The Green House

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – The Green House

Playwright/s – Krista Marushy

Production Company/Theatre space – Rosebud Theatre, Rosebud AB

Length – 2 ACT  (2 hours 15 mins, one intermission) Plus dinner before the show…

Genre/s – Drama

Premise – A woman, packing up the family home, recalls memories of childhood family secrets which deal with betrayal, trauma, and a disastrous choice.

Why this play? Why now? – Morris Ertman presumably programed this play about a rural Christian family which fits with the ethos of the company.

Curiosities – The program provides its own curiosities, “What is your life’s greatest unsolved mystery”.

Notable Moment – Redacted for spoilers.

Notable writing – The poster claims this is a mystery, but the protagonist knows all the information at the beginning of the play -- it’s a straight up drama. The question being asked is “what really happened?”. Hard truths and brutal reality are buried under faded memories expressed with what the program calls “expressionist writing”. (This prioritizes feelings and emotions over accurate representation of things).  It starts with the famous poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carol which is meant to be silly and obscure. This story isn’t silly, but it is told through a mist of imagery and poetics that allude to mystery and fantasy which obfuscate an interesting story. Showing what happened in real time would have been a stronger choice than flashback, memory, and storytelling. The last 5 minutes of the play are the most dramatic, but they seem to take place during the dénouement rather than the climax.

Notable performances – Kate Corrigan and Matthew Boadman have the unenviable job of playing children, then teens. Nathan Schmidt is head of actor training at Rosebud. As the boarder, he says he likes poetry because it is concise, (which, ironically, is the anthesis of this play). Camille Pavlenko is Ava Green the subject and occupant of The Green House. Buried in backstory, Pavlenko is given a roster of names to make dramatic - fortunately she pulls it off. Heather Pattengale is an accomplished actor playing the young girl, narrator, and mother with dexterity and depth; she makes it look easy.

Notable design/Production – Luke Ertman, an award-winning sound designer and composer has scored over 50 productions, once more lends his talents to the production. He proves when a score is perfect it augments and supports rather than steal focus.

Notable direction – Craig Hall, former AD of a murder mystery theatre, inherited this script. Did he overlay a familiar genre? What will he program when it’s his turn?

One reason to see this show – If you like your poetic, prairie stories with a side of brillig and slithy toves you’ll enjoy this. (And I was told the fish was excellent!)