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written by Tankred Dorst, directed by Matthew Jocelyn

Canadian Stage, Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto

September 23-October 16, 2010

The opening of Canadian Stage’s 2010/11 season signals a complete change of direction for the company.  For 17 years under Artistic Producer Marty Bragg, the company had been content to present Canadian rehashes of Broadway fare seemingly chosen on the basis of the number of awards won elsewhere.  New Artistic and General Director Matthew Jocelyn is determined to drag his audiences away from comfortably realistic middlebrow pap to experience the new modes of presentation and storytelling of the 21st century.  Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter: An Attempt at the Truth is an exciting example of this new direction.

Fernando Krapp, written by Tankred Dorst, a German playwright well-known in Europe but unknown over here, is based on a 1920 novella by Spanish writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), a forerunner of existentialism.  The 1992 play, like the novella, takes the form of a parable.  Julia (Ngozi Paul), receives a letter from world-famous millionaire Fernando Krapp (Ashley Wright) stating that since she is the most beautiful woman in the city she must marry him.  To her dismay Julia realizes that her father (Walter Borden) has, in effect, sold her to Krapp.  Krapp considers Julia his possession but trusts her so completely that he encourages her friendship with their neighbour the Count (Ryan Hollyman), a would-be poet.  For the first hour of the play’s 90 minutes, the parable seems clear.  Krapp represents all that is physical about male-female relationships and judges everything based on its material value.  The Count represents love as emotion and idea connected but lives the world of fiction.  Julia is thus torn between two worlds that ought to be united and the strain leads to madness.  At this point Dorst morphs what seems to be a fable about women defining themselves in relation to men to the more general question of how people define themselves at all.  Do we ever do so without reference to others?

Jocelyn draws outstanding performances from the cast, guiding the already fine talents of Paul, Wright and Hollyman to new personal bests in physical expression and intensity.  Hollyman, in particular, is hilarious in depicting the conflict of desire and caution in the neurotic Count.  It’s wonderful to see Paul rise with such ease to the challenge of carrying a entire show.  Astrid Jansen’s design is extraordinarily clever and allows Jocelyn to pull off one theatrical surprise after the next.  Previous CanStage fare typical ended in speeches explaining the meaning of the action.  Dorst leaves us with an enigma, but it’s an enigma worth pondering and debating.  If this show is any indication, the new Canadian Stage will be exciting indeed. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-09-24.

Photo: Ryan Hollyman, Ashley Wright and Ngozi Paul. ©Bruce Zinger.