Tonight, I went on a daddy-daughter date.
We usually embark on one of these whenever an upcoming live gig tickles our fancy--the enthusiasm is often mutual, thanks the hereditary nature of my taste in music.
But tonight saw a change of plans. You see, as well as live music, I have an equally ardent love affair with live theatre, performances of which I will normally attend with my mother in tow. Only recently have I ventured away from stock-standard musicals and dipped my toe into some more boundary-breaking material. The most outstanding of which so far have been The Escapists' one-man production boy girl wall (2011) Shake & Stir Theatre Company's physical theatre reinterpretation of Orwellian fairy-story Animal Farm (2011). My goodly father, aware of said love of theatrical entertainment, came across a production called Midsummer (A Play With Songs) by the Traverse Theatre Company in the Saturday paper. He enquired my interest in attending such a show, I told him "Yes. Yes, I should very much like to see this Midsummer you speak of."
We promptly booked our tickets and toddled on down to the La Boite theatre.
The premise of this wonderful play is the existential crises of two wayward mid-thirties Scots, Helena and Bob. They have reached a point in their lives I have not yet experienced but have a rudimentary idea of: a point where one casts one's mind back to everything they've ever done in their life up until said point and lets forth the simple yet all-encompassing musing: "Is this it?" One apparently feels stuck, unable to go back and re-live the shit bits lest they feel the desire to do so, let alone move forward and on to bigger and better and more prolific things.
My reading of the play's intention was to say a great big "fuck you!" to this concept, and realise that it's not the be-all and end-all of one's existence, as Helena and Bob find themselves beginning to do. The format of the show sampled some of the elements that comprise French New Wave cinema, such as formal introductions to each principal role, supporting roles having zany little quirks, as well as exclusively theatrical devices like multiple characters portrayed by a single actor and subsequently layering costume pieces to differentiate between them.
But the most outstanding facet to this performance is its overarching description:
A PLAY WITH SONGS.
The average layperson will take these words and immediately conclude that they're about to see a musical. No, no they are not. Midsummer does have a music element, Bob being a would-be busker with a penchant for Jesus and Mary Chain, but it's nothing more ostentatious than three guitars, two ukeleles and a tambourine, all played and beautifully sung to by the cast of two (Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon). That's not to say the songs weren't poignant, because they were every bit so, alternately heightening senses of contentment, forlornness or nauseousness.
An anecdote with which to conclude: somewhere amidst all the strumming and swearing and storytelling, one member of the audience promptly rose from his seat, strode wordlessly in front of the actors and left the theatre. I watched, somewhat astonished, as the cast erupted into convulsive fits of laughter. Although Bissett facetiously suggested we all hide before he returned, and they wasted no time bringing themselves back into the zone to continue the performance, I initially thought it very unprofessional of them to have lost focus like that. I'd witnessed technical malfunctions and brief memory lapses during past theatre visits, but never had I seen seasoned actors lose it in front of a paying audience. In hindsight, taking into account the intimate space and affinity already established with the audience, it really didn't matter. If anything, it added to the relaxed atmosphere of the night. It was a fortuitous sledgehammer to the fourth wall, reiterating that actors on stage are not astronomical, lofty beings, but they are incredibly talented, tremendous people who convey relevant, moving stories for us in a thoroughly entertaining format, and that is exactly what I received from the cast and crew of Midsummer tonight.
