Up to Low comes home at last to the NAC!

Ottawa to Wakefield in 1950 was a bumpy road covered with pebbles that used to make the car shake until the fenders came loose.  Such was the trip made by local cottage goers into the Francophone Pontiac but nothing as harrowing or as colourful as writer Bryan Doyle suggests . His memories are piled high with everyone’s stories filtered  through the expanding imagination of 15 year old Tommy, producing an epic  tale right out of western Quebec where even the vicious black flies have a role as the great villains of the plot, thanks to the opening solo by Pierre Brault. This is about local Quebec culture but Janet Irwin’s deft staging and the well written adaptation brings this story telling up to the level of mythology that resounds singularly like the magical arctic world captured by Robert W. Service’s  The Cremation of Sam McGee and .

Tommy remembers that journey with his father along that dusty old road up to Low to his mother’s old house  to see mean old Hughie “dying of the cancer “ but all  Tommy really thinks about are those deep green eyes of  Baby Bridget, Hughie’s one armed daughter whom Tommy has never forgotten.  A love story simmers under the trials and tribulations of the journey and allows Brendon  McMurtry -Howlett to master all the moods of his role. An excellent performance that easily held its own within that ensemble of his many seasoned partners with whom he shared the stage!

At that time it took 6 hours to travel 40 miles in a rundown old Buick driven by a drunken uncle  who  refused to take the “pledge”, until the priest and his strongmen got hold of him and convinced him it was the best thing for his health. Attila Clemenn as uncle Frank is again up to his level of greatness, especially when he is quoting Wordsworth . Those incidents are great  moments of joyful storytelling and excellent physical work with the actors as they jostle with the car, pull each other out of the river, deal with disappearing ancestors and lug cases of drinks or pull a stone coffin.  This also becomes a story of immigration as all these events take part in a space where the Irish immigrants cohabited with the local Francophones, sharing their legendary creatures , their food, their religion, their music and learning how to appreciate each other’s stories.

This new staging first created in 2015 at Arts Court,  begins by a cabaret-style setting that emphasizes the mise en abyme/ theatre within theatre format so that the multiple changes in the acting space are no challenge thanks to Brian Smith’s artful wooden construction and Martin Conboy’s magic lighting effects. Human figures melt into the shadows of the surrounding woods as the richly royal blue sky, the night lights from the power plant or the golden rays of the rising sun  and the churning water of the the rising river set  the stage event into a theatrical world larger than life.

Voices of the chorus pick up their cues and keep the  narrative rolling along at a good pace, creating the sense of an epic oratorio that quickly builds up momentum .  A  crowd of unforgettable characters  comes to life thanks to a text which gives them  meaty responses often full of humour  and  a talented  director  whose orchestration of the voices  is very precise.

Kristina Watt  is  Aunt Dottie obsessed with cleanliness.  Given her own centre space on the end of the slightly thrust stage setting,  she comes downstage and tells us  squarely in the face  all her woes about dirt. A funny but pathetic creature  who  builds up her own alienation by becoming a caricature.  Her performance works very well in spite of the fact that hers is not the tone that prevails in the show. Pierre Brault used his  gifts of accents, and music and shifting types to portray several individuals and brought much excitement to the stage.   Chris Ralph (Tommys father) and  Paul Rainville ( Mean Hughie) contributed  their own characters beautifully to  the ensemble.  Rainville  especially as the  dying Hughie  brought a chill of horror  to our bones while Megan Carty  as the courageous Baby Bridget and the long suffering, constantly baking , Poor Bridget (Doreen Taylor –Claxton ) as the women  in  Mean Hughie’s  household were low-key, strong  and very effective.

As always, Ian Tamblyn working with two other musicians was a vital part of the story telling and the construction of soundscape which became a force of nature addressing the audience in multiple ways.  However, because the musicians were placed on the extreme end of stage right,  it appeared that they had to readjust the sound mix so as not to drown out the other voices if they made the music too loud.  Thus at times, Tamblyn and his musicians were barely audible. Perhaps  the technician could bring the sound up from time to time so we can really appreciate their playing, especially the more delicate sounds like Tamblyn’s Mongolian bowls, instruments of his own creation that sent gentle vibrations over the water as Tommy and Baby Bridget float by in the night.

Nevertheless this is a show that speaks to our  region in a way that inspires much nostalgia, while inserting this local microcosm into a much larger form of popular legend. Up to Low has at last found its proper place in the National Arts Centre.

Up to Low plays until May 19/18 in the Babs Asper Theatre of the NAC.

Adapted for the stage and directed by  Janet Irwin

Assistant director   Attila Clemann

Musical direction Ian Tamblyn

Set and props: Brian Smith

Lighting design  M artin Conboy

Costumes  Sarah Waghorn

Amanda West Lewis   dramaturg

CAST

Pierre Brault   Hummer

Megan Carty  Baby Bridget

Attila Clemann   Frank

Brendan McMurtry -Howlett

Paul Rainville        Mean-Hughie

Chris Ralph            Dad

Doreen Taylor-Claxton   Poor Bridget

Kristina Watt           Aunt Dottie

MUSICIANS

Ian Tamblyn

Ellen Daly

Pat Maher