REVIEW
Blackbird
Where: Theatre Inconnu
When: To Oct. 20
Theatre Inconnu has a reputation for mounting the most artistically risky theatre in town. That bold trajectory continues with Blackbird, David Harrower's disturbing look at a young woman who had an affair with a man when she was 12 years old.
It's a safe bet that Friday's backstage drama equalled what happened on stage. One of the lead actors in this two-actor play opted out at the last minute (the company cited "personal reasons"). So director Graham McDonald boldly dove in to play the middle-aged protagonist.
McDonald, who'll now play the role for the remainder of the run, had only the benefit of a quick run-through several hours before opening. On Friday he performed with an earphone connecting him with prompter. Such a situation, needless to say, is mind-roastingly difficult - and it's a testament to McDonald's skill and professionalism that he did such a credible acting job.
The winner of a 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for best new play, Blackbird was inspired by the true story of Toby Studebaker, an American who made off with a 12-year-old English girl to Paris, where he sexually abused her.
In Blackbird, a young woman confronts an adult eight years after she had a sexual liaison with him.
Having served a jail sentence, the man - now middle-aged - has changed his name and created a new life for himself. He's moved on, with a steady job and a girlfriend. The young woman, played vivaciously by Jess Amy Shead, is not so lucky. Her anger and emotional damage seem as fresh and tangible as ever.
They meet in the dingy cafeteria of his firm, where - symbolically - trash is strewn over the floor. What's remarkable about Harrower's script is his refusal to accept society's tenets when it comes to such cases. Sidestepping political correctness, the playwright raises unsettling questions. Is it possible for an adult and a youngster, in some aspects, to share romantic and sexual love? In such a situation, can children be culpable on any level?
Like Paula Vogel's Learning How to Drive - which examines the sexual relationship of a young girl and her uncle - Harrower wants us to realize such situations are terribly complex. Society demands they must be looked at in simple victim/predator terms.
Harrower doesn't condone such liaisons; he merely wants us to think harder about them. Ultimately, he suggests human behaviour is too complex to be viewed in black-and-white terms, however tempting this may be in unsavoury situations.
The success of this production is difficult to assess, given that one of the two actors is a last-minute fill-in. On Friday, there was a sense of certain complexities and resonances were blunted - not surprising given the circumstances.
Nonetheless, this show is worth seeing. Shead is a promising young actress who tackles her role with heart. And McDonald deserves some kind of bravery medal for ensuring that the show did indeed go on.
