<b>✭✭✭✩✩
</b><b>written and directed by Beatriz Pizano
Aluna Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, Toronto
January 31-February 17, 2008
</b><b>
</b>Beatriz Pizano's latest play <i>Madre</i> is filled with good intentions, is well acted and is given a fascinating multimedia production by scenographer Trevor Schwellnus, yet it is strangely unengaging. The twin nuclei of the play are the memories of Julia (Marcia Bennett), a 70-year-old woman living in Medellin, Columbia, and her relationship with her daughter Angela (Anita La Selva), who emigrated 20 years earlier to Canada. According to her programme note, Pizano says "this play wishes to pay homage to all those suffering from Alzheimer's, and their families; as well as to women and aging." The play is also meant to show that "In the experience of war, remembering and forgetting are integral to the survival of the self." As this all suggests, Pizano is simply trying to do too much.
The play's double focus is its central flaw since, as it turns out, Julia's memories of the past do little to explain Julia's nature and mostly show that Julia's path into dementia parallels that of her own mother. The scenes in which Angela takes Julia to several doctors for diagnosis descend into the pedestrian realm of television drama. <i>Madre</i> would be much stronger dramatically if it were a two-person play involving Julia and another actor playing all other roles to involve us more deeply in Julia's question of what is or is not real. Instead, Schwellnus expertly using lighting cues, a see-through mirror, shadow plays and video projections on the floor and walls, makes the show visually dazzling but at the same time makes the distinctions between past and present so clear that we don't in the slightest experience the confusion that Julia must feel.
What really holds the play together is the quiet dignity of Bennett's portrayal of Julia and her complete avoidance of sentimentality. La Selva gives a very natural performance and there is a real sense of a mother-daughter rapport between her and Bennett. It's a pity that Pizano allows them to share so little of their inner lives with each other. In smaller roles Rosalba Martinni makes a vivid impression as Julia's society-conscious mother, as does Carlos Gonzalez-Vio as Julia's dashing husband Jorge and Rosa Laborde as the resilient Young Julia. Despite their fine work, the play and its many themes never coalesce and those who read the news will remain no more enlightened about Alzheimer's, ageism or life in war-torn Columbia than they were before.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in <i>Eye Weekly</i> 2008-02-01.
Photo: Carlos Gonzalez-Vio and Marcia Bennett. ©2008 John Lauener.
<b>2008-02-01</b>
<b>Madre</b>