Ribstone

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Ribstone

Playwright – Christopher Hunt

Production Company/Theatre space – Lunchbox Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo / Studio Theatre at Vertigo Theatre.

Length – One hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)

Genre/s – Storytelling

Premise – A collection of stories of ancestors which grapples with complicated hindsight post Truth and Reconciliation, centered tangentially around a boulder that was carved by First Nations peoples and ended up residing on the property of his family.

Why this play? Why now? – This play is perfectly in the zeitgeist as Canadians look at family history and lores through a contemporary lens.

Curiosities – When will we see this at Rosebud Theatre?

Notable moment – Magically shining a new light on the past and the poignancy of Tim Williams’ composition.

Notable writing – This is a collection of incidents is threaded together like polished beads on a necklace. Hunt mixes nostalgia with the political and the confessional. He delivers nostalgia without the Little House on the Prairie everything-was-wonderful-back-then vibe. Hunt plays with the motifs of tension and friction both as analogy in his stories and in his instrument playing. He clearly comes from a place of “entertain” rather than “educate”.

Notable performances – Hunt, one of Canada’s national treasures as an actor, avoids his career and accomplishments in a refreshing “don’t look at me” but “look at what I see” way. Using his skills, he captivates us with his family members. Then focusing on himself, he tells two stories when, in dire straits, he resorts to desperate measures resulting in raw humiliation. The public having no idea what it takes to work in this business. Following the success of his one man show When That I Was (Edward Atienza/John Mortimer), Hunt has done it again.

Notable design/Production – Partnering with Lunchbox Theatre affords the professional skills of Set Designer Hanne Loosen and Costume Designer Ralamy Kneeshaw. While the backdrop is solid and thoughtful, it is the crankie that wins the day. The crankie is a device (built by Leo Wieser) and is an ingenious way to illustrate images without 20^th century projections and video.

Notable direction –Accomplished Director Jamie Dunston no doubt worked in concert with Hunt to keep the transitions clean as we go back and forth in history with the many characters.  

One reason to see this show – Storytelling in the hands of a master.