POSSIBLE WORLDS by John Mighton (Stratford Festival). At the Studio Theatre, Stratford. Runs in rep to September 19. $25-$195, stu from $18. 1-800-567-1600, stratfordfestival.ca. Rating: NNNN
John Mightons Possible Worlds is a very smart play, and director Mitchell Cushmans Stratford production is equally smart.
It begins as a murder mystery, as two detectives (Michael Spencer-Davis and Gordon S. Miller) investigate a dead body from which the brain has been removed. By the plays end, weve moved into metaphysical questions of the nature of reality, neurobiology and alternative universes.
Throughout, we follow the usually upbeat George (Cyrus Lane), who keeps bumping into Joyce (Krystin Pellerin), a woman in red who appears to have various names, personalities and histories. Over the course of the action, the various Joyces start to blur for George, though he never loses his closeness to her.
As the police pursue a spate of dead bodies five in the past week, one remarks their investigations bring them to Penfield (Sarah Ornstein), a neuroscientist who studies brains and the power of the imagination.
Mightons script has, at times, the randomness of a dream, the associations not rational but understandable. Cushman tweaks the links between scenes carefully, giving us an echo of something here, a suggestion of something else there. The shifts, subtle but cumulative, fill in a universe in which anything can happen.
His cast is strong, from Orensteins hard-edged scientist to the pair of increasingly bemused detectives, Spencer-Davis the sarcastic one in control, Miller his initially less clever sidekick. Pellerin gives each version of Joyce a slightly different feel, while Lanes George has an emotional truth that never wavers, no matter what situation hes in.
The shows look is gorgeous, set designer Anahita Dehbonehie placing most of the action as well as lots of bankers boxes in a pool of water that mirrors the live action Kimberly Purtells lighting (including a flashing red beam that becomes a major plot point) and projections by Nick Bottomley make use of the watery, reflective set. Theres an entertaining scene in a cafe that conjures up the film Singin In The Rain, with a coda that brings in the pop tune Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.
Keep an eye on when that water disappears and what that signifies in the narrative.
The colour scheme is black, grey, red and white, picked up in Dana Osbornes costumes. This is a production, which includes Christopher Stantons sound design and David Bens moments of magic, that makes excellent use of modern technology.
But thats its underlying flaw: so much of our attention goes to the look of the show that we sometimes lose what’s at its centre, the love story between George and Joyce and the fact that she is his beacon. Lane and Pellerin, especially in the second half of the play, do their best, despite the distractions, to solidify and explore the complexity of that relationship.
While Georges attention shifts regularly as one Joyce after another crosses his path, you wont lose your focus on this largely expert production. Possible Worlds offers a myriad of truths, their intricacy both hypnotic and intriguing.
