TITLE AND DEED by Will Eno, directed by Stewart Arnott, with Christopher Stanton. Presented by Nightfall Theatrics at Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw). Opens Tuesday (November 24) and runs to December 6, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 2 and 7:30 pm. $24. brownpapertickets.com or at the door.
Its not just Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz who understands that theres no place like home.
In Will Enos solo show Title And Deed, subtitled monologue for a slightly foreign man, the easy-going, genial speaker admits to us right up front that Im not from here. I guess I never will be.
Over the course of the next hour, he engages us with talk of his rather different homeland, bits from his past both there and here, and throws in some thoughts about the purpose of existence.
Hes lost his path and is trying to find his way back home, says performer Christopher Stanton. When we first meet him, hes in a state of crisis, trying to connect and find a way out of his loneliness by speaking to a strange group of people, the audience.
But the man is here now, and his goal is to weight the differences and similarities between his homeland and where he currently is, to decide if hell stay or go.
If youve seen other Eno plays, such as Thom Pain (based on nothing) or Tragedy: a tragedy, you know not to expect a linear narrative or an easily defined character. What the award-winning American playwright does offer is a way of looking at our world thats slightly off-kilter, rational but not always recognizable.
Enos work is sometimes compared to that of Samuel Beckett, but Stanton sees some significant differences.
Hes like Beckett in that he creates universes that feel complete but are slightly different, maybe two universes over from ours. I feel his work puts me in a David Lynch world, where I am shown the mundane in an uncanny way and therefore look at it differently. The ground is shifting slightly under my feet all the time, and Im not sure whats coming next.
Like Beckett, he deals with big themes. Theres an enigmatic quality in Enos writing, but his work is approachable. I find Beckett has an intellectual distance and coolness when he tackles things like birth, death and love, finding a void at the centre Eno deals with an uncaring universe with warmth, humour and humanity.
Stanton was in a fine SummerWorks production of Tragedy a few years ago, directed, as is Title And Deed, by Stewart Arnott. That earlier play was an ensemble piece here, hes on his own when the house-lights go down.
Doing a solo show is a scary proposition, he admits. This is my first, and Im equally drawn by the desire for the challenge and fearful of not getting it right. But Ive learned that the jobs I take on that dont frighten me arent finally that interesting. The more I move outside of my comfort zone, the more surprises there are for me and the audience.
Other than the beauty of the challenge, theres the chance to achieve clarity in what youre trying to do or say. In the process of honing a performance, Stewart and I work in dialogue: theres an offer, a counter-offer and then another. Weve developed a shorthand in which we know if something is right or if we have to dig deeper.
And because its a solo piece, I never get to see any of the show, watch what happens. I have to trust my director implicitly.
The next phase comes when an audience is in the room and Stantons man gets to speak directly to them, drawing them into what he says.
Thats really the biggest test of rehearsing a solo show, not having eyes other than the directors looking at you. Title And Deed requires me to involve the listeners, find a commonality between them and my character. I look forward to having this beast change when a group of strangers shares the space with me.
