The English Language World Premier of Little Martyrs Creates Directorial Challenges Which Are Not Resolved.
A graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal Dominique Parenteau-Lebeuf has had her work translated into German, English, Bulgarian and Italian. She has also had her plays staged in festivals in Europe. The company La Baraka based in Paris, which also created Le Collier d’Hélène by Carole Fréchette, even before it was mounted in Canada, also did the first production of Parenteau-Lebeuf’s play Filles de Guerre lasses in 2005, the same year La Petite Scrap (original title of Little Martyrs) was published. This translation by Mishka Lavigne is the first English language version of the play, and thus, this production by Evolution Theatre is a world première.
Studio A is a lovely little intimate space, and set designer Pierre Ducharme has produced a long narrow thrust stage that allows for various acting areas separated by shifts in time and special lighting effects. Director Christopher Beddows seems to be attracted to works that need intricate but intimate spaces that allow for such special effects and so it appears to be perfect for the challenges presented by this play.
In the very first tableau, we see the the strange Minnie Tempête , standing on the long runway, frozen in time as it were, staring intently as she tries to reach out to a crumpled garbage bag lying on the ground. That bag obviously signifies something very important and as the lights come up and Minnie returns to the real world, we have a sense that the bag will return.
What begins then are in fact two separate tales which are connected by two acts of violence, similar in nature but different in their origin. On one hand a tall, almost emaciated young man named Jacob, (it is not our intention to cast aspersions on actor Mat Miwa’s physique but he obviously looked the part perfectly) with sunken eyes and the troubled gaze of an illuminated believer, comes to rent a room in Minnie’s house. He settles in and he begins to go about his life. He is obsessively drawn to Minnie’s books on stories of Christian Martyrs,and it becomes rapidly clear that torture, blood, pain and suffering are a source of excitement that manifests itself in sexual terms. The arrival of a friend, Ludowic, played by an excellent Brad Long with the slightly diabolical smile and intensely shining eyes , produces a new dynamic, as this new young man seems to have a particular hold on Jacob.
At the same time, Minnie is living through a period of great pain, traumatised by the death of her baby, and shaken by the constant intervention of her avenging angel of a mother, whose voracious sexual appetite also transforms her into a Gorgone, a grotesquely hypertheatrical Margo Macdonald (quite wonderful here) who slinks around the stage, drawing young men into her nest before she devours them. Her constant conquests of young men, and her exhibitionist behaviour poisons her own daughters life as Minnie has dreams, even hallucinations, of intimate encounters with both parents in scenes laced with incest.
The translation which seems to have captured the changing tones embedded in the author’s language, actually reveal this play to be a meeting place of modern liturgical drama and classical myth where two separate stories meet . Biblical symbols, slightly archaic language draw us into this world of death, vengeance, blood and sacrifice. Freudian images of the protective Father, important in the Old Testament and acted out by Minnie’s disturbing visions show us that naratives of martyrdom, redemption and devilish temptation, closer to the New Testament, relocate this all in modern urban mythology and all its frightening violence.
The interweaving of these characters belonging to different stories, created ruptures in the flow of the play. As well, the Jacob and Ludowic stories that send us back to those two well known child murderers, show us that these two characters still form a mutually destructive team, ten years after the fact. The play speaks of seeking redemption but Jacob’s pulsions still draw him towards blood, sexual excitement produced by torture as well as the mistrust of innocence, whereas Ludowic is still dreaming about the naked bodies of little children that he wants to cover in beautiful clothes. Beauty and martyrdom are only new means by which they will satisfy old desires. In fact, the men have not changed at all. That is the most troubling discovery revealed here but the play does not seem to follow that path.
On the contrary, it produces a very dense mixture of many events and images that are sometimes difficult to connect. Bedford, who is a very sensitive director, probably did what he could with this script which, very likely gives directors very few clues as to the staging. And I am sure it was not easy.
I should add that the final scene, which is extremely important, did not work because we could barely hear Nancy Kenny as Minnie. Bending over her distraught mother, Minnie announces the truth which has a devastating effect on the mother and brings that portion of the family drama to some closure. However, we couldn’t hear what she was saying. I hope that the whisper has now become more audible.
As for the other narrative, it seems to have been left to fend for itself. There is death, there is a new couple that emerges out of this relationship, and there is a future that might be possible but it appears to open up new possibilities for new horrors. I felt that if the complex relationships which can be traced back to the original murderous couple could have been the object of more in depth treatment from the moment the two men find each other after ten years, the play would have been a lot more powerful. The playwright appears to have dispersed her energy in too many directions at once.
Little Martyrs is the work of an important new playwright. If this is not perhaps her best writing for the stage, her other plays have been given much attention around the world. This is however, a chance to watch Christopher Bedford at work, and see how this excellent director makes his way through a play that poses many challenges, but will certainly not leave you indifferent.
Little Martyrs plays at Arts Court until February 19.
Little Martyrs
by Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf
English-language world premiere of Little Martyrs
Translated by Mishka Lavigne
Directed by Christopher Bedford
A production of Evolution Theatre.
Plays at Arts Court
With Jody Haucke, Nancy Kenny, Brad Long, Margo MacDonald and Matt Miwa
Lighting and Set Design by Pierre Ducharme
Costume & Properties Design by Sarah Waghorn
Sound Design by AL Connors
February 9 to 19, 2011 – 8 p.m.
Matinees: Saturday and Sunday – 2 p.m.
(no show on Monday)