By Darren Markey
at Chapel off Chapel
until June 11, 2000
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert
Some nights in the
theatre seem like an eternity. The Watch in the Window is one of those
nights. This play begins by being incomprehensible and continues so for at
least the first forty minutes.
Two men (Christopher Kirby, David Berman) stand on an
elevated stage draped in white curtaining. Their conversation is obscure not
because it is absurd, nor because it is poetic. It is simply so purposefully
obtuse that it is incoherent.
After far too long, we discover that these men, and another
(Daniel McGough) who is roaming about downstage around a park bench, are gods.
They are gods whose existences are totally meaningless evidently.
The premise of the story has potential. Gods watch through a
window from on high, craving a taste of life on earth. When they fall to earth,
they are incapacitated, frightened, despairing.
The problem is that this issue arises only in the last half
of the play. These gods are idiots. They may have been watching earth for eons
but they have seen nothing. We might hope our gods were more omniscient or, at
the very least, sensible.
The cavernous space of the Chapel off Chapel is too large
for this production which is also directed by the writer, Darren Markey. Markey
has created three mini-sets: Godsville, an earthly penthouse and the park
bench.
His direction is clumsy. Actors wander about in the dark
waiting for a light to go up on their next scene. All this achieves is to
distract us from the on-stage action.
The performances are limited and the acting style so
laboured it is an interminable wait for them to find the motivation to speak at
all. There is the odd moment, joke or story that grabs the attention towards
the end of the two hours. Aris Gounaris has some amusing banter as Chris, the
ex-Arcadian landlord.
However, most of the night is garbled, amateurish and
excruciatingly slow. It is a surprise that this play is having a return season
after a few years break.
By Kate Herbert
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