MAUDE-LYNNE SELLS OUT! By Morgan Norwich and Johnnie Walker. Factory Studio. July 8 at 9:30 pm, July 9 at 2 pm, July 11 at 2:45 pm. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Deep in her “beloved withering depths” (read basement), Brontë sisters enthusiast Maude-Lynne prepares to auction off her treasures, while semi-boyfriend Colin provides the necessary musical accompaniment.
[rssbreak]
The auction set-up is delightful, and writer/performer Morgan Norwich is impeccably droll as Maude-Lynne, enunciating her latest tweets with the clarity of a 19th-century governess.
The story is clever, compact and high-stakes, but in a powerfully sad moment involving a first edition of Wuthering Heights, the text defaults a little too quickly back to humour.
Peter Cavell’s Colin is a sweetly slow foil for Maude-Lynne’s campiness, providing choice one-liners and the occasional Kate Bush keyboard sting. Not a single line or gesture is wasted under Johnnie Walker’s direction.