ON STAGE: Out Of Spite
eye WEEKLY
eye WEEKLY November 30 1995
Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday
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ON STAGE ON STAGE
OUT OF SPITE
Featuring Cynthia Ashperger. Directed by Damir Andrei. Adapted from
Sarajevo Days, Sarajevo Nights by Elma Softic, translated by Nada
Conic. Theatre Centre West, 1032 Queen St. W. To Dec. 10. $12-15, 538-
0988.
by
MICHAEL KEARNS
There's something awfully superficial about Out Of Spite. Sure, the
play takes you beyond headlines about the war in Bosnia. But that's
because it's based on a remarkable collection of wartime letters and
diary entries by Sarajevan Elma Softic. For it to succeed as theatre,
however, something has to be added that's not already present in the
text. And that proves difficult here.
A former teacher of philosophy and literature in the besieged Bosnian
capital, Softic is an insightful and engaging writer. Her work,
published as Sarajevo Days, Sarajevo Nights, teems with irony,
fatalistic humor and an inspiring sense of resolve as she describes
the day-to-day horrors and absurdities (like having to crap in
baggies) of living in a war zone.
In Out Of Spite, Softic (played by Cynthia Ashperger) recounts
snatches of her writings in one long monologue. The language is strong
enough to carry this for a while, but it soon becomes clear that
straight recitations aren't going to cut it as a performance piece.
So the production tries to spice things up. In one sequence where
Softic muses on the fact that Sarajevans rushed to do their housework
whenever power came back on (often in the middle the night), Ashperger
cavorts with a vacuum cleaner and serenades it to the tune of "Mustang
Sally."
The problem is that these moments feel so contrived that, rather than
enhance Softic's story, they detract from it. It's as if director
Damir Andrei was worried about the show rambling for too long, and so
decided to insert bits and pieces of theatre.
Yet Softic's dense and multi-layered writing leaves very little room
for such embellishment. Out Of Spite awkwardly superimposes a dramatic
structure on her work, even to the extent of lessening the impact of
the poignant reflections it contains.
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