✭✭✭✩✩

written by David Brock, directed by Jack Paterson

WORKhouse Theatre, Toronto Fringe Festival,

Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, Toronto

July 1-10, 2010

Wet shows David Brock is a playwright of great promise with a real gift for writing punchy, naturalistic dialogue and tense scenes of confrontation.  Yet, on the whole, Wet doesn’t work.  Burns (Jillian Pearson) leaves her husband Michael (Craig Henderson) and baby to go to war.  She returns with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that leaves her catatonic.  Tom (Mark Paci), who saved her life, returns with a PTSD that leaves his aggression unchecked.  Faced with such ruined lives, Michael’s decision to enlist is totally implausible, and Block’s secondary theme of pornography distracts from his focus.  Nevertheless, it’s thrilling to see Paci’s outstanding performance as a man prey to personal demons. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-07-02.

Photo:  Jillian Pearson.