Matchstick: A weird and wonderful musical bolstered by clever storytelling

Her name is Matchstick, and she lives in an undesirable country. But this is her play and so she is free to cast herself as the hero. After all, she is a poor orphan and so she must be destined to rise against all odds. When she meets Alik, a stranger from far away, she is convinced that this must be the fairytale she has been waiting for.

Yet—as with all great fairytales—something lurks below the surface of the story, and the dramatic irony is darkly delicious. Even as the veneer of Matchstick’s musical fairytale world starts to crack, the audience is still left with a surprise that will take them by storm. It’s a slight of hand that subtly permeates the very fabric of the play, endowing it with a palpable tension. This clever manipulation of the audience is a credit to Nathan Howe’s strength at conceiving a calculated story.

It’s bolstered by a creative team that have imagined an enveloping backdrop for this fairytale-gone-wrong. David Granger’s set gives the impression of a band shell tucked away in a magical forest. Jagged trees with thick boughs frame the main stage, and instruments are perched around the playing space waiting to be swept up by Alik (Nathan Howe) or Matchstick (Lauren Holfeuer). Behind that, a scrim endows the stage with depth. Beautiful illustrations are projected onto the scrim (Jessica Gabriel and Chloe Ziner) and it becomes another playing space where the actors use their shadows to become a part of moving pages in a story-book. Dark, moody lighting (Bill McDermott) furthers the tension in the plot. The quirky fairytale stage-world is visually rich, musical, and mysterious.

The play is one about transformation. It’s about Matchstick’s transformation from childhood to adulthood, and of Alik’s transformation from a caring lover to a deeply paranoid man. The plot also transforms. At first, the audience is introduced to an imaginary place in a fairytale: The nameless, unspecified “undesirable country” where Matchstick lives. Slowly, Howe begins to unveil one small truth and then another, until Matchstick’s fairytale world becomes entirely concrete; a reality darker than what even Grimm may have imagined.

At its best, Matchstick draws the audience into a world where song, dance, and puppetry mask a vile truth that seems to bubble just below the surface. In these moments, the music takes on a life of its own; it is a nod to Matchstick’s careful erasure of the small wrongs that have been committed against her, and the embodiment of the idealism that seems to cloud her judgment.

This is exemplified in Matchstick and Alik’s wedding scene. When a white lie of Alik’s is revealed right before they are to marry, Matchstick’s face twists into an expression of resentment and reluctance. Just then, a melody overtakes both her and Alik, sweeping them through the marriage and into their first home. It’s a swift, subtle moment, but leaves the audience anxious at what is to come. However, the use of music doesn’t seem to suit the story during latter part of the play. It would have been more in keeping with this slow transformation from fairytale to reality to withdraw the musical elements, as they relate to Matchstick’s childhood idealism.

The production fails to evoke a strong response from the audience, and that’s likely due to the meandering storyline. Born from a Fringe festival production, this full-length version of the play is conflated in a way that distracts from the ominous rising action, and even undermines it. On one hand it is conceivable that Howe attempts to misdirect the audience, but nonetheless it suffers from a noticeable pacing issue.

The overall experience is thought-provoking, playful and immersive; it’s entertaining and bizarre in the best kind of way. Between the clever staging and strong performances, this is a weird and wonderful production that challenges its audiences to look at history through a kaleidoscope.

Nathan Howe: Playwright
Kristen Holfeuer: Director

CAST
Lauren Holfeuer: Matchstick
Nathan Howe: Alik

CREATIVE TEAM
David Granger: Set Designer
Bill McDermott: Lighting Designer
Jessica Gabriel and Chloe Ziner: Projection Designer
Lauren Holfeuer: Costume Designer
Jennifer Raithie-Wright: Stage Manager