Reviews 2009
Reviews 2009
✭✭✭✭✩
by Robert Chafe, directed by Jillian Keiley
Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, Factory Theatre Mainspace, Toronto
May 24, 2009
The performance spectacle Fear of Flight from Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland with the help of Die in Debt and Cahoots Theatre finally lands in Toronto after its 2005 premiere in Corner Brook. The subject matter, a satire of the discomforts of air travel, is at least as old as Shelley Berman’s “Airlines” routine of 1959 and the structure, a glimpse into the personal lives of each of the passengers, goes back to the 1970s’ Airport movies. Nevertheless, every aspect of the performance--every monologue, gesture and facial expression--has been so tightly choreographed to the accompanying music that whole experience is much more than the sum of the parts.
The performance imagines a rough 14-hour flight from St. John’s to Vancouver compressed into an 80-minute show. The 14-member cast includes a Steward (Andrew Dale) and Stewardess (Rebecca Russell) along with twelve passengers some of whose intertwined monologues have been written by major Canadian theatrical luminaries. Some monologues are serious, such as Judith Thompson’s written for the troubled teenaged Blandy (Sandy Gow) escaping her nightmarish family, but most, in conformance with the overall tone of the play, are comic. Most noteworthy are Jonathan Monro as Dennis (written by Denise Clarke), an eternal worrier convinced that every flight he takes will crash; Mia Mansfield as Glynis (written by Daniel MacIvor), a nonstop talker who believes Jesus dropped by to visit her; Philip Goodridge as Bryden (written by Bryden MacDonald), as an easily irritated gay man who does want to appear “too gay”; and Petrina Bromley as the Bride (written by Bernie Stapleton), whose gothic tale of her wedding-cum-funeral for her fiancé could be a hilarious play on its own.
The speeches and action are precisely timed to Jonathan Monro’s highly inventive, a cappella score, beautifully sung by the cast, that sounds like a cross between early Philip Glass and the Swingle Singers. The human-made sound effects include engine hum, air nozzle whoosh and turbulence. Director Jillian Keiley’s achievement of absolute simultaneity of movement among the cast is a marvel. For its sheer theatricality this is one flight you’re sure to enjoy.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2009-05-15.
Photo: Cast of Fear of Flight. ©Justin Hall.
2009-05-15
Fear of Flight