Miss is the latest offering from the pen of Michael Ross Albert, whose play Tough Jews garnered well deserved accolades last year.
It was with high expectations, then, that I anticipated the curtain rising on this production.
Miss is a play in one act, centered on Laura (the eponymous Miss of the title, played by Nola Martin). Nola is a high school English teacher at an unspecified Canadian boarding school for the jet set. We very quickly meet her one-time fiancée, Gill (Trevor Hayes) – now distanced from Miss due to circumstances revealed as the play unfolds, and her student Tyler (Wayne Burns), undergoing expulsion hearings for a fight that has had serious repercussions.
Nola Martin as Laura in Miss (Photo by Michael Osuszek)
Not much happens in the 75 minute run time of Miss with the majority of the dialog being a slow revelation of details which occurred well before action. The script moves things forward by fits and starts: quite literally, characters leave the set only to come in a moment later, having not finished what they wanted to say.
The characters felt similarly uneven, displaying or dropping traits moment by moment. It was almost as if the characters were driven by the dramatic need of the moment, instead of having the moments driven by the clashes and needs of the characters. This felt most apparent in character of Tyler, who is lauded repeatedly by Laura as being "impressive." At times, he is, displaying a cutting (if hurtful) wit, and speaking poetically of haunting the halls of the school and the numbers in the locker combinations. More often, however, his eloquence is replaced with statements typical of a fifteen-year-old who hates school. In the wash, I didn't see how he could have obtained the respect and affection he had from his teacher.
David Lafontaine's direction is well and good, but doesn't manage to smooth over the gaps in the material he is working with. Transitions between beats did not always flow easily as the actors navigated the desk rows in Adam Belanger's impressively naturalistic set. A couple times, I felt as if actors were just moving into position on stage rather than moving through a classroom. I also felt some blocking choices robbed the audience of emotional impact. In particular, the aftermath of an excellently choreographed fight by Jeff Hanson is placed so far downstage that only the front row could really take in the full intensity.
As for the actors: Nola Martin brings a focus to her role as Laura, even as Laura's lapses in judgment bring her world coming down around her. Wayne Burns brings pathos and tenderness to his role as the fifteen-year-old Tyler. And Hayes bring intensity to his Martin, the oldest characters of the piece, and arguably the least mature. Unfortunately, as a company, the relationships between the three never read as fully or clearly developed.
Despite my critiques, I can happily report that I was at no time bored or disinterested in the action taking place. I was mostly just disappointing that I could "see the seams" of the piece more often than I would have liked.
Miss is certainly a piece that holds attention, and Mr. Albert is a voice that I hope to hear from again and often.
Overall rating: Neutral
Miss plays until Oct 1 at The Assembly Theatre - 1479 Queen Street West
Details and tickets available here: https://www.unit102actors.com/