Little Little Little Theatre by William Maranda

Dates and Venue 21 - 30 April 2011, 8pm | Studio 16

Reviewer Ed Farolan

Mackenzie Gray delivered Maranda's comedy with the farcical humour it was intended to be, reflecting the government cuts to the Arts in Vancouver and all of BC.

The play is about a Vancouver theatre company fearing its extinction when their annual grant is cut down to $30. The mise-en-scene, on one side of the stage, is the office of a starving And The Rest Is History Theatre Co., with an unemployed actor desperately trying to get a part in the play, and a persistent playwright whose play is downsized by the General Manager who is threatened by the landlord demanding rent, On the opposite side, we have the play within the play, as written by the obsessed playwright, set in Greece where we see parts of the plot unravelling..

Originally written for the annual 48 Hour Theatre contest, this play brings attention to the current state of the arts in BC. Gray delivers in a fast-paced mode a comedic performance by six actors combining Greek history and mythology with.slapstick humour.

The message Maranda delivers in tongue-in-cheek fashion is Euripidean where Athena descends in the proverbial deus ex machina to save the company from bellying up. We have a happy ending, as comedies are meant to be, with a modern chorus chanting relief for the unexpected and surprising miracle.

It's a pity that the Canucks are stealing audiences away. In last Saturday's performance, there were only 14 audience members, but they were laughing all through the play and basically delighted with the performance. Hopefully, the Canucks can clinch the next game against the Blackhawks so Studio 16 can get bigger audiences in the next few days to come.

© 2011 Ed Farolan