Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh until Tue 26 Aug (now ended)
There should be a nice portmanteau phrase for this show from Canadian Stage – Cinetheatre? Stagefilm? Something like that anyway, as Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock’s mix of film noir aesthetics and stage play performance is something that bridges the gap between the mediums.
The actors perform on a bare stage whilst being ‘filmed’. The ‘sets’ are created via digital tech and are displayed cinematically on the screen. Your vision is pulled between the chiaroscuro close ups and the sight of the actors through the screen both performing and operating cameras.
It’s post-war Vancouver and Helen (Lisa Ryder) has arrived from Los Angeles to find the man who left her holding the bag for her husband’s murder. She turns up at a flea-pit hotel on its last legs and stirs up a hornets’ nest. Meanwhile over in the black neighbourhood, two brothers bicker over control of gin joints, gambling and girls. Although not obviously connected, these two stories impact upon each other.
There’s more to this production than just technical achievement and curiosity. Between them Douglas and Haddock have created a genuine piece of noir borrowing on the cinematic tropes and its literary origins. There’s Hammett, Chandler, Chester Himes and James M. Cain as well as a little bit of the raw language of James Ellroy. It’s a convincing homage, although it’s never going to challenge The Big Sleep.
As is often the case with noir, whilst the leads are interesting the supporting characters steal the show, particularly the sleazy manager Harry (Hrothgar Matthews) and the cross-dressing, wise-cracking receptionist Julie/Joe (Haley McGee). This is a good recreation of a genre, but it’s not without flaws. At least one story strand ends up going nowhere and although scenes with Henry (Sterling Jarvis) and Buddy (Allan Louis), could easily be the basis of a play in themselves, you can’t help wondering how Buddy managed to make so much money for so long whilst being the world’s most paternal and indulgent pimp.
Helen Lawrence is both a brilliant technical achievement and a compelling play. It’s difficult to say if it’s the future of theatre, but it’s a great reconstruction of the cinematic past.
Showing as part of the Edinburgh International Festival 2014