Sometimes really difficult decisions have to be made. We make them based on feelings, values, and information that we have at that moment in time. They don’t always feel like the right decisions, but, hopefully, they turn out to be the right ones. Langham Court’s first play of the season, Over the River and Through the Woods, hammers this home with the eloquent balance of humour and hard-hitting intensity so often found in complicated family dynamics.
Do our hereditary beliefs help or hinder us? This play, which doesn’t shy away from relatable hyperrealism or boisterous-Italian-hand-punctuated dinner-table conversation, says it’s a combination of both.
Hard questions relating to the human condition, our quest for intimacy, and professional success quickly tell audience members that they’re in for more than comic relief: this play deals with themes that are as conflicted, ever-changing, flawed, and beautiful as the lives we lead on a daily basis.
The play’s only flaw is that it sometimes fails to get out of its own way. While no fault of the directors or the actors, the boisterous, old-fashioned jokes sometimes lend little to advancing the plot forward or conveying the themes of the play—what it means to be mortal; that we love people for their benefit, not ours; that something must always be left behind to move forward.
As is often the case with Langham, the set is realistic and small but uses its space in a really impactful way with attention to detail and intelligent mechanics.
Actor Liam McDonald does a phenomenal job of bringing realism to this comedy in his role as Nick; his intense displays of anger on stage are suffocating in the best way and left me ablaze in my seat. But his grandfather Nunzio (played by Ira Shorr) proves that the opposite is also true: what we don’t say to loved ones in moments of surrendering silence will pack just as strong of a punch; that love should always remain selfless.
There are moments in this play that feel like they are there simply to beef up the length of it, but it’s a small complaint. This is a performance so real that the characters’ choices neither disappoint nor merit praise; they are simply so true, raw, and real—as is the performance on the whole—that audience members feel the unsexy plethora of emotion felt when love and connection is almost, but never quite, enough, and that’s what keeps us going.
Over the River and Through the Woods
Various times, until Saturday, October 12
Various prices, Langham Court Theatre
langhamtheatre.ca