🚀 go-pugleaf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eye WEEKLY                                             October 27 1994
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ONSTAGE                                                        ONSTAGE

                           MARIE AND BRUCE

       Featuring Arlene Mazerolle, Larry Schwartz, Tom Melissis, 
                  Sharon Bernbaum and Nancy MacLeod.
           Written by Wallace Shawn. Directed by Derek Boyes. 
   Theatre Centre East, 142 George St. To Oct. 30. $8-$12, 538-0988.

                                  by
                          ELIZABETH MITCHELL


From the opening moments of Wallace Shawn's Marie And Bruce, it's clear
that the title couple aren't going to have a good day. Before even
getting out of bed, Marie launches into a lengthy diatribe against
Bruce. He's so "goddamned irritating, such a goddamned asshole," as she
sneers repeatedly, that she simply has no choice but to leave him. For
his part, Bruce gets up and makes breakfast. Though not completely
oblivious to her vitriolic onslaught, he is almost nauseatingly
accommodating.

While Marie and Bruce aren't exactly Martha and George from Albee's
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (the abuse is a little more one-sided
in this case), they do embody that addictive nastiness that perpetuates
so many relationships.

The show is an early work from American playwright Wallace Shawn, best
known for My Dinner With Andr� and Aunt Dan And Lemon. It deals with
one of his favorite subjects -- people's inability to connect.

Alone onstage, Marie lets us in on her plan to dump Bruce that same
night. She'll meet him later at a party they've agreed to go to.
Choosing to walk there, she takes a surreal side-trip through a nearby
park, then arrives at the bash. The party, which takes up much of the
play, is a living catalogue of all that is petty in urbane living.

Shawn's twisted script has you alternately cringing and laughing as you
recognize scenes from jarringly familiar scenarios. Mazerolle and
Schwartz are effective as the leads, and the support cast, in
particular Nancy MacLeod as the quintessential party girl, also has
some good moments. This full-length revival of the version performed at
this year's Summerworks sometimes lags a bit, but should pick up steam
as the run continues.

So if you're bummed about being single, Marie And Bruce is sure to
cheer you up.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Retransmit freely in cyberspace        Author holds standard copyright
Full issues of eye in archive                    gopher://interlog.com
Coupla Mailing lists available             http://www.interlog.com/eye
eye@interlog.com      "Break the Gutenberg Lock..."       416-971-8421