First of all, for those not in the know, QUONTA is the regional association of community theatres in Northern Ontario. Every year the regional body co-sponsors a community theatre festival in conjunction with one of its member groups. I was involved for years as member of two different member groups from Elliot Lake, and as an elected member of the QUONTA Board. I love attending the annual Festivals to see what my old friends in the north are up to, theatrically speaking.
This is the first of 4 write-ups of the 4 plays produced this year.
Incorruptible by Michael Hollinger
Co-directed by Chris and Val Horsepool
Presented by Sault Theatre Workshop
This diverse script starts off as a fairly straightforward comedy in Act I and then takes a wild swerve into farce in Act II. I always like John Mortimer's definition of farce as "tragedy played at 120 revolutions per minute", and this company did a good job of cranking the revs up to about 90 or so, leaving still some room to increase the sheer zaniness of the second half.
The scenario involves a French monastery in 1250 which is going on the rocks, financially, since all the pilgrims began going to a fake shrine of their own patron saint, Ste-Foy, at a nunnery in a nearby town. Miracles by the score are reported, and even the Pope himself has gone there. By degrees, the monks gradually slip into a scheme of their own to sell "holy relics" all over Europe by simply digging up the graves in their own churchyard! When the Pope gets word of all the miraculous remains coming from Priseaux, he comes to see for himself, enticed by a rumour that the monastery itself possesses an "incorruptible" -- the body of a saint which does not decay. This sets up the farcical panic and antics that ensue in Act II.
This is genuinely a company or ensemble play. There are no particular starring roles, but every character plays an important role in the proceedings. All the characters were presented very clearly, and clearly differentiated from each other. Right at the outset we were set laughing by the arguments as Brother Martin (Phil Jones) tried to prevent a Peasant Woman (Randi Mraud) from praying to the saint until she had donated her penny. Mraud did an excellent job of vanishing completely into a character which neither looked, nor sounded, nor indeed behaved like her everyday self.
In keeping with the great comic tradition, hidden relationships between various characters are uncovered throughout the play and everyone played these moments of revelation with complete naturalness, very effectively. One of the earliest revelations is the brother-sister relationship between the abbot, Brother Charles, and Mother Agatha, the superior of the competing nunnery. From time to time we get reminded of the competition between these two leaders, and also of Brother Charles' extreme fear of his sister.
In the play's climactic scene, the terrible Agatha herself turns up -- first, as a fearsome voice off stage and then as an equally imposing and fearsome presence on stage. Kudos, by the way, to Scarlet Marenger for successfully making her offstage voice heard in a very wide, high auditorium.
At this point, all the characters reach their greatest height of caricature, with Agatha leading the way. While they had us all in stitches, I had to agree with adjudicator John P. Kelly that even more intensity was possible and indeed desirable.
These adjudications, by the way, are one of the interesting parts of these theatre festivals -- hearing the observations of a trained senior theatre artist about what he (or she) sees and hears.
Kelly had many suggestions for possible different ways of approaching the text, and possible ways in particular to up the physical ante in Act II. But make no mistake: this was a successful, funny production of a piece that (like many an author's early plays) contains more than its fair share of authorial difficulties, both technical and verbal. And for that, thanks to the Sault Theatre Workshop for a delightful evening's entertainment!
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