Theatre Review by Christina Manolescu</MARQUEE>
As a theatrical drama, Short Story Long amounts to an archaeological dig into the private histories of deceased author Lincoln Kennedy, his widow, Julianne Kennedy (Stephanie Buxton), and Kennedy’s one-time paramour Amalthea King, (Stéphanie Breton). The eternal triangle, in other words.
The story flows back and forth in time, taking effective theatrical liberties with chronology and physical locales. Constructed from each character’s discrete (and indiscreet) memories, the dramatic narrative reveals their unsuspected constellation of interconnected lives.
As the plot thickens, graced by the original music of Marie-Eve Gamache Perron and Angèle Desjardins, we are also aware that the essential ‘dramatis personae’ (both living and deceased) have been snatched directly from contemporary real life, whereas other stage-characters are purely fictional.
The challenge for playwright, Joel Fishbane, is to spin a persuasive web out of whatever scraps of public knowledge about the principals exist, while airbrushing those lines where fact and fiction meet. The result is impressive: Short Story Long is an imaginatively sustained drama that is both intelligent and thorough.
And it’s the fraught (and imagined) connection between Julianne Kennedy and Amalthea King, convincingly portrayed by both Buxton and Breton, that drives the action and momentum of this play—the former having an axe to grind, the latter a favour to request.
With each successive, often painful, often contentious encounter between the two women, secrets are hidden or shared, guards are lowered and then raised, each naturally suspicious of the other, each maintaining a defensive veneer in the ongoing battle of wills.
Julianne, the independent, hard-drinking, frumpily dressed widow confronts Amalthea, the diplomatic, oozing-with-charm fashion-plate whose domestic situation is, nevertheless, ever prone to chaos.
And ‘controlled chaos’ would be a good way to describe the MainLine stage setting itself: Julianne, the grieving widow, surrounded by the ever present wine bottles, stacks of documents, manuscripts, notebooks and diaries: posthumous papers, once upon a time the private property of the author, but private no more.
This mountainous jumble-heap (a torturous sight to the obsessive-compulsive tidy freak) might just harbour certain ‘hot’ secrets, potentially valuable to each of the investigating women; it might also amount to not much more than recycling pulp, at the end of the day.
Along with the intriguing issues it raises—issues of legality, family privacy and public legacy—Short Story Long demonstrates how often people dissemble, applying the ‘mix-and-match’ approach to self-revelation, the way in which they necessarily dole out whatever scraps or dollops to the world at large, whether these be fact, fiction, or good old-fashioned evasion.
The great Canadian novelist, Robertson Davies, once stated he wasn’t surprised that people had two sides to their personalities; in fact, he presumed that most people had at least twenty-two sides. Short Story Long suggests that we may all be master players, revealing a cardface or two to audiences of our choosing, whereas our personal deck remains for the most part sealed, especially on that secret wild card, joker or deuce.
Buxton, last seen in Peter Hinton's unforgettable production of Girls! Girls! Girls!, is Julianne Kennedy, the grieving widow of world-famous writer Lincoln Kennedy. Following the shock of her husband's accidental death, Julianne is left reeling when Lincoln's will bequeaths his writings to the mysterious A.K. (Almatheia King, played by Breton, last seen in Centaur's Masque-nominated Trying). With millions of dollars in royalties at stake, Julianne finds herself grieving alongside the woman who may or may not have been her husband's mistress – the only person who can help her understand the meaning behind her husband's final wishes.
The play Short Story Long explores the conflicting affinities and jealousies which bind these women as they sift through Lincoln's papers. Wrapping traditional dialogue in a cinematic framework that leaps from present to past through memories and monologues, Fishbane has constructed a provocative piece of theatre. Despite their animosity, the two characters find solace in each other's company, even as they fight to conceal their deepest secrets.
