Monstress

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Monstress

Playwright– Trevor Schmidt

Production Company/Theatre space – Professional / The Playhouse, Vertigo Theatre,

Length – 2 Act, 1 hour 50 minutes (one intermission)

Genre/s – Science fiction

Premise – At the behest of a wealthy man, a female scientist/engineer/surgeon is asked to reanimate his daughter who he claims broke her neck from an equestrian accident.

Why this play? Why now? – Vertigo started out with mysteries, then included ghost stories, later thrillers, then comedies, and now pushes boundaries with its second sci-fi play. It’s great to see a theatre producing another Canadian playwright in this political clime.

Curiosities – Why does the servant wear a veil? Why weren’t three actors hired? With such an elaborate set, why mime the machine handle? Was the scissors chandelier the machine? What was the answer to the question at the end of Act One? Why doesn’t her hand heal? Is the title a pun?

Notable Moment – Chiropractic adjustments.

Notable writing – This script is 60% “tell business” and 40% “show business”.  There is a long expository monologue that delays the inevitable moment of bringing her back to life but then things get interesting. Schmidt smoothly has the brought-back-from-the-dead young woman wrest the protagonist role away from the doctor as the roles reverse.

Notable performances – Sydney Willams plays the “back ally” doctor/surgeon excluded from a career in the medical profession (even though she is a doctor). Williams makes the journey from embittered outsider to detached scientist to in loco parentis to her final identity. Playing a woman with sociopathic tendences is always fun and initially (after being injured) has us on her side. Julia Van Dam plays “the body” and it’s hard to be a thing and not a person but she pulls it off. The final pose is great.

Notable design/Production – Lighting and sound effects are crucial for the success of a show like this, and Sound Designers Dave Clarke and Greg Wilson have done a terrific job, as has Lighting Designer Larissa Poho. The purple and green backlighting is especially fine. And kudos to Claire Bolton, those are some tight cues to call. Schmidt had free reign to design the set and costumes. The set is static and becomes both a home laboratory and the one duplicated at the mansion. The scale of opening scene seems antithetical to the mansion but it’s lovely to look at. The Davinci-esque woman art centre stage is an interesting focus point.

Notable direction – Schmidt directs his own work and has been in the business long enough to know exactly what he wants. The show flirts with a lot of graphic imagery. With the exception of the apron, the gory moments are represented with mime and light shifts (blood, fur, spat out food) which makes the piece seem safe. Having an actor play two roles hurts the mood in places.

One reason to see this show – Fans of gothic horror will enjoy this.