Reviews 2013
Reviews 2013
✭✭✭✩✩
by David Ives, directed by Adam Bailey
Royal Porcupine Productions, Toronto Fringe Festival, Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, Toronto
July 4-14, 2013
David Ives's short play from 1999 gives no hint of the greater, wittier works he would later write, but it still entertains.
Two vultures pick at the entrails of the dying St. Francis of Assisi (Annemieke Wade) and discuss whether the saint's sacrifices are worthwhile if God and heaven do not exist. Much of the humour comes from the contrast between the vulgar Brooklyn-accented vultures (Cameron Johnston and Tanya Rigely) and the unshakeably optimistic St. Francis, played like a hearty, sweet-natured Southern Baptist.
The performances are excellent and Wade is exceptionally convincing, but the action plays out less like a piece of theatre than a live-action cartoon.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in NOW Magazine 2013-07-11.
Photo: Cameron Johnston, Annemieke Wade and Tanya Rigely. ©2013 Jonathan Brett.
For tickets, visit http://fringetoronto.com.
2013-07-11
Saint Francis Talks to the Birds