Poor - Profoundly Affecting
See this incredible show! Poor is one of the most incredible theatre experiences I have had in recent memory. The one woman show is funny, risky, tragic and surprising.
The writing, by Suzanne Ristic is witty, clever, sneaky, poetic, and brilliant. It is both of our time in its exploration of wealth and class and also a timeless human story. Ristic has also created, in Shelly Cormorant, one of the most unique, heroic, disagreeable, alive and powerful characters that I have seen on stage in a long time. I started out laughing at and disliking Shelly, but over the course of an hour fell in love with this deluded, strong and brave woman. And, in the end, after she has been through a personal revolution, and is “turning over tables in the temple”, and I was so profoundly affected that I had tears in my eyes.
The acting was of the highest calibre as well. The piece is a marathon of a sixty minute monologue with more than seven onstage costume changes. Lisa Bunting is a force - spending each of the sixty minutes mid and upstage speaking as Shelly Cormorant as well as eighteen different characters as seen through Shelly’s eyes. Bunting didn’t waver in passion, commitment and energy. And, using the best mixture of broad and subtle, Bunting’s Shelly is so vivid and real.
The direction, by Jay Brazeau, is so natural that I didn’t see it most of the time. Only in the first part of the monologue in the gold dress that I noticed a few pauses that seemed forced – but they may have been unplanned. And the simple set - consisting of a chaise, clothes rack and, and two piles of boxes and the minimal music were just enough to create the scene and mood without getting in way of the sense of place and character in the word painting and masterful acting. The venue of the Firehall Arts Centre is surrounded by the many of the scenes described in the play and was an intimate enough setting that any audience member can look into the actor's (and character's) eyes.
Poor irreverently confronts the isolation, illusions and fantasies of the 1% rather than delving into the struggles of the 99%. Particularly the isolation of Shelly, the wife of a CEO, who believes that those who live on the downtown East Side have it better than she does- she envies their freedom to say and do what they want because there is nothing for them to lose. Poor also confronts the truth that kindness, and compassion, as well as betrayal and extortion are not restricted to class but to character.
This is a must- see of the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Make the trip downtown. See Poor.