October, 2005 - Nr. 10
KW & Beyond
by Irena Syrokomla
Shaw Festival: Belle Moral and Something on the
Side.
The summer season in Niagara-on-the-Lake is slowly winding down; however, on the weekend of my visit, it looked lively as usual. The town was crowded with foreign tourists and alive with activities, the sun was shining, and Baskin Robbins was selling ice cream to enthusiastic customers. The restaurants were full, the parking lots at the local wineries overcrowded, the seats at the theatres all taken. It was the season for local peaches and grapes - September at its best! – and the drive along the Niagara Escarpment as pleasant as ever.
The plays I came to see were Belle Moral and Something on the Side.
Belle Moral, written barely a year ago, in 2004, by Ann-Marie MacDonald, one of Canada’s popular playwrights and novelists, was a mix of mystery and comedy, set at the turn of the century (19th into 20th, to make it clear) in Scotland, directed by Alisa Palmer and designed by Judith Bowden. Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), an earlier play written by Ann-Marie MacDonald, received much publicity, so my expectations of this new production were high.
![Fiona Byrne as Pearl MacIsaac in "Belle Moral: A Natural History" [photo: Andrée Lanthier]](510c-IS_Belle.jpg)
As it turned out, the play was slightly bizarre and slightly confusing in attempting to capture a gothic atmosphere mixed with some modern ideas of female independence and an emerging science of evolution. There were family secrets, madness, exotic deformities, mental illness, feminine dysfunctions and new ideas derived from Dr. Freud. Besides presenting fin de siècle ideas, very pleasant music especially recorded for this play, some good stage décor, and acting enriched with an appropriate heavy Scottish accent – I am not sure where it was leading and if it arrived where it was intended. Better luck next time. And yes, indeed it was better luck with Something on the Side.
Something on the Side was written by Georges Feydeau in 1890 and set, where else? - but in a Paris restaurant! It is a fast moving one-act farce presenting a luncheon rendezvous of two married men with their mistresses and discovering that they have dates with each other’s wives.
![Lisa Horner as Laurette & Douglas E. Hughes as H.B.S. in "Something on the Side" [photo: Andrée Lanthier]](510c-IS_Somethg.jpg)
It is directed by Neil Munro with a fine cast of Harry Judge and Simon Bradbury as husbands and Kate Henning and Lisa Horner as wives. There is also an additional couple of a maitre d’ and a waitress adding to the atmosphere and humour. No moral story or much depth to this play as its intent is to entertain and bring laughter, and a light picture of the French lifestyle. The conclusion is that they are going to have lunch together, laugh and continue having "something on the side".
Music, costumes, the set and a fast moving plot – these add to the very French atmosphere of this play. One of Feydeau’s favourite sayings was, "Life is short but we get bored with it anyway", so the subject is pursuit of love, sex, marriage, excitement and adventure by individuals, who have nothing else to do and are not interested in anything else anyway, so goes the social life of Frenchmen, then and perhaps now, as well. Having a mistress and some excitement have been the Gaelic motto for centuries, the lifestyle very much accepted by the society – witness the funeral procession of the French president several years ago.
By the time this review appears both plays will have closed. Several other productions Gypsy and Happy End are running till the end of October, You Can Never Tell and Bus Stop as far as November 27. Gypsy is a musical, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Happy End is the result of cooperation between Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht.
Niagara-on-the-Lake is so pleasant at this time of the year, and always offers an opportunity to purchase some good wine or take a stroll along the river.
And I will let you know about next summer’s program as soon as I get the news.
