Day: July 30, 2005

Boulevard must be seen; a review can’t do justice to the wonder in Justin Quesnelle’s voice or the joy imparted by Lil Malinich’s silent exultation.

It’s something to see when Jorn-Bjorn Fuller-Gee climbs the walls of the Spriet Theatre. His Hyde runs the streets of the other London with such wild-eyed abandon that it’s genuinely scary, and Jekyll’s early dismissal of his alter ego’s disreputable actions borders on the psychopathic itself.

The Jekyll and Hyde story is often remembered as simply being about the transformations, but Iain MacFarlane’s script and Iain Ormsby-Knox’s direction don’t sidestep the acts that Hyde performs. Hyde’s first crime is made disturbingly real on stage, and the savagery of another attack is truly horrific.

To those (like me) who have met Fuller-Gee on the street, he seems the most unlikely person possible to play the monster, and only slightly less so Dr. Jekyll. Don’t let those impressions sway you: he embodies both characters so completely it’s hard to believe the actor himself isn’t seriously deranged.

The previous review calls this show a masterpiece; I submit that may be an understatement.

(Apologies to Iain Ormsby-Knox, who I inadvertently combined with Iain MacFarlane!)

Caralin Ruth has a gift (or is it a curse?) for expressing insecurity and self-doubt. The first scene in Chance’s apartment in Taking Chance is so note-for-note perfect it’s painful. It’ll be a rare soul who doesn’t find something in the play to identify with just a little too closely.

‘Scuse me, there’s this nagging voice in my brain telling me to stop typing now… but perhaps I’ve said too much….

As Neil Simon famously wrote for his character Lionel Twain, You’ve tricked and fooled your readers for years. You’ve tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You’ve introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You’ve withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. Twain would be similarly outraged at The Red Brassiere, which ticks off cliche after cliche from the mystery checklist before copping out (har-de-har) on the ending. OK, I did snicker at the last conversation and its tag, but it took a long 77 minutes to get to it.