Reviews 2003
Reviews 2003
✭✭✭✩✩
by Anne Chislett, directed by Andrey Tarasiuk
Stratford Festival, Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford
August 20-September 26, 2003
"Not Quite Successful"
It was exciting to sit in the Tom Patterson Theatre at Stratford and see a play written about the lives of people living within twenty miles from the theatre. This is the kind of theatre the Blyth Festival specializes in and it was for that festival that Anne Chislett's "Quiet in the Land", about the Amish of Southwestern Ontario, was commissioned and where it was first performed in 1981. Though the play has obvious flaws, it was a rare occasion when the Festival made a direct connection to the community where it is located.
Concerned with pacifism and patriotism in time of war, "Quiet in the Land" is also a play with a timely subject. In 1917 young Yock Bauman has come to question the very fundamentals upon which his community is based--its seclusion from the outside world and its pacifism that allows its men an exemption from fighting in the Great War. As German-speakers and people who seem to be profiting while others suffer, the Amish become an object of resentment. The elders say that what the "high people" do is of no concern to them, but Yock feels a duty to his nation more than his isolated community. So, rather than accept an exemption on religious grounds from military service, he deliberately enlists, incurring the wrath of his father Christy and the distress of his beloved Katie.
Act 1 sets up a clear series of conflicts--son against father, individual against the community, the community against the nation and, with the rise of an evangelical movement among the Amish, one community against another. At the end of this first act one feels that here is a Canadian play unafraid to take on a rich, complex subject.
After this Act 2 comes as a disappointment. Yock, who has been set up as the central character, is off at war and absent from most of the remaining action. Chislett focusses now on Christy's becoming bishop, his intransigence in dealing with the evangelical movement, and the wooing of Yock's would-be fiancée Katie by Yock's best friend Menno. Chislett seems deliberately to avoid the characters-to-character confrontations that would resolve the conflicts of Act 1 dramatically. She has Yock, now a hero returned from the war, deliver a speech of explanation to himself since Christy won't admit him to his house. Then, minutes later, it happens that both are outdoors and meet. Why prevent Christy so artificially from directly facing his son's new views?
Another factor that prevents the work from being as more effective is the relentlessly prosaic dialogue. Chislett does have the characters allude to the bible and adopt certain turns of phrase to suggest the German dialect they are supposedly speaking. But she hasn't managed to find a poetry in everyday speech as any number of playwrights (e.g., Florence Gibson, Timothy Findley, Michel Tremblay) have done. This is all the more puzzling in a play about a community where religion infuses every aspect of life.
Director Andrey Tarasiuk has drawn fine ensemble acting from most of the cast. As Christy Stephen Russell gives a portrait of a man whose conservatism is not merely ideological. The more he fears disorder the more intolerant he becomes. Joyce Campion is a delight as Christy's mother Hannah, who remembers the old ways but also how often people did not adhere to them. As Yock's intended wife Katie, newcomer Lara Jean Chorostecki effectively makes the transition from the excitement of first love to the restrained acceptance of practical realities.
It's always difficult to make good, ordinary people interesting, but Robert King as Katie's father Zepp, pulls it off by making the most of Zepp's wry sense of humour. Jason Mitchell is excellent at communicating the desire without malice of Menno Miller for Katie. David Francis plays two completely opposite roles of the sanctimonious Bishop Eli Frey, the one historical figure in the play, and the drunken Irish farmer Mr. O'Rourke.
Yock is supposed to be different from all the others, but Michael Therriault plays him as if he grew up in New York City rather than an Amish community. Yock has gained his new ideas by mingling with non-Amish people in town, but Therriault should still show where Yock's origins lie, at least by taming his gestures and vocal effusiveness to some degree. The same situation applies to Brigit Wilson as Zepp's wife Lydie. Even more than Therriault, Wilson plays her character far too big more as if she were in a Neil Simon comedy than in this muted drama.
John Ferguson has created a beautiful production, all black, white and earthen tones, capturing the simplicity Amish life without a hint of quaintness. Ereca Hassell's lighting sensitively conveys the change both of mood and season. Keith Thomas's music reinforces the community's religious background.
Despite flaws in the play and in some performances, "Quiet in the Land" provides insight into the lives of the Amish in Ontario without condescension. After seeing the play, if you see a horse and buggy when driving in the countryside around Stratford, you will not think of the people inside the same way again.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photo: Michael Therriault.
2003-09-06
Quiet in the Land