Thursday 23 July 2015

The Bar Scene -- Venue #12 (Winnipeg Fringe)

It is always weird to experience a play that isn't the play you are working on, but is by the same playwright. There is this thing that happens in your brain, if you are doing your job as a director properly, where you can anticipate how the characters want to behave toward one another. What they want to do to one another. So, freshly off directing Hannah Foulger's newer play, Clink, watching The Bar Scene was an unusual experience.

The four young performers do a capable job bringing to life the staff of a pub; although on the surface they may appear to be archetypes, as the play progresses we do learn that these characters want something more, and are deeper than their archetype may have implied. Similar to Foulger's other piece, this play centres around relationships, and that murky neighbourhood of attraction between close friends. How does one know when to approach? What if the friendship is at risk? Using a clever device of playing out scenes, eventually the truth of the characters' feelings come out.

There are moments of delightful comic timing from the four performers, however there are also moments of clunkiness where it is clear the actors are not clear on what they are actually trying to do to other characters. Nonetheless it is an enjoyable 60 minutes, with a healthy dose of laughs and a sweet ending.

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