PLAYHOUSE WORLD PREMIERE

The Overcoat

fits perfect

WORLD class! There, I
finaily said it about
Vancouver theatre.
Unveservedly and, I
believe, with total justifi-
cation.

I cannot think of a more
apt description than world class &
for the world premiere | of the k> Mi "Méttin
Vancouver Playhouse’s The
Overcoat that opened last
week.

What makes the success of this show all
the more retnarkable is that it is entirely
company-created within the rehearsal
process.

Certainly directors Mozris Panych and
Wendy Gorling are to be congratulated for
the vision (both), sound (Panvch) and
movement style (Gorling) of the piece, but
this is a collaborative effort between produc-
tion team and the 22-member cast and all
should share in the pla

If this unusually effusive ‘accolade is
enough to pique your curiosity to the point
of booking reservations, do it now and stup
reading.

This is a production that deserves spon-
taneity without preconceptions and my
words will only reveal production surprises
without communicating the sense of magic
thai imbues most of them.

According to Penguin Books, Nikolai
Gogol’s The Overcoat is considered one of
the greatest short stories ever written.

Er ... maybe, or then again perhaps it
loses in translation, but fortunately it has lit-
tle to do with the Playhouse production.

Gogol’s early 19th cencury story may
have broken new ground for Russian litera-
ture, but in its original form could easily be
dismissed as applying only to Russian soci-
Cty.

Panych, Gorling and company have
recreated a story without words that is as
uniquely an “everyman” tale as Waiting for
Godot.

So, what is this marvellous creation? In
the spirit of The Overcoat 1 might be better
off performing an interpretive dance at this
point, but, if forced to use words, I would
describe this production as a baller without
dance.

No words then, but every scene sings,
shouts, or whispers with meaning. Indeed,
as the incredible standard of fulfilled
moments on stage became apparent, | act-
ally became reluciant to write the briefest
note for fear of missing something.

As the show begins, production credi:s
are projected on 2 scrim to the music of

a _ North Van parks photo
contest deadline extended

en

'y

Dmitri Shostakovich,
whose work provides
the score for the entire
piece.

The opening sets up ”
the feel of a silent
movie, which is close
to what we are going
to watch since the pro-
duction is set in the
1920s, not the 1540s
of the original story.

Peter Anderson is The Man in “a
city,” instead of Gogol’s civil servant
Akaky Akakievich in St. Petersburg.

Anderson creates a Chaplinesque
vulnerability for his character that is
immediate and palpable
inevitable that this man will be the
burt of cruel fortune in whatever
fashion fate chooses to play the
game.

And what a game ir is as the
company (a mix of professional
actors and Studiv 58 student actors)
creates vivid impressionistic pictures
of repressed lite in a totalitarian soci-

ty.

‘The scale of Ken MacDonald’s
brilliantly conceived set either dwarfs
or enlarges the action with the aid of |.
perfectly chosen set pieces and Alan
Brodie’s moody lights (his best
work, yet). Nancy Bryant's careful
costume choices help to move the
action through the three worlds of
the play: two material, rich and poor,
(or should that be sille and wool?) and one
spiritual (well, mental anyway).

From empty bedroom and lecherous
iandlady (Wendy Noel), through crowded
but heartless streets we follow The Man in
his tatty overcoat to a workplace of rigid
pecking order.

Fortune, in the form of a benevolent
despot (the riveting Allan Morgan), provides
an opportunity to pay for the overcoat of all
overcoats that will transform The Man’s life,
since, in this (!) world status is wrongly con-
ferred on appearance rather than substance.

More brilliant company visions follow of
the sweatshop creation of the sartorial piece
of art and its transference to 2 new, if unde-
serving, owner.

The subsequent loss of the garment and
The Mai’s desc. at into madness is as sad as
it is predictanle. After all, we afl make our
own prisons.

My words alone cannot capture the ener-
gy of the ensemble, the passion of the
music, or the perfection of movement styic
and its relationship to the score.

It is hard to conceive of how his pro-
duction could be reproduced cisewhere
without importing the entire production
design team and the directors. Even then, it
would not be the same show.

So take this brief chance of seeing what
is truly a unique work of art that lives in my
mind as the equal of any of the world-class
shows I have seen on the London stage.

oon

TF you like words with your plays, you could
do worse than try to get tickets to the last
two performances of Rehearsal For Murder.

However, last weekend when I atrended,
Deep Cove’s Shaw Theatre was so close to
being sold out thar I don’t know how lucky
you will be.

This is a very good
production of an
unusual murder mys-
tery script that has not

beaten to death

like a crushed corn

33

Uliravision

Photo David Cooper

PETER Anderson is the vulnerable heart of the brilliantly imaginative Vancouver
Playhouse production of The Overcoat.

chip.

Regular readers will know I am no fan of
this genre so it is no small feat that this
Deep Cove Stage production directed by
Rita Weakes kept te interested in the out-
come. Great credit must go to feads Vince
Callaghan and Marianne LaRochelie for cre-
aung fully realized characters for whom the
events of the play actually mattered.

Callaghan carries the greater load, but in
some ways LaRochelle has the harder role.
In any event, both made me care about
their characters, which is the ultimate acco-
lade I can bestow.

There is no weak link in the ensemble
burt the audience favorite was clearly Tasha

Sce Shaw page #1

DID you know that North Van District has 100 parks
and green belts, 25 playing fields, 50 tennis courts, 51

WITH TWO TUNER PLP.

$2199"

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ALSO AVAILABLE
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ds and hundreds of kilometres of trails?

The district’s parks advisory conmmittee hopes enough
people will take interest in those green spaces and play places
to record them to film, Thar sentiment i with the goal
of the parks photo contest, save ComMiNee Member
Vesta Fihpchuk, “to create awareness of the pa tent and
for peopie to develup 4 whole new sense of whar’s out there.”

The contest deadline has been extended ta Nov. 30 te
allow for more submissions. stants are to submit a5 x

7 photo of a scene or activity it one Gf the district's parks
along with a few words about “what this park means to me.
‘The contest is open to elementary and high school students,
adults and seniors. sh pri
missions will be publi ved. Publication tna calendar ar
is alo being ccasidered. Winners will be announced by the
middle of January. Submissions should be dropped off at the
ere hali on Queens Street.

playgroun

+ >750 Lines Horizontal
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November sth ° Saonm
Tickets $10 ° Limited aati