First Métis Man of Odesa

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – First Métis Man of Odesa

Playwright – Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova

Production Company/Theatre space – A Punctuate Theatre Production with Theatre Calgary / The Martha Cohen Theatre, Werklund Centre.

Length – 1 Act (90 minutes, no intermission)

Genre/s – Meta/Storytelling/Romance

Premise – An Edmontonian playwright (who believes Shakespeare and Chekov are colonialist redundancies) travels to Ukraine to write a verbatim play, falls in love, impregnates and marries an actor who ends up coming to Canada, and we see them struggle with COVID, the war in Ukraine, an interfering mother-in-law, and a baby who they don’t know how to get to sleep through the night.

Why this play? Why now? – As Albertans go to the polls to vote on issues of refugees and healthcare, this play is relevant. Also, the war in Ukraine continues. It does bring up the issue of the role of culture and politics on two sides of the ocean.

Curiosities – What would this play be like if it were through the eyes of the Ukrainian woman and not the Canadian man? Why did only she write the program notes? Will there be a part two?

Notable Moment – The final image is very touching and the holding the doughnut aloft is humourous.

Notable writing – This is part storytelling, part reenactment. The plot (as it is with all romances) is boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again. This is repeated. Of course, they end up together. We are seeing the real writer/performers, so in effect here are no stakes. Will they survive Covid? Yep, they are right in front of us. Do they survive the military invasion? Yep, again they are right in front of us. Do they end up writing a play together? Obviously, they did… There is a central duet/poem that has fantastical imagery and elevates the script into something more literary.

Notable performances – Before the play starts MacKenzie comes on stage to tell us he’s an Artistic Director/writer and isn’t an actor, but his wife studied from the lineage of Stanislavski – it’s quite a contrast. MacKenzie has a rhythm of speech that doesn’t change for 90 minutes. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. Still, he is not without a Sheldonesque, boyish charm. Khomutova has acting chops. She is the heart and face of the real story.

Notable design/Production – The lighting/projection design and sound scape play the supporting roles beautifully.

Notable direction – Lianna Makuch directed this show to tour with the proverbial two chair set augmented by a column and a drape. Some of the chair moving seems unnecessary and the ripping down of the curtain and bundling it up superfluous to needs but over all good pacing and flow.

One reason to see this show – It humanizes the news.