AN UTTERLY STUPID INDEFENSIBLE THING by the company (Sock Monkey Collective/Fringe). At Streetcar Crowsnest Guloien Theatre. July 8 at 9:30 pm, July 10 at 7:45 pm, July 12 at 3:15 pm, July 13 at 8:30 pm, July 14 at 5:45 pm. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Marc-Andre Blanchard and Scott Kuipers return to Fringe after last years well-received The Brothers Gentle with an ambitious psychological two-hander that is about grieving, but not in a way that you might expect.
At a Canadian university, aspiring student union president Homer (Blanchard) is preparing to do an interview with student journalist Augie (Kuipers). The context is fraught: Homers best friend Connor recently died in a car accident and weeks later a controversial video surfaced that changed the narrative on campus from one of mourning to anger. Homer rightly suspects there is something off about Augies gee-whiz demeanour, and a verbal cat-and-mouse game ensues.
Blanchard and Kuipers script doesnt divulge too much, creating a high-stakes atmosphere and leaving the audience to fill in certain blanks. Theres a point where the interview set-up starts to feel too contrived, but the performances are so subtle, the characters so fully realized and the relationship dynamics so layered and fascinating that its easy to get hooked.
The play examines what happens when someone unlikeable dies and raises interesting questions around performative grief, complicity and bullying. Sometimes it feels like the duo mightve bitten off more than they can chew thematically, but their less-is-more approach aided by Waleed Ansaris starkly minimalist set and Emilie Trimbees sly lighting cues makes up for it.
