Andrew Gillies (1998 Speak)
Excerpt from FFWD Weekly 1998: Andrew Gillies
THEATRE
by Nikki Sheppy
speak
by Greg Nelson
Despite the angry audience feedback about anti-Christian dogma, speak is really about subtext. Invitations that are threats. Confessions that are lies. Sage advise that is actually blackmail. And indeed, fact masquerading as fancy. Playwright Greg Nelson simply plays on the caricatures of lying lawyers and right-wing, born-again politicians in a commentary on truthfulness and language.
At the centre of the story are three characters hashing it out in Regina. Sarah is a writer searching for the truth behind her husband's words. While working on a novel, she unwittingly (or maybe not so unwittingly) explores the past through her characters. Meanwhile, her husband James is busy misrepresenting the unsavory events in his life, and his old boss Lloyd is gearing up for a political speech, polishing it so that he achieves just the right "effect."
While the two men use speech to hide or distort the truth, Sarah gives to her "fiction" more honesty than they seem able to handle.
The central ideas in speak are interesting and cleverly rendered. Unfortunately, the execution suffers, both in terms of characterization and delivery.
Between the ever-indignant Sarah (Karen Robinson) and the irritatingly melodramatic James (Tom Rooney of Angels in America), there's hardly a shred of chemistry. They're so busy being morally outraged and reprehensibly underhanded (respectively), that it's a wonder they have a relationship at all. In fact, if we weren't specifically told that these two were married, we'd probably assume that they were strangers.
Only Lloyd, played by Andrew Gillies, manages to remain both funny and credible. This is especially surprising (and a credit to Gillies' talents), considering that Lloyd is himself a bit of a fond stereotype. Having abandoned law to enlighten the world as a politician, Lloyd is ready to share a manly hug and talk about how he has sinned. As portrayed by Gillies, Lloyd is zealous and full of the kind of false conviction we only see in politicians and car salesmen.
In the end, though the ideas in speak are resonant, the characters themselves are a bit wearying.
© FFWD Weekly