Friday, March 01, 2013

Richard Wolfe

Here is an idea for a cold and rainy Friday evening. Go to Granville Island to listen to three people recite poetry. If that is not to your liking consider that the poetry in question is in a tight Irish accent and there are lots of words that seem to rhyme with fu…

No?

Here is an idea for a cold and rainy Friday evening. Go to Granville Island to see a play that rare in Vancouver, is not inside a theatrical living room. This play is not one likely to make you laugh and a few times (four or five) during the 1 hour 50 minute play there is a sound that makes you jump with fright from seats that are hard. They are really hard and if you do not have a theatrical cushion (when are theatre companies going to get smart and start makeing  them with their logos and selling them? How about it Bard?) you will shift your rear end attempting to find relief. More Guinness might help.

No?

Here is an idea for a cold and rainy Friday evening. Go to Granville Island to see a brutal play that pummels you with lines recited in rhyme and lovely iteration in an Irish accent. Guinness is available.

Definitely yes!

Tonight, Rosemary and I attended Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus at Performance Works on Granville Island (and remember after 7 pm parking is free). It is a production of π pi theatre and directed by Richard Wolfe. There are three terrific actors, Leanna Brodie (went into acting after a failed counseling job), John Emmet Tracy (let’s bring him as Hamlet to Bard, Christopher!) and Pippa Mackie whose carreer gives me hope that my teenage granddaughter from hell might some day follow in her footsteps of success.

If an Irish accent in an Irish play is your thing (and it is for me) the play’s bar sells a few Irish bears to make that experience all that much the better.

Pippa Mackie & actor friend Anton Lipovitsky

I have a friend who is a theatrical lighting designer. She has become bored with the constant need to be hired to light living rooms. Living rooms (think about it seem to be a constant in our city’s mainstream repertoire).

Terminus has dramatic and challenging lighting. There is some expertly focused (kudos to lighting man Alan Brodie) that mimics beautifully George Hurrell’s Paramount lighting, so beloved by the likes of Dietrich.

This play like a few others that π pi theatre has mounted could pretty well be a radio play. I found myself leaning against my umbrella handle during the evening just to hear the sound, particularly that of John Emmet Tracy.

I will not reveal the plot here but I will describe that the three people talk in monologue to the audience without talking to each other. Somewhere during the play you begin to understand that the three stories, all happening one day in Dublin, might have a link.

When the resolution comes and a bit later the lights turned on, as we left the theatre, I felt pummeled, challenged and somehow refreshed. Good art tends to do that. Is there a Vancouver playwright able to see what happens in our city in much the same way O'Rowe sees in his Dublin? I am waiting, patiently in order to be pummeled, challenged and refreshed. Are you listening to me Tim Carlson?


Pi's radio plays

George McWhirter our very own Irish poet.