Poison The Well: Why is this show not on the silver screen?

Poison The Well is a very, very, very, very, dense script.  In fact, the script is much too dense for a show featured at a Fringe anywhere in the world. The show should be a feature film! It is that good.

The story follows a not-so-chance meeting between Maya and James, representatives for opposite sides of a hostage negotiation. As the story progresses, we find out they already know each other, two kids from the same neighbourhood. They are separated at the age of sixteen in a violent clash; one trapped in the war-torn country while the other escapes to the United States. We learn a bit about how each grew up, one becoming a reporter while the other lives the life of a corporate stooge at an evil oil company.

Several story threads intertwine and lead the audience through several twists and turns as the two characters struggle with their history and their present. They seem confused and yet confident in their lives but are unable to process what to do next. They have thrown each other off balance and agendas become blurry. It becomes clear near the end that they were once in love and have yet to come to terms with their sudden and violent parting many years before - leaving them with very hard decisions on how to deal with their current situation. There is a lot to the story that I don't want to spoil because if I reveal too much, you won't enjoy it as much.

Here is where this script becomes a curse. The show is just over an hour in length and, in such a short period of time, it left me wanting to know more. What happened that night when they were torn apart and what happened over the following fifteen years. I wanted to know more details about what their environments were like. I could go on about how these characters are so inter-wined and how their political and corporate worlds are corrupt and evil but I am going to refrain from going into any more detail because I won’t do the show justice.

If I were to say anything about what did not work in this show it would be about the quality of the direction. There are moments in this show where the actors seem lost and unsure of how they should be acting. For example, one scene features one of the characters holding the other at gun point. The actor being held at gun point moves around, and flails their arms about for a bit. When the tables are turned and the gun is pointed in the other direction, a similar reaction is displayed by the other actor. It just didn’t seem real enough. It seemed the actors hadn’t quite decided what to do in the situation and defaulted to an “actor’s reaction”. I think this what the director must have wanted but it left the show a bit flat.

But, you know what, who cares.  The show is good enough to stand on its own and my comments are more like notes to a director that will go unread - so, don’t listen to me. I just wish that, with such a gritty script, you could get more realistic performances from the actors.  

If you see any show this year, you need to see Poison The Well.  If you don’t, you’ll be sorry you didn’t.  Absolutely riveting. Stop reading this and go see this show already. No, really, stop reading this and get to the theatre before it is gone.