Ten Times Two: The Eternal Courtship by David Belke
Presented by Theatre Tillsonburg
Directed by Janice Lundy
At the WODL Festival
And with a flash of strobe lights and a bang from a smoke box, your intrepid blogger vanishes from the National Ballet audience and instantly materializes in the Guelph Little Theatre's auditorium for the opening night of the Western Ontario Drama League Festival!
Presented by Theatre Tillsonburg
Directed by Janice Lundy
At the WODL Festival
And with a flash of strobe lights and a bang from a smoke box, your intrepid blogger vanishes from the National Ballet audience and instantly materializes in the Guelph Little Theatre's auditorium for the opening night of the Western Ontario Drama League Festival!
If only.
In planning its Festival for the Canada 150 celebration year, WODL toyed with the idea of requiring all Canadian plays as entries, but finally put that thought aside. No worries. The competing companies themselves chose all Canadian plays for their Festival entries, and some of them have even mounted all-Canadian seasons for this year!
This Festival has an unusually intriguing line-up of plays -- but I will only see the first two. After that I am flying north to Timmins (with another flash and a bang) to see the three plays of the northern Ontario QUONTA Drama Region Festival, also all Canadian scripts. Quite the week for Canadian theatre!
So: WODL's Festival opened with Theatre Tillsonburg's production of a delightful light romantic comedy, Ten Times Two by David Belke.
Rant For The Day:
I get very tired of hearing people, who certainly are old enough to know better, dismissing comedy theatre as being somehow less difficult or of less value or less importance than heavier dramas or tragedies. If you don't like going to comedies or staging comedies or acting in comedies, that's fine. But you don't have to (by implication) put down the writers or performers or designers or directors of comedies just because of your personal taste in theatre!
RANT OVER!!!
Ten Times Two is a perfect piece to demonstrate just how much skill it takes to write, perform, and stage an apparently lightweight piece for three actors and do it well.
Start with David Belke's script. It strikes me as a masterly piece of writing, making excellent use of the possibilities inherent in the situation presented, and applying a quirky and ingenious imagination to those possibilities. Belke excels at summing up a whole situation in a few words, or turning it onto its head just as swiftly. In an audience full of theatre people, I heard a great many variations afterwards on "I have to read this script" or "I'd love to direct this one." I think I'm far from alone in seeing excellence in this material. And why not? Writing an outstanding comedy is about as easy as making an outstanding souffle. I've never managed to do either one.
Start with David Belke's script. It strikes me as a masterly piece of writing, making excellent use of the possibilities inherent in the situation presented, and applying a quirky and ingenious imagination to those possibilities. Belke excels at summing up a whole situation in a few words, or turning it onto its head just as swiftly. In an audience full of theatre people, I heard a great many variations afterwards on "I have to read this script" or "I'd love to direct this one." I think I'm far from alone in seeing excellence in this material. And why not? Writing an outstanding comedy is about as easy as making an outstanding souffle. I've never managed to do either one.
Ten Times Two is based on a unique but entertaining premise. The main male character, Ephraim, is a kind of evil Flying Dutchman figure, condemned to live on earth until eternity. In 1400, he wanders into a small tavern in England, meets a barmaid named Constance (the name speaks volumes) and falls for her -- hard. The Host of the tavern, an equivocal but certainly not human figure, offers to wager with him for his future release from life, that he can't win the honest love of Constance. He fails, but the Host suggests a future rendezvous in 75 years, by which time she will have reincarnated.
And so she does. But the first, and nastiest challenge, which author has flung at the company is that she reincarnates at 75-year intervals as a grand total of ten completely different characters. That's ten different characters, in ten different historic periods (costume department, stand by!) with different social circumstances (language and movement coaches!), appropriate accessories (props!) -- well, you get the idea. But Ephraim, too, has to keep fitting into each historic period as he doesn't age, so multiple costumes for him are required as well. And the theatre had better have quick-change spaces, because the poor actors have only seconds to make the switch during the brief breaks between their scenes. In some ways, the set and lighting designers have the easiest job of the lot!
