November 2007 - Nr. 11
KW & Beyond
by Irena Syrokomla
The
Last Five Years
– Theatre & Company in Kitchener
This is the first show for this 2007/08 season for Theatre & Company
. The Last Five Years is the very much anticipated choice of Daryl Cloran . As he is directing this play for the third time in his career, it is obvious that he feels some affinity for it.The Last Five Years is
written and composed by Jason Robert Brown and it presents the sequence of events from the first date through the proposal, wedding and eventually break up of a young couple Catherine and Jamie. The story is told in a form of songs sung by each one, Jamie telling the story from the first date to the final departure, Cathy telling her story backward, from the last day to the first encounter. The story relates the same events; however, there are two versions of it, two sets of memories. They meet on stage only once: at the time of the proposal. Other than that, these are the stories of very young self-absorbed individuals, each one pursuing his/hers career and wishing for his/her dreams to![Andrew Kushir as Jamie and Julie Martell as Catherine [picture courtesy of Theatre & Company]](711c-IS336.jpg)
materialize.
Jamie played by Andrew Kushnir is a young urban ambitious Jewish writer just
succeeding in publishing his first book. Catherine – Julie Martel – is
equally a young small town girl wishing for an acting career. After a
wonderful period of courtship and wedding he is overwhelmed by his writer’s
success and has a short affair with some faceless female. There is not much
depth to it, there is not enough time in 5 years and the endless chase of
their own professional paths to develop it. It is just sad.
The play is sort of a musical, most of monologues are sung. Although the songs are pleasant, none of them are memorable enough to hum as you leave the theatre. The background music is performed by a group of five musicians, some of them from K-W Symphony. Perhaps that was why the music was clearly too loud for the size of the theatre and the actors/singers were barely able to sing over it at times. I wished for the voice-support system for this theatre for years, finally it came and I cannot say it has been utilized successfully. Maybe next time it could be tuned better. Set and stage design by Kelly Wolf is worth mentioning: clean and crisp, setting the mood for recollections and pondering over the past, excellent background for actors, a collage of photos with a screen for projecting some more. Very good idea!
A Christmas Story is scheduled for December 5 to 23 and in 2008, there are two more plays planned. All the best to Mr. Cloran and his team!
The box office phone is 519-571-0928, website
www.theatreandcompany.org.
