TITLE AND DEED by Will Eno (Nightfall Theatrics). At Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw). Runs to December 6, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 2 and 7 pm. $24. brownpapertickets.com or at the door. Rating: NNN
What do you do when a quiet, shy man talks with you about missing home?
When hes Christopher Stanton, addressing you and a few others in an intimate space, you listen. Using a variety of lighting and a chalkboard, the production creates a setting that feels like a cross between an after-dinner story and an informal lecture.
Stantons character, simply named Man, requests an hour of our time in Will Enos wistful, sometimes funny Title And Deed. A stranger to our shores, hes initially nervous about making eye contact with us and early in the show asks us not to hate him. Wheres he from? We dont know, but his countrys customs resemble ours in most but not all ways.
Hes trying to decide, we learn, whether to move on or stay with us, regularly doubting his ideas and pulling up memories from his past to try to explain himself and see where hed best fit in.
Under Stewart Arnotts gentle direction, which neither equates the Man with the guy next door nor pushes his differences too much, Stanton uses his considerable charm to offer Enos thoughts about language, life, affection and death.
Theres humour along the way, as when he explains the musical wooing of ones intended partner or his peoples love of parades. He identifies as an alien several times, and occasionally you get a hint that its of the extra-terrestrial sort.
But the sense of fear and loneliness that he expresses is universal, and its in these moments that we most identify with him, wherever he calls home.
Enos playful use of language, with some intriguing poetic parallels and unexpected leaps in thought, is engaging, though the script occasionally rambles. But then again, that wandering feels right for the troubled speaker, whos trying to find a personal balance between loss and love as well as a place where he feels acceptance and comfort.
