B-
This 59E59 Theater import from Nova Scotia is hard to classify. Is it a play enhanced by songs or a song cycle interrupted by dialog? In either case, it tells the story of the arrival and early years in Canada of playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s great-grandparents, Romanian Jews who arrived in Halifax in 1908. Chaim (Chris Weatherstone) is a rather naive romantic 19-year-old who has lost his entire family in a pogrom. Chaya (Mary Fay Coady) is a prickly, pragmatic 24-year-old who lost her husband to typhus en route to Canada. They meet briefly at Pier 21 in Halifax — Canada’s equivalent of Ellis Island — and later in Montreal. Chaim’s courtship is awkward, but Chaya eventually relents. A foolish remark by Chaim on their wedding night evokes a response from Chaya that casts a long shadow over their marriage. Their scenes together are quietly understated but quite effective. Not only are they fine actors, but Weatherstone also plays the woodwinds and Coady, the violin. Two other musicians, who do not have speaking roles, are Graham Scott on keyboard and accordion and Jamie Kronick on percussion. Last but definitely not least is Ben Caplan, who, with director Christian Barry, wrote the songs and who performs them all in the persona of The Wanderer, a top-hatted narrator/emcee/commentator. Caplan, a popular Canadian folk singer/songwriter, is both the best and the worst thing about the piece. He has a powerful distinctive voice and a strong performing presence that threatens to overwhelm the quiet story of Chaim and Chaya. His music, often klezmer-infected, is easy on the ears. I would say more about the lyrics if I could have heard them better. At least where I was sitting, they were often drowned out by the music, particularly by the percussion. One of the songs I did hear was a catalog of the many terms for intercourse, whose connection to the story was tenuous at best. I’m not a prude but Caplan’s frequent use of profanity seemed gratuitous. Caplan also offers a beautiful rendition of the Jewish prayer for the dead, whose inclusion I found manipulative. While both the drama and the music are worthy of our attention, they seem to some extent to be at war with each other. The clever set design by Luisa Adamson and Christian Barry deserves special mention. A red shipping container fills a good part of the stage when the audience arrives. It opens to reveal the five performers who return to it at play’s end. The play’s title refers to a remark by a conservative former prime minister suggesting that “old-stock Canadians” might be overwhelmed by arriving immigrants. One wonders how much has changed in 100+ years. Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission.
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