So let's start there. Paul Bechard and Jeff Tripp have provided a simple stone fireplace, a sturdy table and two chairs, an all-purpose bar/serving counter and a free-standing doorframe without any door. The lack of the door troubled me less than the lack of any suggestion of an actual wall around the door. In this safety-conscious age, a working fire is a total no-go, but I'd have liked a better light source than a few feeble white holiday lights between the logs. Aside from those two points, the set was simple but effective and instantly looked like the medieval tavern which it was. Another nice point was the substitution of different clocks on the mantel in later scenes of the play.
Lighting, too, was simple and effective. The sizable acting areas were well lit. The glaring yellow special to represent the "Boss" summoning the Host to report was placed well downstage right, and could readily be seen on the floor and furniture.
The sound levels were great -- important because a gentle old song like Greensleeves doesn't carry out into the auditorium as well as a modern rock recording. Speaking of which, kudos to Sean Goble, lighting and sound designer, for finding or creating (I don't know which) a spectacular Jazz-Age-styled track of a dance band riffing on Greensleeves! This was played right before the 1925 scene.
The all-important costumes designed by Jane Brown were magnificent, nothing less. Constance and all her later reincarnations were each dressed in clothes appropriate to period and social station -- with a varying palette of colours adding variety to the otherwise rather bare stage. Ephraim's assorted costumes as clearly delineated the varying careers and personae which he chose for himself at different periods of his wearisome long life.
So let's start there. Paul Bechard and Jeff Tripp have provided a simple stone fireplace, a sturdy table and two chairs, an all-purpose bar/serving counter and a free-standing doorframe without any door. The lack of the door troubled me less than the lack of any suggestion of an actual wall around the door. In this safety-conscious age, a working fire is a total no-go, but I'd have liked a better light source than a few feeble white holiday lights between the logs. Aside from those two points, the set was simple but effective and instantly looked like the medieval tavern which it was. Another nice point was the substitution of different clocks on the mantel in later scenes of the play.
Lighting, too, was simple and effective. The sizable acting areas were well lit. The glaring yellow special to represent the "Boss" summoning the Host to report was placed well downstage right, and could readily be seen on the floor and furniture.
The sound levels were great -- important because a gentle old song like Greensleeves doesn't carry out into the auditorium as well as a modern rock recording. Speaking of which, kudos to Sean Goble, lighting and sound designer, for finding or creating (I don't know which) a spectacular Jazz-Age-styled track of a dance band riffing on Greensleeves! This was played right before the 1925 scene.
The all-important costumes designed by Jane Brown were magnificent, nothing less. Constance and all her later reincarnations were each dressed in clothes appropriate to period and social station -- with a varying palette of colours adding variety to the otherwise rather bare stage. Ephraim's assorted costumes as clearly delineated the varying careers and personae which he chose for himself at different periods of his wearisome long life.
Now, consider the challenge for Judy Cormier, the actor playing the role of Constance et al. She has to imagine a total of ten different people, their lives, their circumstances, some degree of back story for each one, work out appropriate accents for the different people she portrays and appropriate physicality for each one. A daunting challenge, to say the very least.
Cormier did fine work in each of her ten character portraits. The physicality of the pig girl was as memorable as the practical Scots woman, for different reasons. Her timing in the marriage contract negotiations was as spot-on as her one and only line as a nun -- a 20-second comic vignette that also demonstrates author Belke's topnotch writing skills. Her 1925 flapper girl was her farthest-out-there moment, certainly her brashest. Towards the end, it became a bit harder to distinguish each woman from all the ones we'd seen before but that's an inherent challenge of the script. In some ways, her finest moments were the ones in a few of the scenes where she begins to recognize or remember something about the man talking to her. All in all, a fine performance in a truly challenging role.
Jason Leighfield as Ephraim partnered very effectively. His own character arc is much more subtle, as he has to slowly abandon his macho "you can't resist me" approach and try other ways of winning her over. As time goes by, Leighfield took on a whole range of small vocal inflections and physical changes which helped to delineate the emotional shifts taking place in him. His best scene was also the one with the flapper, in which he showed clearly that he was beginning to understand truly where life was taking him.
