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by Leah Bowen and Darcy Bruce,

The Ice Box, Toronto Fringe Festival, Glen Morris Studio Theatre, Toronto

July 6-14, 2006

Leah Bowen and Darcy Bruce’s new play is a dreary, laughter-less black comedy about missing persons in Drumheller, Alberta.  Bruce and Bowen play three couples--and old farmer and his wife, a lunatic detective and his efficient secretary and two door-to-door evangelical Christians.  By the time late on when the three threads meet, we’ve lost interest in the fragmented and directionless action.  Bowen is superb at giving her three characters distinct identities.  Bruce is not, which makes the story even harder to follow.  When we reach the unsatisfactory conclusion after innumerable would-be comic lines have fizzled, the whole exercise seems like a waste of time and effort.      

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2006-07-13.

Photo: Leah Bowen and Darcy Bruce. ©2006 Simon Law.