arts / 8

A tall tale that’s like life, only taller

» Douglas College performs ‘Agnes Under the Big Top: A Tall Tale’

Adam Tatelman
Senior Columnist

TT the gulf between script and
4. performance is invariably
wide, and seeing something
played before your eyes is very
different than just reading about
it. Like the circus, perhaps you
have to experience it in order to
fully appreciate it.

Upon reading Aditi Kapil’s
Agnes Under the Big Top, I
found it to bea fractured,
chronologically confused play.
Yet Douglas College theatre
director Deborah Neville
and her team have created a
compelling and ironic coherence
in this brutally honest portrayal
of the immigrant experience,
while showing us so many of
the barriers that keep displaced
people isolated from one
another and the wider world.

Agnes (Elise Wilson) came
to America to provide for her
son, who remains in Liberia. She
cannot bring herself to tell him
that she has been diagnosed
with terminal cancer. Co-worker
Roza (Jessica Kabesh) feels so
out of place in America that she
speaks only to the birds at her
window. Her husband Shipkov
(David Sitar) spends all of his
time conducting the subway
trains while reminiscing about
his glory days as ringmaster
of the Bulgarian circus. He

 

: instructs Happy (Brendan
: Saltel), an optimistic young man :
: from Mumbai who may be less
: innocent than he appears.

All of the characters are

connected in some way to Ella

: (Emily Brown), the insufferably
: ill woman Agnes and Roza care
: for. Through it all, the guitar-

; strumming Busker (Michael

: Bernard) takes the form of half
: adozen other characters both

: past and present, visible and

: invisible, acting as ringmaster

; to the audience as he sets each
: scene.

Each character tells

their own story within the

: philosophical context of the

: play. Much of their dialogue is
: soliloquy, and they are visually
: segregated from one another

: on stage. Ella, the only non-

: immigrant, remains bedridden
: for the duration, looking down
: (both literally and figuratively)
: on the others. Shipkov and

: Happy populate the train car

: below. Everything between is

: neutral space, representing the
: streets, lumpy apartments, and
: waiting rooms.

The set design compiles

all of the dingiest aspects of

: this environment, tying them
: together with a muted palette.
: There are projections shone onto :
: the back wall, showing stilted
: subtitles for Roza’s Bulgarian

: dialogue, interspersed with

occasional avian imagery. I

do not feel this backdrop was

: necessary as the performances
: and lighting convey the setting
: well enough already and

: the moving train facilitates

: transitions between both space
and time.

There is a lot of sterling

: dialect work in Agnes. Saltel,

: Sitar, Wilson, and Kabesh never

: stray toward the surely tempting
: realm of caricature in their work
: with Indian, Bulgarian, and

: Liberian accents, which is no

: mean feat for such young actors

: to get this far into character.

: Brown weaves weariness into

: Ella’s deformed, bird claw-like

: hands, and Bernard’s Busker

: makes a much-needed comedic

: turnasa mute Chaplin-esque

: clown in one of Shipkov’s

: memories. Silence, after all, isa

: language all its own, and it’s one
: that many characters in this play
: are all too familiar with.

It’s best to see this tall tale

: for yourself and learn if it might

: just bea little too real. Agnes

: Under the Big Top: A Tall Tale

: will run through March 20 in

: the Studio Theatre on the fourth
: floor of the Douglas College New
: Westminster campus. Tickets

are $12, or $10 for students,

: and can be purchased through
: Massey Theatre.

 

Shelf Indulgence: Explosions,
amputations, and excellent mischief

» ‘Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret’ book review

Joshua Grant
Senior Columnist

OOOO

ve always had a soft spot for

literature that captures life
through the eyes of a child,
because children are weird.
Childhood is a framework that
offers so many opportunities—
life to a child is simultaneously
light, surreal, frightening, and
important in ways that adults so
easily forget.

Ondjaki’s Granma

Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret
(translated from Portuguese by
Stephen Henighan) handles the
child’s perspective well. The way

both so childish and so political
could be compared, favourably,
to American TV show South

Park. The tone is a bit different,

: of course (darker, slower, less

: outrageous), but feels true to the
: experience of children living in a
: complicated world.

Granma Nineteen is set

: in Ondjaki’s home country,

: Angola, and follows the young
: protagonist (who remains

: unnamed) and his friend, Pi

: (also known as Comrade 3.14).

The sleepy town of Bishop’s

: Beach, near the Angolan capital
: of Luanda, faces an existential

: threat when a contingent

: of bumbling Soviet soldiers

: appears. Though the Soviets,

: with their strange accents and

: old-world mannerisms, are an

: endless source of humour, this

: is essentially an occupation.

: ; pew : They are here to construct

that it captures children’s actions : a huge mausoleum for the
: deceased president of Angola, a
: mausoleum that could displace
: the town.

The young heroes face

: the threat with mischief and

: explosive imagination. Along

: the way, they are helped

: (and hindered) bya cast of

: memorably strange characters.

This isn’t a common novel.

: The plot, the characters, and

: even the world itself are unstable
: and hard to get a grip on. The

: two main plot arcs, which

: describe how Granma Nineteen
: became Granma Nineteen

: and the building of the Soviet

: mausoleum, respectively, are

: more like a series of two novellas
: thana unified novel. But this

: works all right with the slightly

: off-beat, surreal flow of the

: whole work.

Granma Nineteen and the

: Soviet’s Secret is definitely worth
: aread for anyone interested in

: strange novels or Portuguese/

: African literature. It describes a

: weird and beautiful world that’s
: a joy to visit.

theotherpress.ca

  
  

THE LEARNING CENTRE

SL
MAC lao

The Learning Centre presents Exam Jam Kickoff —

Winter 2015

tala

Wednesday, April 8, 11:30am-2:30pm

New Westminster Concourse

EVENTS:

Giant Jenga, Jeopardy, hip-hop dancing with
Monique, 30-Minute Hit, video games, stress relief
strategies, photo booth, answers to quick study
questions, physical assessment station, art
therapy, and prizes!

a

CEN TRE SO cL CT ee MT ee

Partners: The Library, Office for New Students,
International Department, Campus Life,

 

Photo by Brian Ball

Photo by Brian Ball