This is a Fringe: A Review of Two Daniel MacIvor Plays

Daniel MacIvor is a popular and prolific Canadian playwright. His work is particularly appealing to Fringe Festival artists because it is well written and often of the one-man, one-act variety. This year at the Ottawa Fringe, there are two such works: “House” featuring Jon Paterson from THEATrePUBLIC in Edmonton and “Wild Abandon” featuring Zach Counsil from Black Sheep Theatre here in Ottawa.

“House” is a dark comedy about Victor, a miserable and angry man who is in a loveless marriage with his cousin and who works at an absurd job. Jon Paterson’s Victor is very intense and kind of terrifying. The staging and lighting design are both simple and effective: I particularly enjoyed the use of a hand held light shone alternately on different parts of Victor’s face. I understand from speaking with others who have seen Daniel MacIvor perform this piece, that it is not always so entirely dark and intense, but can have a lighter side. Of course this is the beauty of good writing: it can be brought to life in many different ways. Jon Paterson is an excellent performer and he brings so much emotional and physical energy to this piece that I can only imagine he must be exhausted after each show. Definitely worth seeing, compelling even if a little dark for my taste.

Rating: W

“Wild Abandon” is one of MacIvor’s older works; this one is about a young man named Steve, struggling with his feelings of alienation. In one sense, Zach Counsil is perfectly cast as the gregarious young man who cracks a joke one minute and contemplates suicide the next. Counsil has the look of apple pie wholesomeness, and one always suspects there is a dark core to someone whole looks so innocent. Unfortunately, while his stage presence and delivery are fantastic, he does not seem to understand the motivations behind his actions. I do not see him really connecting with his words, even though he brings a lot of energy to his performance. The result is that I do not feel connected to the character and ultimately do not care what happens to him. As for Zach Counsil, he has skills, and I hope that he will continue to develop as an artist so that one day we may see from him a performance that goes beyond the surface.

Rating: Y
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House and Wild Abandon both run June 21-28 in the Saw Gallery as part of the Ottawa Fringe Festival.