Silly Little Country

First Half of the Morris Panych Double Header

The other Canadian Stage play we attended this weekend was Morris Panych's "What Lies Before Us".
Reeling off 'Glorious', we felt so good very fast watching this very witty and competent piece of writing. Moreover, also enjoying the amazing performances - though 'Glorious' did not lack for those, it just needed a halfway intelligent script.
The performers, David Storch, who has played so many roles I have loved over the last several years in Toronto theatre, and Matthew MacFadzen, whom I recall really enjoying in "Take Me Out", simply confirmed my expectations and Wayne Sujo was terrific.
The dialogue touched nicely on human aspirations versus our hopeless situation in the universe, and as I think about those things to a degree, it was somewhat interesting.
This play featured something I had never experienced. It finished with about a two-minute monologue in Cantonese, which I do not understand, but could accept. As we left the theatre, we were offered a printed translation, and this affected quite a bit what we had seen.
Anyway - as for Morris Panych work, I loved 'The Overcoat' (so much I gave my tickets to a sister rather than see it twice), I really enjoyed 'The Vigil' (though maybe Brent Carver did that), and I thought this play was pretty good.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:28 PM