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by Nicolas Billon, directed by Ravi Jain

The Greenland Collective, SummerWorks, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, Toronto

August 7-15, 2009

Greenland consists of three chilly monologues directly addressed to the audience.  The subject is personal isolation.  The problem is we don’t care.  Glaciologist Jonathan (Andrew Musselman) has discoved a new island revealed by the receding ice off Greenland.  The playwright makes him so nerdy he actually is as boring as he claims.  Jonathan’s wryly comic actress wife Judith (Claire Calnan) bitches unsympathetically that the price of stability with Jonathan is boredom.  The school project on Greenland of step-daughter Tanya (Jajube Mandiela) makes her realize (symbolism alert) how isolated people are there.  Beautifully acted though the piece is, only Tanya’s last speech about missing her dead brother arouses any emotion.   

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2009-08-10.

Photo: Jajube Mandiela, Andrew Musselman and Clare Calnan.