BLOOD by Tom Walmsley, directed by Peter Pasyk (Doghouse Riley Productions). At Somewhere There (227 Sterling). To October 3. See Listing. Rating: NNN
In Canadian playwright Tom Walmsley’s now classic urban drama Blood, shit gets real really fast.[briefbrea]
No sooner is Chris (Stephen Chambers) in the door of his estranged junkie sister Noelle’s (Sandy Duarte) low-rent apartment, looking to escape his broken marriage, than the combative siblings become embroiled in an incestuous prostitution scheme to score more heroin.
Adding to the gritty street-level ambience of this deserved remount is a genius location choice by director Peter Pasyk. Instead of recreating a dingy apartment onstage, Pasyk sets up folding chairs in a run-down flat off an alleyway near Bloor and Lansdowne. Here, the insane psychological and sexual drama unfolds in situ with the audience as voyeurs.
Walmsley’s hyper-aggressive, confrontational script is similar in style and tone to Mamet’s, and this fluid, maximal dynamic is well handled by both Chambers and Duarte. As a duo, they’re at their unhinged best when violent tussles on a beat-up foldout (realistically choreographed by fight director Anita Nittoly) briefly spark masochistic and taboo makeout sessions.
The only place where this production struggles is during Duarte’s opening and closing monologues. The actor is strongest when verbally flaying Chris or negotiating with johns and dealers over the phone, but alone, talking to an invisible support group, her performance feels a little laboured, which briefly undermines the otherwise chilling realism.
