Theatre of University of New Brunswick will be twisting minds, breaking walls and facing inner demons with its two plays The Real Inspector Hound and No Exit directed by Len Falkenstein and performed by members of The University of New Brunswick’s Drama 2173 class this week.
The Real Inspector Hound started with two people sitting in the back centre of the stage. They strike up a conversation and the audience have to piece together what’s happening from there.
Quickly enough, we discover that they’re theatre critics.
One is a man who claims “scrupulous” morality. This is Birdboot played by Rory Jurmain, who charms the audience despite his questionable habit of treating actresses to dinner if he believes they’re “talented.”
Moon, the other theatre critic, played by Julianne Richard, seems to think the actress’ looks might be more of a contributing factor. Moon on the other hand is more concerned with their role as second fiddle to Higgs another theatre critic. They’ve even dreamed about killing Higgs, but only sometimes.
These two film critics along with the audience join forces to watch the current play all watch, a mystery of a madman on the loose in England.
The play brings together the critic’s lives and conflicts and the theatre play’s conflicts together in a play that manages to delight and perplex in a playfully unusual manner.
The characters of Moon and Birdboot stand out as they navigate their way through the mystery with boisterous personalities as well as the eccentric Magnus played by Alex Pannier, a the half-brother from Canada who graces the room with dominance in his actions and satirically booming voice even from the confines of a wheelchair.
Sometimes the characters feel a little too exaggerated, for example in the case of the handmaid who also dramatically looks out into the audience and consistently talks of fog.
However, the audience soon realizes that’s the point of the play within the play. It’s a way of poking fun of the genre itself.
The Real Inspector Hound is a commentary on the audience as theatre critiques themselves and how one can be so invested in a play or movie, they may even feel as if they’re a part of the action.
With a cast of students, the majority of which are not focusing on theatre as a major, it’s a surprisingly well-acted and enjoyable show, with laughs, a love triangle and a murder or two.
The second play, No Exit, finds a man in a room that appears to be a hotel room. A valet shows him around and again the audience must piece together in the same fashion as The Real Inspector Hound. Disoriented in an increasingly unsettling situation, Garcin, a journalist in his thirties, is a) surprised to find there’s no torturer in his room, b) surprised to find there’s no toothbrushes or mirrors and c) comes to the realization there’s no escape from this room decorated with red striped wallpaper.
A couple of minutes later, after the introduction of two new characters to the room, the audience starts to make a prediction. It’s confirmed by the characters.
Surprise! We’re in Hell!
The play, written by Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, a French philosopher, playwright and literary critic in the twentieth century, has pros and cons. On one hand, it’s a compelling observation of humans who have all done bad, maybe even evil things, coming to terms with their actions and themselves.
On the other, it’s like a drawn-out thought spiral. We discover what the characters’ damnable deeds were and then they just eat away at them. The characters tear each other and themselves apart and slowly go mad until the end, when their insane laughter sends chills down the audience’s spines.
But despite the lengthy run time, the actors’ skill kept the audience entranced. Garcin played by Hirad Hajilou, Inez played by Hannah Blizzard, and Estelle played by Mary Walker all displayed high-levels of talent, drawing the audience into their hellish realities.
Blizzard comes alive as Inez, a woman with a frighteningly devilish charm, Walker intuitively plays the broken Parisian, an innocent turned wrathful aristocrat and Garcin, an abusive controlling journalist is expressed in full complexity by Hirad Hajilou. All grab the spotlight when it’s their time to shine.
Something about watching all their characters deteriorate as they watched the living world pass by and their own “lives” continue confined to one room for the entire play was entirely captivating. It was a chance to see into “evil” souls.
No Exit was akin to watching a solo movie featuring your favourite character to hate, but times three. It was very interesting and extremely satisfying, even if a little unnerving.
I look forward to what is next for Theatre UNB and Len Falkenstein’s talent to push young actors toward their greatest potential.
Two more showing will be held on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at UNB’s Memorial Hall.