Opening night audience enjoys an evening of comedic melodrama
Guelph Little Theatre’s latest offering—The Perfect Murder—left its opening night audience amused and entertained.
Running from Jan. 27 until Feb. 11, The Perfect Murder was co-directed by Anthony DeCiantis—the playwright—and Rob Free.
The play is set in rural Galt, Ont. in the 1950s; the action takes place in the living room of a country cottage owned by the Ardens. The set, designed by DeCiantis and constructed by Paul Briggs and Jim Hoare, displayed an interesting measure of realism. Interesting because, as the set design combined with Zach Wynen’s bright and excessively warm lighting, the soap-opera style of blocking, the melodramatic acting style, and the use of non-diegetic sound, it became clear that thematically, realism was not the name of the game.
Rather, the whole play seemed to evoke the style of a cheesy black-and-white television show. A tone that was set clearly by the black-and-white videos of DeCiantis introducing the play, followed by a dated commercial for Folgers, which floated in darkness at the start of the performance.
These directorial decisions were especially clever since any shortcomings in the production were transformed into comedic moments intending to satirize melodramatic television programs of the past.
With this framing taken care of, attention could be given to the story unfolding: that of the Ardens.
Although husband and wife, the Ardens have very little love for each other. In fact, there is so little love between them that Steve Arden comes across as a controlling (albeit cartoonish) prison warden. Steve leaves Julia Arden feeling so trapped in their marriage that she agrees to her lover’s plan to commit “the perfect murder.” Unsurprisingly, things don’t go exactly as planned.
The underlying architecture of DeCiantis’s script demonstrates the unequal and unfair power dynamic between the Ardens in not just what they say, but in how much they say. As Steve Arden runs his mouth like a preposterous dictator, it is clear to all that Julia is telling the truth when she refers to Steve’s “mental cruelty.”
DeCiantis does such a good job of writing Steve’s character as so unreasonably unlikable that we are all immediately on Julia’s side—even though she is the one having an affair.
Still, the success of Steve’s entertaining cruelty can’t be contributed to good writing alone. Portrayed by E. B. Michael Austin, Steven Arden comes to life as he is injected with enough humour that we can’t help but listen to this irritating man. While some of the more physical comedy seemed under-rehearsed, it was likely due to opening night nerves. Otherwise, the voice, the laughter, and the whole energy of the character worked beautifully throughout the play.
Meanwhile, Adele Robert, in the role of Julia Arden, was able to communicate both frustration and humour by merely collapsing on chair after chair after chair. This action, of course, benefited greatly from Robert wearing perhaps the most beautiful costumes in the play. Thanks to designers Judi McCuaig and Sara Dunbar, each collapse was accompanied by a flurry of fabric that accentuated Julia’s exasperation.
Robert found a good balance within her character’s crying as she managed to keep its frequency from becoming irritating and even made it entertaining at times—perhaps the slightest of nods to Lucille Ball—though that may just be a side effect of the play’s initial framing.
Michael Sutherland’s portrayal as Julia’s lover, Michael Peters, was greatly helped by the play’s framing and style. Still, Sutherland wasn’t convincing as Julia’s lover. His physical interactions with Julia seemed uncomfortable and forced. Furthermore, any humour generated by the character seemed to be a result of inadequately performing in the style of realism rather than milking the melodramatic style intentionally.
Rihannon Phillips’s portrayal of Ms. Pritt was downright funny. Phillips also seemed to have the best time poking fun at the acting style as she exchanged looks with the audience and leaned into every line, exuding enjoyment.
Detective Richard Taylor, played by Patrick Hebden, stumbled over lines in a few instances but it actually made his character into a more endearing inept detective.
Meanwhile, P.C. North, played by Philip Cooper, made the whole audience laugh with his antics in the short time he was on stage.
All of these performances were clearly supported by the way in which the play was framed. In other words, everything came together nicely due to a good script in the hands of foresighted directors. DeCiantis and Free clearly understood what it is possible to do well within the constraints of community theatre and played to the strengths of their cast and crew well. The Perfect Murder may just be the best production I have seen at Guelph Little Theatre to date.
