Our first review of MODERN TIMES ALMOST A MUSICAL 3 more chances to see the play BYOV 4: Gallery On The Bay (231 Bay N.) MODERN TIMES: ALMOST A MUSICAL (Critic’s Choice) Production Company: Gallery on the Bay (Hamilton, ON) Playwright David Dawson offers the following as the play’s central question: ”Is it possible to love Rob Ford and Mike Duffy at the same time, and if not, well, who wants the last piece of pumpkin pie?” Whose interest would not be piqued by a play that serves up absurd questions about plump, disgraced politicians and pumpkin pie? Instead of Rob Ford, Mike Duffy or pumpkin pie, one gets a suicidal psychiatrist, a penniless Bay Street banker, a drunkard squeezed into a messy “romance sandwich,” and a Crisis Helpline volunteer itching for her shift to end. Two buskers come and go offering songs about the stuff of our modern times: corporate greed, Sunni and Shiite “disaffection,” the Boko Haram kidnapping. The play asks much of its audience. There’s work to do; puns, sarcasm, and metaphors to “catch.” Social commentary takes shape in the in–between spaces. Questions are asked and not quite answered. Cultural references and context are freely offered but their relevance rarely explained. “Is there another train coming?” “There is always another train coming.” But no train arrives. (I resist the impulse to make a Godot reference here. You can thank me later). An Osama Bin Laden lookalike does roller skate along the tracks through. The suicidal psychiatrist’s phone rings. The ringtone is the “Ode to Joy”; it’s the Crisis Helpline volunteer on the line. The drunk guy’s first call is from his wife, the next call from his suicidal mistress. The ringtone? The theme from “Mission Impossible.” Of course, the penniless banker, practitioner of “am–ness,” has no phone. Thanks to the wonderfully–textured performances of Ray Rivers and John Darling, the play’s seemingly random elements together come together. In the end, the buskers assure us that “Everything’s gonna be all right.” (BH)
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:13:13 +0000