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Culture Theatre

Review: The De Chardin Project

THE DE CHARDIN PROJECT by Adam Seybold (Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson). Runs to December 14. Pwyc-$38. 416-504-7529. See Continuing. Rating: NNNN

Science and religion are often on opposing sides, especially around something like the creationism vs. evolution debate. Adam Seybold‘s The De Chardin Project offers up a fascinating real-life figure who defies any reductive labels.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Cyrus Lane) was a Jesuit priest, a paleontologist and a geologist. When we first meet him, he’s stuck in a sort of limbo and being visited by a mysterious Death figure (Maev Beaty). Then we flash back to moments in his peripatetic life: digging for fossils in Egypt, fighting the Hun during WWI and, in Zhoukoudian, China, taking part in the expedition team involved in the historic Peking Man find.

Beaty is present in each of these scenes, morphing effortlessly from a series of mothers to a frightened soldier to, in one of the most moving sequences, an American artist in love with de Chardin as the Japanese invade Peking.

Seybold’s beautifully detailed and suggestive script touches on biographical moments, but not in a pedantic way. It’s open-hearted and open-minded and complex, befitting a man with so many dimensions. And there are some gorgeous passages, especially one that gives de Chardin’s philosophy of the cross.

Lane lends an inner peace and solidity to his performance, even as his character comes up against things like the censorship of sermons because of his beliefs. And the exquisite Beaty proves yet again that she’s capable of playing anyone.

Alan Dilworth‘s direction is a small miracle. Lorenzo Savoini‘s raised cube of a set (the play is performed in the round) has lots of surprises, and for a subject in which light is so key – spiritual, practical – the lighting effects, including a couple of symbolic candles, are haunting.

Don’t miss this show.

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