Andrew Gillies (2/94 Henceforward)
Excerpt from The Jewish Post and News 2/9/94: Andrew Gillies
MTC play a hilarious dark comedy
Review by Matt Bellan
Imagine an "I Love Lucy" episode set in a dark world of the future. Audiences will encounter that mixture of slapstick and science fiction in a hilarious dark comedy that opened on the Manitoba Theatre Centre Mainstsage last week. Alan Ayckbourn's "Henceforward" is about a composer suffering from creative block in a society where robots malfunction, messages flashing on huge TV screens intrude into living rooms, and brutal gangs of transvestites roam the streets.
This co-production of MTC and Theatre Calgary clicks along in the fast-paced style of farce, and had the audience laughing loud and often opening night, as the zany, inventive plot unfolded.
Andrew Gillies holds the show together as "Jerome" the avante garde composer who's obsessed with creating the perfect musical composition. He tapes the conversations of anyone living with him or passing through his apartment, and uses snippets of these stolen sounds to create songs on a synthesizer. Jerome is the sober centre in a madcap cast, and Gillies plays this straight man role effectively.
© The Jewish Post and News