Mauritius: A Double-edged thriller And An Attention-grabbing Experience
Reviewed by Kat Fournier . Photo by Maria Vartanova
Mauritius, presented by the Ottawa Little Theatre and directed by Chantale Plant, is a double-edged experience. While the first act is plodding and weak, the second act more than makes up for it. Overall, audiences can expect a play that lives up to its promise of plot twists, big revelations and of characters with hidden motivations. Mauritius delivers on all these fronts, turning stamp-collecting into a vicious game where the spoils will go to the most cunning.
Writer Therese Rebeck – winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award and known for such writing credits to such TV dramas as Law and Order: Criminal Intent and L.A. Law, among others –crafts a story whose premise sounds rather dull: five characters vie for ownership of two rare stamps. And in fact, Act 1 does not do much to dispel this impression. Initially, the real strength of the play lies in the broken relationship between two step-sisters, Jackie (Laura Hall) and Mary (Cindy Beaton), who have reunited after their mother’s death.
A book of stamps, supposedly left to Mary by her grandfather, may be the only item of value in the mess that their mother left behind. With unpaid bills resting on her shoulders, and no access to the opportunities that have been afforded to her half-sister, Jackie is further burdened by the dark memory of her mother’s passing. Mary, on the other hand, has an overly-positive outlook; she is so saccharine that we must suspect something is deeply wrong with her.
The ownership of the stamps is in question, and meanwhile, three philatelists have smelled blood in the water and set their sights on the stamps. Jackie is ready to collect on them, despite Mary’s insistence that they are not to be sold.
The play is turbulent, exciting, but lop-sided in that Act 2 really delivers all the “thrill”, while Act 1 is pretty weak and even eye-rollingly simplistic. The tension hinges on the idea that Jackie, who is determined to sell the rare stamps, does not know their value. “She’s a lamb,” explains Dennis, played by Chris Cottrell, to the would-be buyer.
But in Act 2, the plot finally delivers, and it is spectacular. Here, Rebeck introduces a dialogue between the would-be buyer and would-be seller that is tense, unexpected and wonderfully engaging. Hall and John Collins, as Jackie and Sterling, are a dynamic pair and lock horns in a stand-off which is completely spellbinding.
John Collins plays “an arms dealing philatelist”, Sterling. A powerful, self-entitled businessman who is sharp, unforgiving and has very deep pockets. Collins makes his character swaggering and repugnant, but is often inaudible. Sterling is a wordy man who is always in control of the conversation, and Collins is in need of some vocal work to better articulate through these dense monologues.
Billed as a comedy-thriller, the production is really not a “comedy” in a popular-culture sense, but rather in a theatrical sense which ensures us of a relatively happy resolution even though the action of the play is largely fueled by the deep wounds in Jackie’s recent past. Hall’s characterization of Jackie is adequate and the audience can see that she is tense and on the verge of an outburst but her constant buzzing movements are at times distracting and tinker on the edge of over-doing it.
Mauritius is a play whose characters were only slightly less than convincing, and whose production was just slightly less than perfect. Overall, look forward to an attention-grabbing experience with an unexpected and memorable denouement.
Mauritius continues at Ottawa Little Theatre to May 17, 2014
Mauritius
By Theresa Rebeck
Ottawa Little Theatre
Director: Chantale Plante
Set: Graham Price
Lighting: Paul Gardner
Sound: Bob Krukowski
Costumes: Renee Dupuis-Leon.
Cast:
Jackie……………………………………Laura Hall
Philip…………………………………….Lawrence Evenchick
Dennis……………………………………Chris Cottrell
Sterling………………………………..…John Collins
Mary…………………………………….Cindy Beaton