Edmond: Mamet and the Hintonburg Theatre take on New York in the Carleton Tavern

Photo. Courtesy  Chamber Theatre Hintonburg.

Chambre Theatre Hintonburg is back at its favorite venue, the Carleton Tavern on Parkdale Ave, performing on 10 square feet of space amid noisy tavern patrons and theatre aficionados. The mixed crowd is a great atmosphere for certain kinds of theatre and this time, they have chosen a relatively unknown play by David Mamet that suits the tavern site perfectly.

Edmond is about the descent of a man into hell, his own private hell, represented by a violent, and terrifying New York city. Edmond is the first play that Mamet ever located in New York but he certainly has captured the essence of that city bathed in fear, as it was in the 1980’s, the pre Giuliani era before the arrival of that tough mayor (1994) who cracked down on crime.

Played by Donnie Laflamme, who also directed the show, the main character sets out as a 9 to 5 office worker, caught in the rhythm of daily boredom. One day he suddenly leaves his wife and naively goes out to find a new and exciting life in the big city. He moves through bars, casinos, brothels, rough neighbourhoods coming up against prostitutes, pimps, gamblers who constantly take him for all he is worth. Obsessed with a capitalist vision of his own naïve little world that money determines all but that he should get what he pays for and not pay too much, he soon finds himself provoked into overwhelming anger as all his repressed rage comes pouring out. Edmond soon loses control. Racism, violence, cruelty, all the feelings that fester in this hell hole of a human environment, turn Edmond into an individual who has lost all sense of who he is, and finally, into a killer.

In one sense, Mamet shows how violence off all sorts comes into being but the show winds down to an ambiguous truce at the end which leaves us wondering if Mamet just ran out of theatrical steam. Nevertheless.  ambiguity is still Mamet’s trade mark and it was never as obvious as in his most controversial play, Oleanna, where his image of women, as represented by that manipulative student, was difficult to pin point.

Laflamme has made good use of the long thin space in the Tavern  that hinders movement to such an extent that the actors, all eleven on them, remain lined up against the wall most of the time. This is a form of highly stylized but nevertheless gritty realism, set up in 23 brief episodes that highlight the violent encounters in the city. Directed in such a way that the actors are never  looking directly at each other, the performances emphasize the estrangement between the characters and the audience, as well as between the characters themselves so that no emotional bonding is ever possible. The audience, on the other hand, is forced to take a critical look at what is happening while also becoming emotionally involved in the anger that engulfs Edmond, played with great ferocity and animal energy by Donnie Laflamme, He is finally reduced to a state of utter submission that he was precisely fleeing from the first moments of the play. This submission however, produces a gentler behaviour that raises serious questions about the use violence to impose peaceful relations in an environment where hate reigns. The play does raise  serious questions without answering any of them but again, Mamet thrives on ambiguity and he has found the perfect subject here.

Donnie Laflamme is one of our local jewels with a strong sense of independence that keeps these Hintonburg events going, much to the delight of so many of us. One has to admit that the  logistics of the show were sometimes a bit awkward. The darkened moments to allow the shifts from one scene to the next, sometimes interrupted the energy. Some of the scenes were not as pumped up as they might have been, especially when they involved the younger actors who were not attentive to details. When you are in a space that intimate, performing that close to the public, the audience sees everything, and the actors must never forget it. The true professional never does forget it and that is where Donnie Laflamme, Manon Dumas the steely eyed wife, Karl Claude and Adam Pierre shone. As the shifty-eyed pimp who gives Edmond his first taste of steel, Adam Pierre sustained a nervous tension that was very good indeed. I might add that Allison Harris, as Glenna the waitress, slid from sexy to terrorised in a way that kept our attention.

As for Karl Claude,we must see more of this man. On stage he gave us the impression that this is an extremely versatile actor who could take on a great variety of roles and do them all equally well.  Here he became  the powerful prison bully chewing on his toothpick,  perfectly fused with his character to the point where he became  eerily  convincing. The moment at the end where the dialogue between Laflamme and Claude was at its most ambiguous, the two actors worked out a kind of semi comic straight man/ funny man tension that was quite wonderful although perfectly alienating in that context. Another example of brechtian theatricality that seems to pervade Mamet’s theatre.

Edmond is an extremely violent play that is rarely produced. It is not for the emotionally fragile and it would no doubt help if you had a glass of something stronger than tea to bolster your spirits while you are watching it. So if you are up to it, go see it…

Worth the price. Tickets are 20$. Show runs from April 3 to April 13, 2013. It starts at 7h30 but get there early to make sure you have a table.

It plays at the Carleton Tavern on Parkdale, right across the street from the Parkdale market and there is parking along the streets and side streets in the area.

Edmond by David Mamet

Plays at the Carleton Tavern f rom April 3 to April 13.

The Production is directed and designed by Donnie Laflamme

Costumes Kristen Saar

Sound Design Leslie Cserepy

CAST:

Donnie Laflamme

Manon Dumas

Adam Pierre

Allison Harris

Anna Lewis

Bob Reynolds

Cory Thibert

Jennifer Vallance

Jonah Allingham-

Karl Claude

Leslie Cserpey