Moss Park: Exaggeration kills credibility

In George F. Walker’s dark comedy “Moss Park,” Tina (Emma Slipp) and Bobby (Graeme McComb) are a young couple who fell in love, made love and, consequently, became parents as teenagers. It’s now three years later and, although they no longer live together, they still love each other. Now, they meet in Moss Park in Toronto to figure out whether there is a future in store for them, their three-year-old daughter, and – whoops- another one on the way. Yes, Emma is pregnant again, as a result of a night of passionate reconciliation between her and Bobby.

Walker puts all imaginable obstacles in their way. Not only are they as poor as church mice, but they also come from very problematic families. Emma is the third generation of immigrants whose dreams of a better life have been going to pieces ever since her grandfather came to the country.  Bobby grew up with an alcoholic father, who recently replaced drinking with smoking weed. As if that weren’t bad enough, it seems that at least half of his relations and friends have a criminal record. He is incapable of keeping any decent job more than a day, but has been proficient at committing petty crimes since his early teens.

At the very beginning, the play captures the audience’s attention. We come to know the desperate, but rather intelligent and mature Emma, as well as the completely unintelligent and immature Bobby through well-paced sequences and naturally flowing dialogue. Lives lived in a vicious cycle of poverty have left a definite mark on these two. They are frightened with no real future prospects, limited in choice between homeless shelters living with mentally imbalanced relatives, or making a living through petty crime. Graeme McComb’s and Emma Slipp’s ability to turn into their respective characters makes every word the say believable. The atmosphere is coloured with their misery and with a feeling of helplessness found only at the very bottom of life.Elements of humour combined with a perfectly designed set by Martin Conboy underline the bleak circumstances.

Unfortunately, the second part is completely different. The ideas evaporate, focus is lost, and the plot is repetitive. Bobby’s mobile phone starts working overtime. His friend, a jailbird, calls so often that one can only guess he works for a prison telephone centre. Each time he calls, he informs Bobby that this or that relative has been incarcerated. It feels like watching the same scene time and time again.  Suddenly, all of Emma’s creativity and initiative from the first part melt away. She joins Bobby in throwing around possible solutions to their problems, rushing through them, and rejecting all one by one. With each new conversation or telephone call, it becomes less a well-rounded play and more a study with an objective to prove that there is nothing left for the two of them in the world, not even crime. As the end nears, the play gets lost in an attempt to say too much and, as a result, it says nothing.

Of course, exaggerating always kills credibility. This is what happens to Moss Park. All of a sudden, it was neither sad nor funny any more; it was just a mess.

Still, there were two things that stayed consistently good throughout the performance – the acting of Emma Slipp and Graeme McComb and Martin Conboy’s set.

 

Moss Park runs until Sunday, February 8, 2015

Written by George F. Walker

Directed by Patrick McDonald

Starring: Tina (Emma Slipp) and Bobby (Graeme McComb

Set and light design by Martin Conboy

Play at: Grand Canadian Theatre Company