American Devotion
Photo by Doug Raaflaub
By The Word Productions/American Devotion by Franca Miraglia, directed by Mario D’Alimonte, Studio Theatre, Streetcar Crowsnest, closed Jun. 14.
In his 1987 autobiography, Timebends: A Life, Arthur Miller muses that had he and his then-wife, Marilyn Monroe, invited Norman Mailer to dinner, perhaps Mailer might have been kinder to Monroe when he wrote his 1973 notoriously unsympathetic biography of her years later.
That passing observation sparked playwright Franca Miraglia’s imagination. From a single paragraph in Miller’s memoir, Miraglia fashioned the premise for her world premiere play American Devotion.
In Miraglia’s imagined version of events, the dinner with Norman Mailer (Mark Rittinger) actually takes place in 1957. As the evening unfolds, the conversation moves beyond literary sparring into the political climate of the era.
Arthur Miller (Holm Bradwell) has been summoned to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the play deftly weaves that historical episode into its fictional premise.
With Miller faced with pressure to name names, Mailer has a proposal. He’ll let Miller name his name, in return for access to Monroe. Being seen in public with Monroe will bring needed publicity to Mailer and help alleviate alimony problems in terms of cash advances from his publishers.
American Devotion
Photo by Doug Raaflaub
The brilliance of O’Connor’s imagination is to build an entire play around a dinner that never happened.
But where is Marilyn Monroe (Misha Harding) in all of this? She remains upstairs in the bedroom, wrestling with her own fears, vulnerabilities and inner demons.
The play therefore unfolds largely through conversations between Miller and Mailer, punctuated by Miller’s repeated attempts to persuade Monroe to join them downstairs. Instead, Monroe voices both her anxieties and her anger over Mailer’s proposal to name names.
Miraglia places two formidable intellectuals in direct conflict while setting their debate against the celebrity, personal turmoil and public scrutiny surrounding Monroe. The result is a fascinating clash of personalities and ideas and all three actors give a good account of themselves.
Director Mario D’Alimonte shoulders the considerable challenge of sustaining a drama built largely on conversation. By keeping the exchanges taut and the confrontations sharply focused, the production holds the audience’s attention throughout.
As a “what if?” scenario, it certainly makes for a fascinating premise.
The Twin Sues
Photo by Sophie Bouey
Bird On Stage Productions/The Twin Sues by Garrett M. Ryan, directed by Robert Leitner, Assembly Theatre, closed Jun. 21.
In his new Canadian play, Garrett M. Ryan sets The Twin Sues against the backdrop of a fictional war between Canada and the United States.
The title refers to the border communities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. In Ryan”s imagined conflict, American forces cross the international bridge and occupy the Canadian city, making it the first community to fall in the war.
Sue Johnson (Tipelo Hildebrand) and Sue Jackson (Katelyn Doyle) are border patrol officers who have spent years watching traffic cross the international bridge linking the two Saults. Friends since grade school, they share a love of fishing on the St. Marys River. But when the fictional American invasion turns their world upside down and the Canadian Sue becomes the American Sue’s POW, their lifelong friendship is put to a severe test.
Ryan finds humour in the cultural differences between the two countries, for example when the Sues taste their national liquors – Kentucky bourbon and Canadian Club.
Some of the play’s funniest moments arise from the Canadian resistance movement, an underground radio network that quietly fights back against the occupation. The notion of a Canadian government in exile in Denmark is one of Ryan’s most inspired comic touches.
Yet beneath the comedy lies a more serious examination of occupation and identity. As the American Sue begins receiving directives from her superiors, her behaviour gradually changes, illustrating how authority and ideology can reshape even long-held loyalties and harkens back to the Nazis and “I’m just following orders.”
The Twin Sues
Photo by Sophie Bouey
Hildebrand and Doyle give spirited performances while director Robert Leitner keeps the pace moving at a good clip. Madeleine Gagnon has created a rather complicated set that evokes both the bridge and the personal spaces of both Sues on the tiny Assembly stage, but it works.
Playwright Ryan is the artistic director and theatre manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Community Theatre Centre who proudly describes himself as a Northern Ontario playwright. His mandate is to champion voices from Northern Ontario, and that background gives The Twin Sues an engaging perspective from a part of the country that is seldom represented on Canadian stages.
All in all, The Twin Sues proves to be a thoroughly entertaining blend of comedy, satire and thoughtful political speculation.