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Theatre Review by Elmer G. Wiens
Pick of the Vancouver Fringe Festival - 2002
An Evening with Beckett
by Samuel Beckett
Company: Tandem Productions, Vancouver, B.C.
Five Short Plays:
| Come and Go |
| Directors: | Craig Hall, Erin Wells |
| Cast: | Vi - Courtenay Dobbie; Flo - Clarence Sponagle;
Ru - Sarah Susut |
| Play |
| Director: | Ian Fenwick |
| Cast: | M - Robin Richardson; W2 - Erin Monahan;
W1 - Melinda Esworthy |
| Act Without Words |
| Director: | James Fagan Tait |
| Cast: | Man - Peter Anderson |
| Not |
| Director: | Katrina Dunn |
| Cast: | Mouth - Erin Wells |
| Catastrophe |
| Director: | Christiane Raymond |
| Cast: |
Assistant - France Perras; Protagonist - Jean Michel;
Director - John Murphy; Luke - Lyne Barnabe
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Venue: Waterfront Theatre, 1412 Cartwright Street
Date: Saturday, September 21, 2002, 8:30 P.M.
Reviewer: Elmer G. Wiens
"Shall we hold hands in the old way?"
Tandem Productions presentation of five of Beckett's short plays epitomized humanity's dilemma: How can a person know oneself and connect with others? Life is futile. Without hope, humans are impotent in their quest for a meaningful life.
Beckett sets a difficult (impossible?) task for actors. Tandem Productions' answer is to assault the audience with darkness, lights, grotesque costumes, actors speaking in loud and often shrill voices, a moving tree, and a clown.
Beckett himself was stabbed on a Paris street by a panhandler wanting money, and lived in France as Nazi Germany attacked Europe and the world.
"May we not speak of the old days?"
During the eighty minutes that I sat in the Waterfront Theatre, I felt confused, alienated, bored, scared by the Mouth, conspicuous, and imprisoned. Imprisoned because near the end during "Catastrophe," I really had to use the toilet. I clamped down to see the last part of "Come and Go." The three girl friends were lovely.
When Beckett asked his jailed assailant why he assaulted him, his attacker said,
"Je ne sais pais."
© Elmer G. Wiens
An Evening with Beckett at the Waterfront Theatre, 1412 Cartwright Street:
September 19, 7:30 PM; September 21, 8:30 PM; September 22, 9:45 PM
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