The Other Press

Page 13

 

by Merrick Hunter

Paris 1482. The time of
extremes of poverty and
wealth, religious piety and
cruelty, filth and squallor
The Vancouver Playhouse
production of the Hunch-
back of Notre Dame vividly
captures the spirit of Paris
in the middle ages. through
a magnificent set, realistic
costumes, and the atmo-
sphere of an asylum.

‘The play is based on the
famous VictorHugo classic
Notre Dame de France.

Esmerelda, a_ beautiful
gypsy girl is infatuated with
The arrogant young knight
Phoebus. Phoebus seduces
Esmeralda and they check
into a local inn, where the
evil priest Frollo plans to
watch the action from a
secret hiding place. Coitus
interruptus occurs when
Frollo gets carried away
with himself and _ stabs
Phoebus in the back. Es-
meralda is accused of the
murder, a confession is
tortured out of her and she
is sentenced to hang. How-
ever, before the sentence is
carried out, she is rescued
and given sanctuary in
Notre Dame by the hunch-
back deformed bell ringer
Quasimoto.

Quasimoto is one of the
classic characters in litera-
ture. Most of us know of
the shuffling one eyed
hunchback of Notre Damé.
His genre has become quite
familiar in literature - the
creature who is ugly and
deformed yet unselfish and
good. And the man who, as
a social outcast, is unob-
served and observes all.
*quasimoto is the embodi-
ment of humanity and
goodness in a play other
_wise populated by fools and
scroundrals.

However, the play was by
no means. perfect. Al
though the sets and cos-
tumes were realistic, some
entirely unrealistic incidents
were puzzling in their con-
trast. For example, the
scene in which a band of
soldiers try and subdue
‘Quasimoto, the actor mime
a fight with an imaginary
army so that at first the
viewer thinks the actor is
having an attack of epi-
lepsy.

One brazen flaw in the
plot is when Phoebus turns
out not to have died but
merely to have been wou-
nded and who even has
a hand in bringing Esmer-
elda t the gallows. Surely
someone would have notced
\that Esmerelda could not

 

 

 

have murdered him if her is
still alive and kicking.
Often the acting tended
towards melodrama but
then so did the play. And
some of the supporting
actor’s actions seemed cur-
iously flat.

For example, at one point
a soldier grabs a gypsy by

The Chalk Garden

"Playing at the Vagabond
theatre in Queen’s Park
untill Saturday.

The Chalk Garden focuses
on the struggles between a
grandmother and her thirty
year old daughter, for con-
trol of a child. The cast are

introduced into the set one ©

the scruff of the neck and
pulls him roughly into the
courtroom. The actor is far
too polite and therefore
unbelievable. At other
points there are similarly
polite stabbings.

However, there are some
fine performances that help
aleviate these problems,

by one, by the contraversy
at hand, as the plot thick-
ens and comes to a climax.
The play is paced well and
is supported by a strong

cast of actors and actresses.

The play involved a mix-
ture of farce and drama.
The off-beat humour is par-
ticularly entertaining, as is
the use of many inside
meanings that are used
thoughout the play. The
audience is forced to read
between the lines to find

stricks again

most notably Peter Howarth
as the priest Frollo; Guy
Bannerman as the foolish
poet Gringorie, and Patricia
Phillips as Esmerelda,
Henry Woolf is an arresting
Quasimoto, who shows the
tragedy of a beautiful soul
trapped in an ugly body.
After the cutains came

the real meaning of the
play.

Heather Robinson, plays
the eccentric grandmother,
Mrs. St. Maugham, superb-

‘ly and is backed up by solid

performances from Beth
Coleman as Miss Madrigal
and Ivo Cervicek as the
manservant, Maitland. The
acting certainly deserves
much credit for the success
of the play.

~ Another strong point of
the Chalk Garden was the

~

down Guy Bannerman, as
Gringo, and Henry Woolf,
as Quasimoto, came out,
sat on stage and answered
questions about the play

‘and the middle ages and

each other. I was a nice
informal way of ending the
evening.

Vagabonds pull off another

setting. Set in 1950 in a
manor house in Sussex
Englamd, the set is inter-
esting and realistic, the
costumes were perhaps a
little dreary, but did not
detract from the play.

The Chalk Garden which
was slated to run _ until
November 21 has been held
over until at least Nov-
ember 28, so if you’re
looking for an entertaining
evening out, I would re-
comment it.

 

employees.

 

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