arts // no. 8

Shanley’s greatest hits
in ‘Bard of the Bronx’

» Douglas College’s anthology play a little off-key

Adam Tatelman
u ey start Writer

n the world of Broadway,
John Patrick Shanley is the

giant on whose shoulders other :
: watch and her stilted dialogue

: was morbidly comic. In the

: role of Linda Rotunda, Pamela
: Martinez shows a striking

: talent for bursting into tears

E at the drop of a hat, one of the
: toughest things for most actors
: toaccomplish. Rounding out

: the scene, Chantelle Pryznyk

: brings a genuine frustration

: to Denise Savage, one of the

: most repressed characters
Shanley’s ever written.

playwrights stand. A Pulitzer
and Tony award-winning
writer for screen and stage,
he has penned over 23 plays
since his debut in 1982, often
directing his own work and
continuing to write to this day.
In celebration of his long and
influential career, Douglas
College's Bard of the Bronx
collects scenes from his most
well-regarded plays and films.
The unique difficulty with
arranging anthology plays is
that each scene must function
as a thematic emissary for the
play it’s taken from without

Getting to the point in this
way is easier to do on film
thanks to dramatic camera
work and editing studios. On
stage, the actors must rise to
the occasion and tell an entire
play’s story in one scene.
Noah Oryema was a
crowd pleaser as both Aldo
and Ronny, characters from
Shanley’s famous comedies

Italian American Reconciliation :
: she wears the opulent costumes

: well. Her turn as the tortured

: Roberta in Danny and the Deep
: Blue Sea opposite returning

: Douglas College theatre alumni
: Parker Thompson is both

: unexpected and effective.

and Moonstruck. He’s one of
those rare comedic actors who
can get a laugh just by being
on stage. Loretta Castorini’s
(Alice Knechtel) elopement
with Ronny is one of the
crowning comedic moments
of the play, and it’s clear both

: actors are enjoying their work.

Though Savage in Limbo

: isn’t my favorite Shanley play,
: Lily Gillette makes a compelling
: case for borderline certifiable
: drunk April White. Her endless

nervous tics were disturbing to

Despite the palpable

: tension in her performance,
: [can't help but feel Shannon
: Lindsey Tauber got the short
the benefit of any rising action. : end of the stick as Sister
: Aloysius. Doubt: A Parable

: wasa great work of drama,

: and I would have liked to see
: what she could do with one

: of the more pivotal scenes.

Of the actors in the scene

: from Women of Manhattan,

: Rebecca Troock was my

: personal favorite. She is

: very skilled at affecting the

: superficial high-class malaise

that characterizes the play, and

The set only contains some

: tables, chairs, a backdrop with
: the occasional film projection,
: and a hidden double-door.

: Considering the size of the

: Laura C. Muir Performing Arts
: Theatre, that’s a lot of space

: to fill. These are not small

: challenges for a troupe of

: student actors to overcome, but
: in placing incredible pressure

: on the actors they create some
; outstanding work as a result.

However, there were some

: details in the performance that
: didn’t work for me. I found

: the accents to be inconsistent
: at best—in striving for an

: Italian-American accent, the
: cast seems to have overshot

: the mark and hit a Long

: Island Jewish accent instead.

: A little more work in this

: area would have cleared

: upa lot of my concerns.

While it is a nice gesture

to arrange for all the actors

: to play significant roles, I

: personally would prefer a

: full-length Shanley play to a
: segmented anthology. The

: actors are to be applauded

: for facing the difficulties

: presented by this format,

: even if the work subverts the
: original dramatic structure.

Catch Bard of the Bronx

: from now until November 20 at
: the Laura C. Muir Performing

: Arts Theatre at the Douglas

: College New Westminster

: campus. Shows start at 7:30

: p.m. Tickets are $20 each,

: or $10 for students, and are

: available through Tickets

: New West at TicketsNW.ca

theotherpress.ca

nic Corner: Breaking
adition for the best

Batman: War Games

y

t 1: Outbreak’ review ,

 

oe

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor
Ad S lifeandstylo@theotheroress.ca

OOOOS

na lot of ways, I’ma stickler
for tradition, especially when

it comes to anything Batman.
Why mess with a good thing,
right? But even I can admit when
I’m wrong. Outbreak is anything
but your typical Batman story,
and | loved every minute of it.

War has broken out in
Gotham. The local gangs are
at each other’s throats, and it’s
up to Batman to find out why,
especially because he recognizes
the tactical strategy used as
one of his own “war games”—a
hypothetical plan to get his
enemies to wipe each other out.
The problem is he didn’t set
these cogs in motion, which begs
the question as to who did.

Group effort doesn’t even
begin to cover the collection of
names associated with this work.
Outbreak alone was written
by Ed Brubaker, Andersen

  

evia toonzone.net

: Gabrych, Devin Grayson, Dylan
: Horrocks, A. J. Lieberman, and

: Bill Willingham. Normally I find
: works penned by a collective can
: come off as disjointed or cliché.

: Outbreak, however, manages to
: avoid all of that. The plot itself

: is consistent and surprising.

Art-wise, I liked this book.

: It is extremely detailed and very
: traditional. I hada slight issue

: with the colouring, though.

: Throughout most of the book,

: colour contrast is used to

: emphasize shadows without

: simply blacking everything out.

: This works for the majority of

: the book, but there are occasions
: where characters come off as

: looking orange because of it.

: The art was also a collective

: effort between Paul Gulacy, Brad
: Walker, Giuseppe Camuncoli,

: Al Barrionuevo, and Francis

: Portela, among others. In this

: case, the collective was a little

: less successful, but only a little.

Would I recommend this

: book? Most definitely, but be

: prepared to see some unfamiliar
: faces if youre not as well-versed
: in the Batman universe.

 

Action-packed adventure in ‘Agent X’

» ‘Agent X’ pilot review

Lauren Paulsen
Senior Columnist

OOO0S

An X is an action-packed

new series about the new
vice president of the United

Stone), and the secret agent she
inherits with her new job, John

president is aware of the secret

and he wants to keep it that way.
This pilot episode is

incredibly full of action. It is

obviously the main point of the

show. The plot is fairly mediocre

and predictable. I also found

an obvious continuity blunder

: towards the beginning of the

: episode: a bad guy was shot in

: the left shoulder, but in the next
: scene it was his right shoulder

: that was bloody. I figured

: that was foreshadowing of a

: shoddy, poorly done episode,

> but luckily I didn’t notice any

States, Natalie Maccabee (Sharon other blunders in the filming,

Despite the flaws, Agent X

: could be enjoyable when you

: want to watch some mindless TV
Case (Jeff Hephner). Not even the : and don’ feel like digging around
- . : : for any deeper meaning, I have a
missions going on under his nose, : feeling each episode will follow

: the same structure plot-wise,

: but hopefully there will be some
: variation. I'd have to watch more

: to find out if my hunch is correct.

All in all, the show could

totally tank in the end, but
: the action should be fun.

 

Image via TNT