Hi, all,
This will not be my usual long-form review as I am pressed for time tongiht, but I did want to put up a post about the show I saw tonight.
That show is Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan.
The show, while perhaps not being particularly profound, is still a very tightly written, directed, and performed piece, well worth seeing.
The action concerns a couple, credited only as W and M, played by Lesley Faulkner and Bredan Gail respectively. As the show opens, M has just brought up the possibility that he and W might try to have a child.
What follows is a fast-paced 75 minutes exploring their journey through the possibilities of parenthood. While the
Though billed as "a conversation" it is Lesley Faulkner who carries the majority of the spoken text.Brendan Gall as M, does an excellent job as well, complementing Faulkner's overanalytical W with a more heartful (and I found more sympathetic) M.
The script, I feel, tries to address too much. Ideas of carbon footprints and the ethics of bringing a child into a world careening to disaster are tossed around, but with little really sticking. Where the script triumphs is in the ups and downs of the relationship between M and W, and it is that relationship that really pulls the audience along for the ride.
Set designer Ken Mackenzie gives us a wonderfully IKEA-inspired box set in which we observe M and W, almost as caged versions of ourselves. The set here is wedged in the corner of the Tarragon Extra Space (a configuration I have not seen before), physically confining the two characters who, are themselves often confined by analysis and expectation.
Director Weyni Mengesha stages the show simply, with no props or additional set pieces, and it works. Megesha is very conscious of movement, keeping the first part of the show rather static (to the point that I found myself thinking of a 2-person stand up performance), but slowly ramps up the speed and movement as events in the lives of M and W unfold. Once established, Mengesha is able to use what was likely 10 seconds of stillness (if that) to ratchet up a feeling of tremendously effective feeling of discomfort and concern, and (in that short time) convey a significant passage of time.
In all, this is not a deeply profound piece, but it is a truly satisfying one.
Overall, recommended if you can get a ticket!
Lungs pays at the Tarragon theatre until March 30.
This will not be my usual long-form review as I am pressed for time tongiht, but I did want to put up a post about the show I saw tonight.
That show is Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan.
The show, while perhaps not being particularly profound, is still a very tightly written, directed, and performed piece, well worth seeing.
The action concerns a couple, credited only as W and M, played by Lesley Faulkner and Bredan Gail respectively. As the show opens, M has just brought up the possibility that he and W might try to have a child.
What follows is a fast-paced 75 minutes exploring their journey through the possibilities of parenthood. While the
Though billed as "a conversation" it is Lesley Faulkner who carries the majority of the spoken text.Brendan Gall as M, does an excellent job as well, complementing Faulkner's overanalytical W with a more heartful (and I found more sympathetic) M.
The script, I feel, tries to address too much. Ideas of carbon footprints and the ethics of bringing a child into a world careening to disaster are tossed around, but with little really sticking. Where the script triumphs is in the ups and downs of the relationship between M and W, and it is that relationship that really pulls the audience along for the ride.
Set designer Ken Mackenzie gives us a wonderfully IKEA-inspired box set in which we observe M and W, almost as caged versions of ourselves. The set here is wedged in the corner of the Tarragon Extra Space (a configuration I have not seen before), physically confining the two characters who, are themselves often confined by analysis and expectation.
Director Weyni Mengesha stages the show simply, with no props or additional set pieces, and it works. Megesha is very conscious of movement, keeping the first part of the show rather static (to the point that I found myself thinking of a 2-person stand up performance), but slowly ramps up the speed and movement as events in the lives of M and W unfold. Once established, Mengesha is able to use what was likely 10 seconds of stillness (if that) to ratchet up a feeling of tremendously effective feeling of discomfort and concern, and (in that short time) convey a significant passage of time.
In all, this is not a deeply profound piece, but it is a truly satisfying one.
Overall, recommended if you can get a ticket!
Lungs pays at the Tarragon theatre until March 30.