Over
My sister started a theatre company last year, and they just finished the second run of their first show, Over. It got a great writeup in Now Magazine this week, so I thought I’d share it. Check them out on Facebook as well, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=71991143881
The following review was originally part of the Scene column in Now Magazine: http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=173351
Over too soon
We caught up last weekend with new company Theatre Caravel, who remounted their production of Over at the Theatre Centre (closed January 16).
Originally presented in a workshop space last fall, Darren O’Donnell’s play about a brother (Eric Double) and sister (Julia Nish-Lapidus) trying to sort out their past and present works well in the more cavernous space.
Part of the success is due to O’Donnell’s clever, rapid-fire, absurdist script, peppered with music-hall turns in which the sibs step into a spotlight and present what might be fantasy moments, with touches of incest along the way.
Wordplay figures prominently, and there are also stylistic echoes of another O’Donnell play, boxhead.
But a lot of the credit goes to the performers and their chemistry. Working with directors Tracy Bradley and Chelsea Ferrando, Double and Nish-Lapidus give strong physical life to the pair as they recount their family history and try to break the cycle of their lives.
They play so well together that it’s a shame the run was only three performances. Hope we get to see them again. And soon.
