The Toronto Plank Panel check out norway.today

The Panel:
Alison Broverman, a Toronto-based playwright and freelance arts reporter
Ann McDougall, a Toronto-based playwright and storyteller
Andrew Lamb, a Toronto-based director

The Play:
Norway.Today by Swiss playwright Igor Bauersima. Theatre Smash produces the Canadian premiere of the play’s English translation in Toronto Tarragon Extra Space until September 21.

Alison: Who would have thought a play about suicide could be so much fun? I was apprehensive when the first scene opened in an internet chatroom (the last play that I saw that took place in the internet was a bit of a disaster), but Ieva Lucs and Stephen McCarthy are both engaging and have such great chemistry on stage together, and Michael Walton's lighting offered some lovely cues of their laptop-lit faces. (Also, the chatroom thing was dropped by the second scene, so it never had time to get annoying.)

Ann: This is such an interesting play! After the first scene I was pretty convinced that I hated it, actually, not because it was poorly done (I agree that the lighting was outstanding), but because the subject matter is so boldly unpleasant. And it's hard to like two characters who spew nothing but contempt for the world and each other. But everything shifted for me during the nigh-time scene after they spot the northern lights. It's really magical because they're not just falling in love but coming back to life. Suddenly I was looking at the same play and the same characters but through an affectionate lens. A total paradigm shift, and so lovely.

Andrew: I agree that some of the best work was in the night scene. Both actors have developed excellent chemistry and it takes the play to an intimate and fun place. I too was surprised at how funny a show about suicide could be, but I found that I was a bit ahead of the writing and knew where it was going. The production elements, particularly the live video the actors were doing, was very well executed and an excellent thing to see on stage. Robin Fisher's design was great, especially the backdrop that also doubled as a screen for the projections very well.

Alison: It should be noted that Stephen McCarthy, who plays August (the dude), joined the cast days before tech week started (he was an eleventh hour replacement for Marc Bendavid, who was called away by some tv gig). McCarthy is always a compelling actor anyway (I think Robert Cushman described him as having "electricity in his veins", which is a little much, but I agree that he is quite a talent), but his onstage relationship with Ieva Lucs is particularly fun to watch.

My one complaint is that the play feels a little long. The way the story is constructed, you're ultimately watching two troubled people procrastinate on suicide. And I didn't always want them not to jump.

Ann: I agree that it feels a little long. What really struck me, however, was how well such a text-heavy script worked, especially for a translation. I don't think anyone would have the courage to write a script like this in English because we're so deathly afraid of being wordy. But here was a play that basically amounted to two people talking about death for 90 minutes, and it worked beautifully! Partial credit for that goes to Sarah Bauman's inventive staging. I loved how simply she shifted our perspective of the cliff 90 degrees at one point.

Andrew: Yes, Sarah's staging was at its best in the perspective change, but I also really enjoyed the simplicity of the staging using the right and left hand sides of the space. It may be a little long and have a lot of words but it was very well executed.