An Act of Grace: Mild success at Ottawa’s Gladstone Theatre
Things that don’t make for prescient, contemporary theatre: excessive swearing, pointless tapping and swiping on (turned-off) smartphones, the objectification of tangential women, or references to recent developments in North American golf culture. The Gladstone’s An Act of Grace by John Muggleton, directed by Venetia Lawless, unfortunately relies upon these signifiers of modernity in its attempt to construct a 2019-friendly farce. Though the eighty-minute romp finds occasional success in its pacing, An Act of Grace feels like exactly what it is: a successful 40-minute one-act (with an attractive, functional set to boot) extended into a perhaps too-ambitious, under-energized play.
An Act of Grace walks a strange line between farce and drama, following a bizarre day in the life of ex-golfer, Chuck, who has found a new life as a financial advisor in the aftermath of his struggle with addiction. Chuck, having just learned of his wife’s decision to buy a restaurant, finds himself in a tense situation with a stranger who knows him thanks to his short-sighted bus ads. Hijnks ensue, with heightened stakes and countless one-liners, making for several guffaws on opening night.
Performance-wise, Muggleton commands the show in the role of Tony; the language comes naturally to him, unsurprisingly, and he doesn’t prematurely draw attention to the surprise twist(s). Josh Sparks gives a solid performance as Chuck, and Manon Dumas makes the most of her brief stagetime. Dianna Renee Yorke milks the drama of the script for all it’s worth; this is fine, but some vocal mannerisms become slightly tired as the play develops. The “cartoon villain” trope wears out before the true extent of that moniker becomes known to the audience.
An Act of Grace as a script is, alas, quite weak. Julie’s presence is unsubstantiated; she’s a plot device used to motivate blackmail negotiations. Chuck’s daughter is even less relevant to the proceedings; we never meet her, and as such are given little motive to care about Chuck’s vices or inevitable demise. Grace is something of a caricature of a villain, speaking largely in cliches. Muggleton’s script has some gaps (an IKEA joke falls flat when a POÄNG chair is called out for being misplaced; are we supposed to ignore the KALLAX that makes up the “affluent” bookshelves?), and can’t seem to decide on an ending. Muggleton knows his audience, and he’s to be commended for that; laughs fall where he expects them. However, this does not make up for a script that would perhaps benefit from further dramaturgy and workshopping. An Act of Grace is a friendly play that doesn’t challenge its audience; to some, this will make for an entertaining few hours of performance.
An Act of Grace is a fun outing for longtime theatre-goers. Opening night was comfortably full, if perhaps a bit flat in terms of its cultural representation; this is not the goal of this script, and that’s fine, but it maybe does ask questions of the theatre we as a community choose to attend.
An Act of Grace runs through September 13 at The Gladstone. Tickets are available at www.thegladstone.ca.