Section 8 Productions
Matthew Edison's The Domino Heart

Venue Pacific Theatre Dates 9 -16 February 2005

Reviewer Jane Penistan

Director Craig Hall Set and lighting Yvan Morissette Music and Performance Shanto Bhattacharya

This courageous company presents another outstanding production. The Domino Heart by youthful Matthew Edison is an introspective and well-researched piece.The play links three troubled characters, performed by the cast of Gwynyth Walsh, Tom Pickett, and Rick Dobran. They are accompanied by a sensitive cello obbligato composed and played by Shanto Bhattacharya. Three very different monologues reveal the trio's inner turmoil.

The shocked and grief stricken Cara (Gwynyth Walsh) re-lives the shattering automobile accident that killed her loved and loving husband. She learns to cope with her loss and the realization that life, however bleak, uncertain, and unpredictable, goes on. Her daughter must be nurtured, and her child loved and cared for.

Tom Pickett, in hospital garb, is Mortimer, whose heart is "worn out with overuse." As he awaits a compatible heart transplant, his kindness, compassion, and humanity, as well as his humour and wisdom are revealed in his sleepless reverie.

A tough, brash, and cynical advertising executive is well and dynamically played by Rick Dobran, the hard-headed, youngest member of the trio. In the coda Cara's donation of her husband's heart will prolong life. She herself is now facing the future with hope and courage. Life and love are eternal in the human condition.

This is a stunning performance of a philosophical and ethical script. The direction is impeccable and the cast in tune with one other and their director and accompanist.

© 2005 Jane Penistan