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<b>by Morris Panych, directed by Jim Millan
Crow’s Theatre and CanStage, Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs, Toronto
January 18-February 24, 2007
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"Answer: Not Much"
Morris Panych’s latest play, “What Lies Before Us”, now having its world premiere at the Berkeley Street Theatre, opens with actor Matthew MacFadzean in the role of Keating scraping the bottom of a tin can for what seems like ten or fifteen minutes to fetch out the last remaining beans. This initial image could serve as a metaphor for the entire play that is dominated by the sound of Panych scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas to pad out his play to 90 minutes (not including intermission).
The action takes place sometime in the mid-19th century at exactly 51° North, 118° West. The programme note helpfully informs us that this is “in the Rockies’ confluence on the south side of Illecillewaet River, east of Revelstoke, B.C., with an approximate altitude of 6446 feet”. Two surveyors, the Scotsman Ambrose played by David Storch and the Englishman Keating, and their Chinese cook Wing played by Wayne Sujo think they arrived at the designated location to meet an American major to continue their survey. When he does not show up after a month or so the begin to think they are lost. After an avalanche cuts them off and kills their horses, they begin to think they are doomed.
The play suffers heavily from an “anxiety of influence” (in Harold Bloom’s phrase) from the very start. The picture of two bickering characters--one rational and pessimistic (Ambrose), one unthinkingly optimistic (Keating)--stuck waiting at an appointed time and place for someone who never shows up, of course, is rather too similar to Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”. The two topographers later immobility and dependence on a mobile, mostly non-speaking servant recalls Beckett’s “Endgame”. Keating’s persistent optimism despite a growing paralysis that gradually leaves only his head to move freely recalls Winnie in Beckett’s “Happy Days”. The trouble is that Panych is desperately trying not to rewrite Beckett. Every time his dialogue begins to echo and of Beckett’s plays to closely, he pulls himself up and reminds himself that the play is historical not abstract and that his real themes are the futility of science in trying to understand nature, topography as man’s imposition of himself of a landscape, the political rather than practical reasons for surveying to build a railway to across Canada, plus a general satire of religion and colonialism. This difficulty continually situates the play as a lesser subset of plays influenced by Beckett. It winds up neither as good as its models nor any good as an historical critique.
Panych’s basic set-up for the play also makes no sense. Ambrose and Keating have somehow managed to cover the 565 miles from the B.C. coast to their present location, even though Keating has no training in either topography or engineering. Panych wants us to laugh at the unchanging clashes of this pair of opposites, but it makes no sense that they could have got this far or stayed together so long given Keating’s’ obvious deficiencies. The action covers about four months, yet except for posting lookouts occasionally, the surveyors do nothing but sit about waiting for the American major to show up. In Beckett the idea of waiting is at least give some purpose to characters’ lives. Seen in an historical setting, the surveyors’ inaction just seems stupid.
Panych includes the otherwise unnecessary character of Wing mostly to show how the two white men totally ignore him. Despite the long time covered, Wing never learns a word of English and the surveyors never learn a word of Chinese. Panych wants to have the comedy of the two white men constantly having to mime what they want, but realistically people even in the 19th century would have made sure a servant could understand their basic commands. Panych wants us to believe that after four months Wing doesn’t even understand the word “water”. Besides this, there are problems with the two main characters. All the humour involving Keating derives from his unfounded optimism and unquestioningly support for God, Queen and Country. Yet, Panych occasionally has Keating spell out the direness of their situation in the most realistic terms to Ambrose--something Ambrose already knows and inconsistent with Keating’s character. As for Ambrose, Panych fairly awkwardly has him mention early on that he has a back-story of rebellion and has suffered from bouts of insanity. Yet, nothing ever comes from these revelations.
The confused goals of the play plus a situation we can’t believe in plus characters we don’t much care about plus a story that literally goes nowhere all make for an extraordinarily dull evening. There is so little forward momentum that many people at intermission assumed the play was over. And indeed it might as well have been since the second act adds nothing of interest. When those around me realized that this was merely an intermission a debate arose whether to sit through the second act or leave.
Given the subpar material, the cast does a fine job. MacFadzean is especially funny as Keating, often sounding rather like Michael Palin playing similar British imperialist twits in “Monty Python”. David Storch does the best he can with Ambrose’s speeches that strike the same monotonously dour note for the entire evening. It’s fairly embarrassing to watch a fine actor like Wayne Sujo reduced to playing a Chinese cook. Panych may want to satirize white attitudes but not to allow Wing more stage time and more to say seems insulting. Panych gives Wing the final say, but since it is entirely in Chinese, it will be difficult for many to judge the effectiveness of his line readings.
Ken MacDonald and Robin Fisher have created a handsome naturalistic set and period costumes and Jim Millan had provided the efficient but not especially crisp direction. Well-known playwrights like Panych can have their off moments. The result is this, one of his most tedious, least successful plays.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Matthew MacFadzean, David Storch and Wayne Sujo.
<b>2007-02-06</b>
<b>What Lies Before Us</b>