ARTS& ENTERTAINMENT Iain W. Reeve, Internet Super-Highway Hitchhiker This weeks website: Les Belles Soeurs Natalia Hautala, OP Contributor What Les Belles Soeurs, written by Michel Tremblay and directed by Johnna Wright, accomplished was this: I laughed till the very end when a rousing rendition of O Canada, replete with household goods and raised eyebrows, finished off the play. I continued laughing all the way down the stairs. Laughing at the absurdity of greed and desire, and then at myself for laughing in very public places with no apparent catalyst to hide behind. Strong performances by the Douglas College theatre department served to bring to light and life all the tragedy and triumph of being a woman in 1965. Beholden to your husband, tied to your family. That a woman especially 40- years ago, perhaps less so now, is never just a woman, she is a wife, a mother, a cook, a broom, and a dustpan. She’s a foundation into which the family pours itself, chains itself, and when all else fails, falls upon. The play centres on a woman who, through a stroke of good luck, wins a million stamps which are redeemable for all sorts of household goods and other odds and ends. She asks her neighbours and friends to come over and help her stick the yet unused stamps into books, too self absorbed to realize that she was inadvertently rubbing their noses in her new (and rather undeserved) good fortune. The comic disaster that unfolds leaves no one untouched and in the dying verses of Oh Canada, it can be said that this rotten life we are all condemned to lead is at best funny and at worst hilarious. The recurring chorus of “this rotten life” is echoed by the different women. Their different stories illustrate their frustration at a world they are convinced is conspiring to keep them overworked and undervalued. The play does well to illustrate the disparity between what we say, what we want others to hear, and what our actions speak of us. In a world that seems to conspire to keep you in your place, it is sometimes a welcome interlude to be reminded that the crosses we bear are ones that we all share. GO SEE THIS PLAY. Not just to support the host of talented folks in the theatre department who are responsi- ble for executing such a great performance, but because theatre done well serves to illustrate what it is to be human. November 4-12 @ Douglas College. The Elephant Man Pacific Theatre till November 12 Iain W. Reeve, A&E Editor To anyone out there that has never visited this tiny little theatre-venue, a short walk from the more prominent Stanley Theatre near Granville and 12 Street, I recommend you check it out. A small theatre with a modified in-the- round style, the audience split in half on either side of a rectangular stage, it is a very lively and intimate venue for all manner of theatre. I was dazzled when I saw Shadowlands there last season, and was equally delighted with this sea- son’s Elephant Man. The play tells an adaptation of the true story of Joseph Merrick, a man born with hideous deformities who rose from his freak show roots to become an object of fascina- tion for upper-class London society. The cast was very busy, most (except the leads) played multiple parts, but managed to handle the play very well. Every member of the low cast, from the sideshow freaks to the hospital staff, played well to audience approval. The high cast was equally adept. Of particular note was the soft-spoken grace with which Damon Calderwood han- dled the main character. His passive nature and relative con- fusion with his situation was perfectly stated. The set design was simple but effective. When so many locations are necessary, simplicity is often the best solution. While Calderwood did not wear make up as Merrick, when he was introduced, pictures of Merrick were projected onto sheets pulled down from the ceiling. This provided both an interesting visual effect, and made the suspension of disbe- lief that a hobbling actor was actually the Elephant Man. The double-sided audience was well exploited. While many plays tend to look two dimensional—with the actors eternally facing the audience—this play was more fluid and realistic. Most of the music—circus medleys on accordion and ramshackle percussion—was played live, adding a nice touch. The story’s themes, of beauty, suffering, and deceit, are all funneled through the main character. While this proves powerful throughout the play—Merrick is an amazing char- acter—it also leaves the rest of the cast, with the exception of Doctor Treves, with little of consequence to do. They are all understood through Merrick, demonstrating that essentially no one was ever genuine to the Elephant Man. A great play by a fantastic cast and crew.