DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS
Factory Theatre Mainspace (125 Bathurst)
Rating: NNNN
Aug 8 at 6:15 pm, Aug 9 at 9:15 pm, Aug 11 at 9:15 pm, Aug 12 at 7 pm, Aug 13 at 10 pm, Aug 15 at 2 pm. 1-888-328-8384, summerworks.ca.
Two French women, quiet, self-contained Marguerite (Imogen Grace) and sassy, outspoken Anne (playwright Genevieve Adam), arrive in 1660s Quebec as filles du roi, the single women and orphans sent to help colonize the new world.
One marries a farmer (Brian Bisson), though she’s secretly in love with a priest (John Fitzgerald Jay) who dreams of bringing the glory of God to the natives. The other gets involved with a coureur des bois, a mixed-blood trapper (Garret C. Smith), much to the distress of prim Madame Etienne (Sarah Wilson).
Adam’s story has its soap opera moments but she knows how to spin a good yarn. Under the direction of Erin Brandenburg, the production is always entertaining and passionate, with special heart in the scenes between Grace and Smith.
Don’t ignore the suspended chunk of melting ice – you can just make out something inside – that drips throughout the show.
