GORE BAY—No intermission? No problem. The Gore Bay Theatre production of Rex Deverell’s ‘Boiler Room Suite’ kept the audience eyes so riveted on what was taking place on the stage that any sense of time was suspended.
‘Boiler Room Suite’ is a tremendously challenging play, but the entire Gore Bay Theatre crew more than rose to the occasion.
Shannon McMullan’s portrayal of the fallen Aggie swept the audience up and into the narrative; capturing hearts and minds as she attempts to fan the remaining embers of what was once a flaming beauty, before they slowly wink out in the face of an unrelenting and heartless society.
John Hawke may have been gone from the stage these past six years, but time away has done nothing to blunt the irresistible force of his onstage presence as he unveiled the magnificent, albeit slightly doddering, Sprug—who provides the catalyst, along with a bottle of liquid lubricant, that goads Aggie into revealing glimpses of her former grandeur.
Through the masterful work of these two actors the audience observes in spellbound fascination as the gutter’s crust is burnished away away to reveal the shining diamonds of their characters’ fragile humanity and a pathway to a fate from which most of us are not as far removed as we might like to believe.
But the main character developed in this work does not appear onstage until well into the play itself, as John Robertson’s janitor Pete goes from disembodied laugh to threatening nemesis. It is the character of Pete who undergoes the major transformation, embodying the common reactionary revulsion of the working poor when faced with the derelict shambles of modern society’s “failures.” Mr. Robertson may be the least experienced member of the cast, but he guides the audience through the essential changes like a true footlight journeyman.
The two ne’er do well protagonists are first unveiled upon a set that so masterfully evokes the boiler room of a hotel on the Canadian prairies that there is little need of conscious suspension of credulity—the audience simply becomes the fourth wall of the dingy, but warm, sanctuary wherein Aggie and Sprug share a bottle of wine and a series of character revealing fantasies acted out with Shakespearian grandeur.
Aggie and Sprug, in their turn, strip the armour of indignation and revulsion from that which protects the erstwhile Pete from experiencing the empathy of their pain, and Pete drags the audience along on his journey of discovery, even as he mirrors our own prejudices and prejudgements.
This production is timely as society’s veneer is being torn to reveal an ugliness that modern civilization has attempted to suppress.
Boiler Room Suite won the Canadian Association Award for Drama and has become a classic of Canadian theatre. Director/producers Andrea Emmerton and Walter Maskel have outdone themselves with this production, and that in itself is no easy task when compared with their substantial body of work.
Stage management was provided by Bill Viertelhausen, preshow music was composed and performed by Vern Dorge and Jean Lavalle, while Mr. Hawke and Mr. Viertelhausen provided set realization and the masterful set painting, with its foreboding shadows and textures, was by Deborah Hawke. Sound editing was by Dylon Whyte.
As outstanding as the Boiler Room Suite production is, it ran into bit of a perfect storm at this year’s Quonta Drama Festival, hosted by Take Two Theatre in Timmins. While the production won Set Design and Execution this year, the Sault Theatre Workshop dominated the podium with a touching play about a young autistic girl.
If you missed earlier performances, and couldn’t fit the Timmins Quonta Festival into your schedule, don’t despair, ‘Boiler Room Suite’ will be part of the popular Gore Bay Summer season, along with Willy Russell’s “funny and moving” ‘Shirley Valentine.’ If you are interested in working with the Gore Bay Theatre Company in any capacity, on or off-stage, contact Walter Maskel at 705-282-8471.
