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written by Carole Fréchette, directed by Eda Holmes

Tarragon Theatre, Tarragon Theatre Extra Space, Toronto

October 14-November 16, 2003

Helen's Necklace (Le Collier d’Hélène), written in Lebanon and first performed in Damascus in 2001, continues the Tarragon's exploration of Québécois writer Carole Fréchette.  It follows the journey of a Canadian woman through a bombed-out city in the Middle East much like Beirut as she searches for a fragile necklace of plastic pearls, "lighter than air," a part of herself, lost somewhere and sometime during her stay.

Despite her poetic language Fréchette does not avoid making rather obvious lessons of Helen's journey.  What is her loss compared to the devastating loss of property, family and future that afflicts people in the Middle East?  How can a privileged North American possibly comprehend life amid a continual cycle of violence and death?  Yet, gradually Fréchette transforms Helen's quest into a confrontation with the ultimate transience of time and self.     

Director Eda Holmes strikes the perfect balance between the naturalistic and symbolic.  Susan Coyne carefully delineates Helen's evolution from lightheaded capriciousness to revelation and resolve.  Sanjay Talwar masterfully distinguishes the five characters Helen meets, whether her bemused taxi driver or a Muslim woman on a search of her own, so moving the emotion takes you by surprise.  On the small strip of stage John Thompson evokes a landscape of ruin, ancient and modern.  Since it was written, the play's double-edged refrain, "We can't keep living like this," has only become more pertinent.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2003-10-16.

Photo: Susan Coyne and Sanjay Talwar. ©2003 Tarragon Theatre.