Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s 75th annual theatrical season ended this weekend, as director Sheldon Parathundyil’s adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 came to life onstage at Studio Léonard-Beaulne.
The play, originally a novel by Ray Bradbury, was set in a dystopian future where book burners called “firefighters” control a post-apocalyptic Ottawa. Books are illegal and if one is caught housing them, they are burned by the firefighters. One particular firefighter—Guy Montag (Thomas Williams)—begins to question his faith in this system during the course of the play through a series of events that eventually push him to break the law and discover his love for books.
The unique plot of the play combined with a full-house attendance made the case for high expectations. The execution of the play, however, did not match up to them.
While the actors expertly delivered long, expressive monologues, not once was a clear explanation provided as to why books were banned or being burnt. Even if the explanation was underhandedly provided, the lengthy dialogues masked it, making it difficult to grasp the play’s context.
Williams’ rendition of Montag was characterized with a booming voice and a dark expression. His character’s agitation and frustration added depth to every scene he was in.
The scenes that followed saw the introduction of a very coquettish and intense Chief Beatty (Tyreike Reid), along with Black and Holden—two fellow “firefighters”—played by Lorenz Pizolinas and Matt Curtis, respectively. Pizolinas and Curtis brought a certain lightness to the stage that was much needed to balance out the heavy characters played by Williams and Reid, whenever the foursome shared the stage.
Clarisse McClellan (Grace Smith) brought to life an eccentric and refreshing character with her fast-talking and colourful mannerisms, bringing smiles and laughs to the audience.
An unexpected star of the show, however, was Gabrielle Goudie playing Mildred Montag. Although her character was not as central to the play as Williams’ and Reid’s, Goudie displayed all of the emotions of her scenes flawlessly. Watching her go through the myriad of emotions and reactions throughout the play was riveting. Her character was unique in that it lacked lengthy monologues, and yet this made her performance stronger. Goudie did more with less, conveying meaning with her performance rather than words.
The props for the play were a little comical in scenes that were set up to be intense. An instance of this was the scene where the audience saw Mrs. Hudson (Sarah Sheils), an old woman who lived in a house full of books. Montag, Beatty, Black and Holden appear at the scene to set fire to her books but what ensues is a powerful and moving exchange between the actors. The intensity of the scene was interrupted by Black (Pizolinas) rushing onto the stage with what looked like the parts of a vacuum cleaner, to start the fire. In a scene as powerful as this one, this prop elicited perhaps out-of-place but lighthearted tension-breaking snickers and giggles from the audience.
Similarly, in the play the audience got to see the “Baskerville hound”—a “vicious” machine beast built by Beatty (Reid) and Montag (Williams). It was not only unclear as to how the machine functioned, given the technical jargon that Reid and Williams regurgitated onstage in their lengthy dialogues but also funny to see that the beast was but a shadow on a white screen in a corner of the stage, aided by two feminine voices “howling.”
An extremely interesting part of the play, however, was the Greek chorus that came onto stage to announce the time or play the part of the technology. Clad in white masks and black robes, these characters never showed face but added exponentially to the eerie feel of the play. The chorus strung together the entire production and its farrago of elements seamlessly from scene to scene.
One particular member of the chorus who was stunning in her performance just by way of vocal expression and mannerisms was Victoria Ricciardelli. Although nobody could see her face until the final scene where she played St. Exuperey, her expression through voice while she was a part of the chorus was chilling to say the least.
While the actors of the play definitely did a fantastic job, the overall production itself was a little puzzling and left one wanting more explanation.
Image by Tim Austen
