Theatre Review – 4th Line Theatre/Sky Gilbert’s St. Francis of Millbrook

Sky Gilbert writes timely plays. St. Francis of Millbrook is about growing up gay in rural Ontario. Gilbert provides a good dose of humour to make his message of acceptance and tolerance more palatable, but the scene where the father savagely beats his teenage son for being gay is a sobering moment. The fact that the audience gave the play a standing ovation speaks volumes that Gilbert’s (and 4th Line’s) bullying theme is being given the importance it deserves.

At the heart of the play is a farm family, and that the setting is Millbrook where 4th Line is located, puts the action squarely in the home base of the audience. On the other hand, placing the scene in 1994 goes back to more conservative times, which also lets the audience of today off the hook.

Dad (William Foley), who has an alcoholic past, is upset with his eldest son Luke (Nathaniel Bacon). Luke, a superb hockey player, wants to give up the team. He also loves Madonna, spends a lot of time with his sister Courtney (Robin Hodge) and her girlfriends, and is obsessed with St. Francis and his gentle words of wisdom. Dad has intimated he will leave the farm to second son Shane (Griffin Clark) who is an insensitive clod. Mother (Sherri McFarlane) is long suffering, to say the least. She understands that the farm has problems that plague her husband, but she also worries about Luke.

Gilbert is an uneven, rambling writer, and sometimes the play bogs down in repetitious talk. He does, however, write character well and Ruby is a role made in heaven for the peerless Elley-Ray Hennessy. She and hubby Ned (Robert Winslow) are aging hippies. For example, Ruby hosts moondances for the outcasts in the Millbrook community, and has her eye on Luke. Ned can’t get a word in edgewise as Ruby takes flight with Gilbert’s hilarious dialogue.

The most inspired moments of the play are Luke’s fantasies, which include the Marlborough Man clone John (Ken Houston), a newcomer to the Millbroook area. Director Kim Blackwell has played these up to the hilt, whether it is Luke mimicking a Madonna video, or a flock of homing pigeons taking off as Luke swirls his cape, or a bare-chested John arriving on his horse to rescue Luke from dire straits.

When the gay sex scene happens between the very drunk Luke and the very straight and very drunk, hormones raging Roy (Spencer Robson), it is absolutely logical. Blackwell slips her actors into the embrace with consummate taste. In fact, the logic of the scene makes one wonder whether virulent homophobia is a result of a straight guy ending up in a same sex situation while under the influence, which is then a source of shame.

Blackwell works best when dealing with a cast of thousands like the Stag and Doe party that ends the play. She has also pulled clear characterizations out of her players – the sensitive Luke, the brutish father, the harried mother, the boorish brother, and a particularly strong performance from the dangerously flirty Jasmine (Emily Gray), a friend of Courtney. Once again the cast is a mix of professionals, recent drama school grads, and members of the community, and Blackwell weaves them all together with her usual dispatch. The fusion is a 4th Line trademark. The theatre is known for showcasing emerging talents and both Bacon and Robson are ones to watch. Jacqueline Campbell’s costumes are character perfect.

(St. Francis of Millbrook, written by Sky Gilbert, 4th Line Theatre, (starring Nathaniel Bacon, Sherri McFarlane, William Foley, and Elley-Ray Hennessey, directed by Kim Blackwell), Aug. 13 to Sept. 1, 2012)