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Culture Theatre

A Delicate Balance finds just the right balance

A DELICATE BALANCE by Edward Albee (Soulpepper). At the Young Centre (50 Tank House). Runs to February 10. $35-$95. 416-866-8666. See listing. Rating: NNNN

I expected there to be something of a pall over the Young Centre when I attended Soulpeppers second performance of A Delicate Balance. But an enthusiastic nearly full house proves that in the wake of what could turn out to be a devastating sexual harassment scandal, the show is definitely going on.

The play opens with Agnes (Nancy Palk) and Tobias (Oliver Dennis), wealthy retirees who are seemingly content, talking benignly about the terrors of old age and the possibility that Agnes may go mad. Soon its clear there are tensions simmering under the surface, especially when Agness live-in drunken sister Claire (Brenda Robins) appears and begins tearing down the veneer of complacency.

When the couples best friends show up, beset by a vague but overwhelming fear of something we never learn what with intentions of moving in, they upset the household balance. The arrival of daughter Julia (Laura Condlln), after shes left her fourth husband, brings the house into further disarray.

Albee presses the themes that fuelled his famous Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? marital discord, the long ago death of a child, the impact of copious amounts of alcohol but differently this time. Claires alcoholism is referred to early on and explicitly it becomes a near joke and Agnes and Toby dont fight so furiously. Rather, the conflicts seem to be under the skin but perilously close to the surface.

Working on Astrid Jansons set, designed expressly to evoke the themes of off-kilteredness, the actors show a deep understanding of Albees intention. Condlln conveys the whininess of a child coddled by know-nothing parents. Derek Boyes and Kyra Harper as the imposing couple are artless and irritatingly vague as they need to be and Robins is hilarious in the most showy and least challenging role of the fool.

In an expert turn, Palk as the matriarch trying to hold everything together makes the suppression of her own fear and rage physical, moving stealthily or standing ramrod straight. And Dennis shifts effortlessly from ineffectual to angry and back again.

But though Diana LeBlancs direction is tight even if there are some acoustical problems with the stage set up between two audience tiers and the performances excellent, its the text that rules.

Right from the start, Agness discursive monologue containing three sentences that begin with, What I find astonishing, makes its clear that were in the hands of a superior playwright. Albee can sustain both long speeches and witty banter in ways that bring real pleasure, even to uncomfortable material.

The play is over 50 years old but still feels fresh.

Artistically speaking, with another great production of a classic, its business as usual on the Soulpepper stage. Lets just hope thats not the case behind the scenes.

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