ON STAGE: Four Ives
eye WEEKLY
eye WEEKLY July 6 1995
Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ON STAGE ON STAGE
FOUR IVES
George Ignatieff Theatre
15 Devonshire Pl.
July 7 at 9:30 p.m. and July 8 at 3:30 p.m. $7.
by
ROBERT ARMSTRONG
This is a very good show. (Just thought I'd get that out front for
those of you who like summary judgments.) But here's the hitch. The
program hadn't arrived before the show started, so not only do I not
know the actors' names, or the titles of the four short plays that
make up the bill, I don't even know the name of the playwright --
except that his last name is Ives.
The first piece, a rapid dissection of the hopes and horrors latent in
polite party small-talk, was the funniest -- though not the best -- of
the quartet. That honor goes to the second play, a verbal and visual
round robin game of mini-putt. Three guys named Chuck try to impress,
and seduce, their dates, variously named Amy, Annie and Alma. Each
pair simultaneously works through roughly the same dialogue, but with
differing results.
The third show was the weakest. Three steelworkers have lunch 25
storeys up and indulge in a little birthright bragging. But the
laughable background of flying clouds, birds and even air
mattresses(!), utterly undercut the actors, who were quite good
everywhere else.
The final playlet was another round robin (obviously Ives' favored
technique) of mix 'n' match couples having dinner at a trendy
restaurant. It seemed to go on a little bit too long, and four
playlets in an hour, just like four in a day, gets a little
disorienting. But this stuff's good. Go see it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright
http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available
theatre archives: http://www.interlog.com/eye/Arts/Theatre/theatre.htm
e...@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421