BETTER ANGELS: A PARABLE
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson)
Aug 11 at 10 pm, Aug 13 at 5:15 pm, Aug 14 at 7:30pm, Aug 15 at 5:15 pm, Aug 16 at 5:30 pm. 1-888-328-8384, summerworks.ca.
Rating: NNNN
Andrea Scott’s dark comedy about a young woman from Ghana (Akosua Amo-Adem) brought to Canada to be nanny/housekeeper to a self-involved, self-impressed couple (Sascha Cole and Peyson Rock) offers some intentionally cringeworthy moments.
The couple oozes condescension toward their employee, whom they insist is a member of their family and regularly fail to pay, and she gradually realizes how they’re imprisoning her.
Under the direction of Nigel Shawn Williams, the production is sharp and nasty, with Laura Gardner’s set suggesting both a cage and the web of Anansi, the African folk character who figures prominently in the tale.