Because of my own life, I've long been fascinated by the question of nature versus nurture. Upstream Theater looks at just that as it presents the American premiere of Wildfire by Quebecois author David Pacquet, the English translation by Leanna Brodie. Phillip Boehm’s company has never hesitated to present the new and different, and here we have a surreal look at how the heredity/environment thing shakes out.
We begin with adult triplets, Claudette, Claudine and Claudia, played by Jane Paradise, Nancy Bell and Tom Wethington. They are all three…well, a lay person might say crazy. Let’s call the girls dysfunctional, each in their own way. Reality is particularly removed from this first part of the show, a clear signal that we’re in for an off-road adventure.
The three actors play other characters in the second and third parts of the 75-minute, no-intermission work, two shy people who meet and hesitantly hit it off, and a woman who explains why there’s a hammer in her television set. All this carefully, slowly, pulls things together in the exposition but still manages to leave us gasping.
It’s certainly a black comedy, but nevertheless deserves the name comedy. Paradise and Wethington are particularly poignant as the hesitant couple, and Bell’s monologue in the third part is a remarkable piece of salacious pathology. Interesting, seemingly simple sets from Michael Heil with Steve Carmichael’s lights let us focus on the characters. The use of red and black are highlighted by Laura Hanson’s costumes. And I very much enjoyed the music from Anthony Barilla, who’s credited as composer/sound design, a nice contrast to the warped experience we faced.
Phillip Boehm directed, and is probably happy when audiences walk out shaking their heads at the whole experience. It’s fascinating, like watching a train crash in slow motion. Of course, we’re all left to our own interpretations of how much of this is genetic and how much is how we were raised.
Wildfire
through February 9
Upstream Theater
The Marcelle
3310 Samuel Shepherd Drive