EVERGREEN THEATRE'S
SLEUTH
by Wayne MacEachern
Until August 23rd
at the Waterfront Theatre,
Granville Island, Vancouver
While kids played games in the park and lovers played games in the restaurants
I prepared to enjoy one of the most intriguing games of all -- a murder mystery
at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.
Evergreen Theatre's performance of the mystery-thriller
Sleuth provides a glimpse into the struggles of
one-upmanship and social game-playing that typifies male insecurities. The
1970 play written by Anthony Shaffer has a proven track record, having won
a Tony Award, and later, attracting accomplished actors Michael Caine and
Laurence Olivier in the 1972 movie version.
Director Robert Metcalfe, however, fails to execute the full mystery aspects
of the original script.
In spite of some rather large and obvious holes in the proposed scheme,
William Samples as the wily mystery writer Andrew Wyke and Ted
Cole as the naive, philandering travel agent Milo Tindle do manage to
engage in a Battle Royale of wits that involves some stimulating twists and
turns. But in order for an audience to embrace the mystery and to experience
the performance as one that involves clever, air-tight scheming, the execution
must be thorough, which was not so, in this particular
performance.
There are, however, some truly wonderful lines delivered by both actors.
Mr. Cole demonstrated an impromptu agility in slapstick, while dancing with
a 20 ft. ladder.
The set design was unique in that it incorporated mythology and games while
creating an atmosphere of fear and terror. Unfortunately, the air-conditioning
system constantly caused the skirting around the stage to collapse, thus
regularly interrupting the concentration of those of us in the first few
rows. The gunpowder explosion reminded me more of an Aromatherapy Boutique
in Kitsilano.
But all in all, the audience seemed stimulated by the games on the
stage.
In the end, the final laugh was on the audience: it was a 4 foot doll-like
creature known as Jolly Jock Tar the Jovial Sailor that delivered it. Immediately
I recalled two of the best lines from the script. Andrew Wyke, speaking of
his wife, said: Margarite couldnt get Johann Strauss to
waltz.; and later he proclaimed that Sex is the game and marriage
is the penalty.
In the case of this version of Sleuth, Director
Robert Metcalfe couldnt get Inspector Poirot to investigate this murder;
and mystery may be the game, but a play with so many loose ends is the
penalty.