Broadway isn't a place just for musicals and blockbuster theatre. The great New York theatre district is also home to some of the world's leading dramatic performances as well, and two years ago at the Tony Awards, the trophy for Best Play went to Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.
Now, for a limited duration, Prince George audiences get to see it done by our local actors in our own town.
This region has long had a strong presence in the community theatre industry in B.C. One of the strongest of those actors - he was picked up for multiple professional productions as well, in his time - is Pierre Ducharme. It's been years since he was in a substantial stage role, but the scene opens on him when the lights fade up in this version of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. He is soon joined on stage by another with a long reputation for solid acting, Jody Newman. It's just the two of them - sister and brother, whiling away their time in lazy, unfulfilled late middle-age.
The two of them bounce dialogue like BBs off a road sign, and the script gives them plenty of ammunition. In a style similar to Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf or Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, this conversation is a clinic in cutting each other down and peeling the layers off their lives. It makes you laugh and it makes you want to know more.
So much about successful acting is contained in the eyes. A lot of amateur actors bog down in what to do with their hands, but even more important is what to do with the eyes. Newman and Ducharme bring us right into their livingroom because they are so comfortable that their eyes are telling the story right along with the words. I'd never say "you can't teach that kind of thing" but it is one of those skills that sets a truly talented actor apart and subliminally draws in the audience.
With these two at the helm of the action, the audience has a big head start when two more skilled local thespians arrive on scene. Katherine Trepanier - who has perhaps occupied more roles large and small than anyone in Prince George in the past 10-15 years - gets a chance to really sink her teeth into something funny, as the sniping sibling's other sister, a movie star who rarely visits the family home. Trepanier delivers a rather cardboard rendition of her character, puzzlingly so, but as the play unfolds and she turns more and more deft at the delivery you suddenly realize it was all on purpose. Her character takes a similar journey from shallow to substantial and what Trepanier cleverly accomplishes is an act within the act.
There are also two plays-within-the-play which is always a fun thing for an audience.
And who doesn't love a buffoon?
We get one from Adam Harasimiuk, who is without question the busiest actor in local circles over the past year or so. He has been in musicals, dramas, films, probably even puppet shows, and he gets to be eye candy in this comedy.
The script forces his dumb-dumb character to actually respond and speak, though, so Harasimiuk also has to keep the performance tight enough we don't dismiss the guy he has to portray. No problem.
We see less stage time from Rayelle Stewart and Teresa DeReis, but they translated so well it is clear we will see more of these emerging actors in future productions.
DeReis is a natural at physical comedy, with a silent-film facial repertoire to accompany her fulsome sound. She can slay you with the cock of her eyebrow or the boom of her voice, and if that doesn't work, well, she'll just stick you with a needle. Figuratively speaking of course. Her character is a loon and DeReis savours it.
Stewart has to be sweet but principled, easygoing but assertive. It's a tall order for a role that's short on dialogue. She was well suited to the girl next door character. Her character is the fish out of water, but she makes sure it swims.
A comedy can be ruined by too much talk about plot by those who've already seen it, so in narrow terms I'll say that Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is about family connections that can wear thin, and social customs that can fade away. It leads up to a rant by Ducharme's character that must lose the man 10 pounds a night, it is so strenuous to deliver. It's one of those showstopper monologues we will soon start seeing at speech arts festivals, and it's another tribute to Ducharme that he rides this bull like a real cowboy.
Newman also has one of those shining moments worth the price of admission by itself. Hers is a phone call. We don't hear the voice on the other end, but we hear a brilliant delivery at Newman's end that typifies why some plays simply cannot be made into movies, because the cinematic producer rarely devotes such much time to a single focal point. How lucky we get this chance.
It's not a perfect production, by any stretch. Such is the lot of community theatre, and that is understood at the front door. I expect it will receive cooler reviews out in the broad world than the raves it received on Broadway, because it is a play very much about the craft of theatre. It's a love letter to the great playwright Anton Chekhov, but that isn't required knowledge to enjoy the primary themes or the slicing hilarity of the arguments as they unfold, but the more you know about theatre, the more you're going to like it, and Broadway was its wheelhouse.
Local audiences will have to work harder to find themselves reflected in this art.
Do I care about these characters, as people? A little. Do I care about the actors who made them come alive? Mightily. To be so close to local people who can flex such strong theatrical muscles is enough for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and me.
The play is a co-production of Pocket Theatre and Cinema CNC, directed by Dominic Maguire.
It runs at CNC's Stan Shaffer Theatre (Room 1-306) from February 25-27 and March 2-5. Each show starts at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available in advance at Books & Company and at the door. Prices are $18 regular, $15 students/seniors.