"The play was originally a short story," says Fishbane, whose fiction has appeared in multiple reviews (he was also voted among Montreal's top ten writers in the Mirror's 2007 Best of Montreal poll). "In adapting it to the stage, I wanted to create something for the actresses to really sink their teeth into." Commenting on the character of Julianne, Buxton feels, "She's quite a complex personality. Terribly angry, possibly alchoholic, but with such a sharp sense of humour - a saving grace considering the incredibly difficult position her husband has left her in." Breton finds her character equally intriguing. "At first, it seems mismatched. Julianne seems stronger and smarter, and justifiably more hurt. Almatheia arrives soft and innocent, insulted by suggestions of an ongoing affair. But, she's actually quite manipulative and full of secrets. Very different from anything I've done before."
This play represents a return to roots for Fishbane and his eight year old company, Pumpkin Theatre, following a period in which he explored different styles. "I wanted to pare it down and get back to experiments in the narrative possibilities of the theatrical space, like with the Gershwin show Rhapsody, 2002." His three most-recent productions have been: a cast-of-17 farce (The Three Apollos, 2005), a full-scale musical with string quartet (The Last Five Years, 2006), and a Shakesperean musical pageant (As You Like It, 2007) with all original songs by Nick Carpenter. "This one is all about focusing on the actors and the script," he explains. "Spectacle has its place and we'll go back to that place in future productions. This time it's about the power of a strong story, well-crafted and well-acted."
As with past Pumpkin productions music will figure prominently. Short Story Long will feature original songs by Montreal musicians Marie-Eve Gamache-Perron and Angèle Desjardins.
Short Story Long
Written and directed by Joel Fishbane
Starring Stefanie Buxton and Stéphanie Breton
MainLine Theatre (3997, St-Laurent)
May 8 – 11, 13 – 17, 8 PM
Pay-What-You-Can Mothers' Day Matinee: Sun May 11, 2 PM
Tickets: $15 (Reg); $12 (Student / Senior).
$12 with your FourPlay Card
Reservations: 514.884.4425
http://www.pumpkintheatre.ca
Opening Night: May 8, 8pm at MainLine Theatre (3997 St-Laurent)
STEPHANIE BRETON (Amalthea King) is a graduate of John Abbot's professional theatre program and L'Ecole de Mime. Previous credits: Trying (Centaur Theatre); La derniere enquete de l'inspectuer Drive (toujours ivre) (Troupe du cadavre exquis); Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Mainline Theatre); Alice in Wonderland (Elysian River Theatre); Hourglass (Montreal Fringe Festival); The Sum of All Cheers (Montreal All-Star Cheerleaders). Stephanie is also a talented figure skater, both on and off the ice. Stephanie appears courtesy of the Canadian Actor's Equity Association
STEFANIE BUXTON(Julianne Kennedy) is a graduate of the theatre performance program at Concordia University. Previous credits: Down the Main Drag (Theatre Passe Mureille); Girls! Girls! Girls! (Festival de Theatre des Ameriques); Dying to be Thin (Eclectic Theatre); Sophie (CBC Television); Fries With That? (YTV); Galidor (Cinegroupe); A Killer Upstairs (Outrage Productions); Mary Shelley (Cine Qua Non); Summer (Summer Inc.) Stefanie appears courtesy of the Canadian Actor's Equity Association
JOEL FISHBANE (Playwright / Director) has been nominated for several awards by the Montreal English Critic's Circle Association. Fishbane studied theatre at the Randolph Dance Academy in Toronto and holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Concordia University. He has a diabetic clarinet and sometimes plays the cat. As playwright / director: As You Like It (adaptation) (2007); The Three Apollos (2005), The Bed Trick (2004), An Act of God (2003), Rhapsody (2002), Call of the Waitress (2001), Fir$t (2000), Faiting Wor Godot (1999)
As director: The Last Five Years (2006). As writer: The Bargain (2006, Theatre in the Raw), In the Yichud Room (2004, Alumnae Theatre, Toronto), He Stumbles to Conquer (2004, Theatre in the Raw, Vancouver), The Right Direction (2002, Brief New Works Festival, Calgary). SHORT FICTION: Circus Girl (Geist Magazine), Apple Scab (Armada Quarterly Fall), The Venereal Detective (The Antigonish Review), Smile Until You're Wed (The Danforth Review). His play In the Yichud Room can be found in the anthology Three on the Boards, published by Signature Editions.