Dying City at Little Mountain Studio
Hit play by Christopher Shinn receives Canadian premiere
May 18, 2009
Fortunately, that's not where the accolades will stop.
Christopher Shinn should receive a significant load of the credit, as he has crafted one of the most interesting plays in recent memory.
Kelly is at home, about to watch an episode of Law & Order, when the buzzer goes off. She goes to find out who is at her door, and it's her late husband's identical twin brother, Peter. They haven't seen each other since Craig's (her late husband) funeral, and so the visit is somewhat surprising. Every other scene jumps from the present to about 16 months in the past, when Craig was on the brink of heading off to Iraq for his second call of duty. Over the next 90 minutes, Kelly discovers that the man and husband she knew had dark and haunting secrets that he only shared with his brother.
There are plenty of things that could go wrong with a production like this, as Peter and Craig are played by the same actor. While the audience needs to suspend some disbelief, it's up to the steady hand of the director and the cast to make us buy into the story.
Thankfully, this production does just that. Carrie Ruscheinsky is wonderful as Kelly, and while her performance is sometimes understated and at other times forced, she takes us on an emotional journey from start to finish. She's joined by Ben Cotton as Peter and Craig, which is no easy task. Cotton has done his homework, crafting two distinctive characters who just so happen to be identical twins.
Ben Ratner helmed the production, and he should be applauded for using every inch of the Little Mountain Studio to his advantage, taking the action into the audience so that we feel like we are flies on the wall, watching all of this unfold. The action moves steadily through the entire play, and never seems to slow down.
Christopher Shinn, who is known for his other work like Four and Where Do We Live is one of the most interesting playwrights on the scene today, and you will hear more from him in the coming years, no doubt.
Dying City is one of those rare gems in the theatrical canon that leaves you haunted long after you leave the theatre. In a month where action movies like Star Trek and Wolverine are at the forefront of everyone's mind as they decide how to spend their entertainment dollar, it's truly refreshing to be able to step into a theatre for an experience like Dying City.
Dying City by Christopher Shinn, at the Little Mountain Studio. Now closed.
**** (out of five)
