Reviews 2005
Reviews 2005
✭✭✭✩✩
by Susan Coyne, directed by Eda Holmes
Tarragon Theatre, Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, Toronto
April 26-May 29, 2005
Susan Coyne’s latest play, Alice’s Affair, sports a sextet of interesting characters, fine acting from a top-notch cast and much clever wordplay. What’s wrong is that the play is hopelessly confused about what it’s saying and how to say it.
It seems that what we see on stage is an autobiographical play being constructed in the mind of an ordinary housewife Alice (an engaging Martha Burns) to help her overcome the effect of having had her creativity crushed in university by a charismatic, egotistical creative writing teacher Gregory (played with sullen archness by Daniel Kash), who has literally continued to haunt her ever since. Alice conjures up Gregory at the beginning and exorcizes him at the end though Coyne gets so caught up in literary allusions and self-referential tricks she forgets to tell her story clearly.
In the middle Alice and other students of the now-deceased Gregory gather at Alice’s cottage after his memorial service in an aimless, overlong Big Chill-like gabfest. Alice’s own story goes nowhere since Coyne has given it no urgency or momentum. Luckily, Nancy Palk livens things up in a hilarious turn as Marie, a wide-eyed, New Age lesbian psychic, a wonderful character who deserves a play of her own.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2005-05-05.
Photo: Martha Burns, Brenda Robins, Nancy Palk (standing), David Jansen, Brooke Johnson. ©Michael Cooper.
2005-05-05
Alice’s Affair