Stage 35, HI-Edmonton Hostel
For concept, staging and location alone, this innovative play about a cult abandoned by its leader just as the world’s supposed to end is fantastic.
A pretty greeter walks you into a creepy, shrine-like room in the hostel, not part of the next-door “feast,” but a “newcomer’s meeting.” Instructed to not say a word no matter what, you sit down on one of a number of chairs set in a circle, facing everyone else in the audience, and the three commanding actors who enter and take their places. So good!
First is bearish Isaac (Simon Gorsak), hands stained with ink, lamenting an exploded pen. He’s also complaining about the Tribe, when John (Evan Quirk) and steel-eyed Claire (Olivia Latta) come in, and the two men begin arguing tensely.
It’s a play about faith, especially as the world counts down to its end right in front of you.
What’s going on is sometimes slightly confusing, especially in terms of motivation. But I’m going to call that the point, to create a little tension for the viewers, and Stanley Kubrick certainly made The Shining creepier by making us feel like bewildered voyeurs as the family falls apart, as happens here.
Regardless of what’s missing, this is a freaky-clever way to stage a narrative where the sense of place and the spoken-about person vacant from the room haunt everything. I wouldn’t join this cult, but it was compelling to be up close during its great crisis.
Venue: BYOV 35: HI-Edmonton Hostel
Branded a doomsday cult and abandoned by their leader, a group waits as the leader’s last prediction approaches—the end of the world. As the group celebrates the countdown, a regularly scheduled newcomers meeting is quietly held. The trouble isn’t that the world will end. It’s what happens when it doesn’t.