The Host has perhaps the hardest task of all. By text as well as by stage direction, he is mainly an observer. For much of the play he has to remain in each scene, watching and reacting without pushing himself forward or mugging for laughs. This is a giant-size challenge. Mark Smith did a fine job of staying in the moment with nothing much to do. Little bits of stage business with food and drink were helpful, but his own concentration carried the payoff.
His other side comes out when he's summoned to report by his "Boss". Smith instantly took on a whole different facial and physical appearance whenever the yellow light came on -- a worried expression where he otherwise exuded confidence, and shoulders slumping slightly into a more hunched position. First-rate attention to the physical character here. Plainly, too, he had imagined and could hear the unscripted words of the voice addressing him all too clearly.
Director Janice Lundy led her company in giving this breezy script a well-paced interpretation. I felt that the team did all it could to get us through the unavoidable scene breaks just as quickly as possible. The "surprise" moments in the script were sprung on the audience with impeccable timing. Stage space was ample and used very effectively, even if some scenes got a little too anchored to the table and chairs. The yellow light sequences in a couple of cases led to a short delay as the Host was too far upstage and had to move more than a couple of steps to get down right to the light.
Like any good comedy (or souffle), this script presents all kinds of challenges that are not, and should not be, readily apparent at the time one is enjoying the experience. In that respect, Theatre Tillsonburg gave Ten Times Two a truly excellent performance.
Cormier did fine work in each of her ten character portraits. The physicality of the pig girl was as memorable as the practical Scots woman, for different reasons. Her timing in the marriage contract negotiations was as spot-on as her one and only line as a nun -- a 20-second comic vignette that also demonstrates author Belke's topnotch writing skills. Her 1925 flapper girl was her farthest-out-there moment, certainly her brashest. Towards the end, it became a bit harder to distinguish each woman from all the ones we'd seen before but that's an inherent challenge of the script. In some ways, her finest moments were the ones in a few of the scenes where she begins to recognize or remember something about the man talking to her. All in all, a fine performance in a truly challenging role.
Jason Leighfield as Ephraim partnered very effectively. His own character arc is much more subtle, as he has to slowly abandon his macho "you can't resist me" approach and try other ways of winning her over. As time goes by, Leighfield took on a whole range of small vocal inflections and physical changes which helped to delineate the emotional shifts taking place in him. His best scene was also the one with the flapper, in which he showed clearly that he was beginning to understand truly where life was taking him.
The Host has perhaps the hardest task of all. By text as well as by stage direction, he is mainly an observer. For much of the play he has to remain in each scene, watching and reacting without pushing himself forward or mugging for laughs. This is a giant-size challenge. Mark Smith did a fine job of staying in the moment with nothing much to do. Little bits of stage business with food and drink were helpful, but his own concentration carried the payoff.
His other side comes out when he's summoned to report by his "Boss". Smith instantly took on a whole different facial and physical appearance whenever the yellow light came on -- a worried expression where he otherwise exuded confidence, and shoulders slumping slightly into a more hunched position. First-rate attention to the physical character here. Plainly, too, he had imagined and could hear the unscripted words of the voice addressing him all too clearly.
Director Janice Lundy led her company in giving this breezy script a well-paced interpretation. I felt that the team did all it could to get us through the unavoidable scene breaks just as quickly as possible. The "surprise" moments in the script were sprung on the audience with impeccable timing. Stage space was ample and used very effectively, even if some scenes got a little too anchored to the table and chairs. The yellow light sequences in a couple of cases led to a short delay as the Host was too far upstage and had to move more than a couple of steps to get down right to the light.
Like any good comedy (or souffle), this script presents all kinds of challenges that are not, and should not be, readily apparent at the time one is enjoying the experience. In that respect, Theatre Tillsonburg gave Ten Times Two a truly excellent performance.
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