is she lying, or are supernatural or extraterrestrial
forces at work? That’s the thrust of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s
thriller, Dark Matters, which expertly blends reality and fantasy,
as it explores secrets that hold families together and the
truths we sometimes choose to ignore in the people we love.
Three males, one female. [Dramatists Play Service]
40 November 2009 • www.stage-directions.com