(Guest Writer: Ronfoley Macdonald)
A small exodus of theatre professionals have arrived in Nova Scotia’s South Shore and Annapolis Valley since the severe social disruptions of COVID. They are beginning to have an effect on the Province’s Drama Scene with ripples reaching the Provincial Capital.
Earlier this year, the Old Confidence Lodge Production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch landed at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax to general excitement and acclaim.
I was intrigued by a notice that the relatively recent two-person Broadway musical The Last Five Years was going to make a brief two-day, three-performance appearance at The Sanctuary Arts Centre, a beautiful decommissioned church in Dartmouth designed by Andrew Cobb, the East Coast equivalent of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Last Five Years is the tale of two heterosexual New York City twenty-somethings and their five-year affair/marriage. One narrative proceeds forward chronologically; the other moves backward like Harold Pinter’s 1970s classic Betrayal or Christopher Nolan’s famed film Memento. The result—the end of the relationship announced in the very first song—reaches back to Ancient Greek Drama, where the audience already knew the plot’s outcome at the beginning of the show.
Writer/composer Jason Robert Brown has managed to breathe life into what could have been a simple romantic narrative thread. There’s no dialogue as such, just a few (old style….no modern-day devices) phone calls, mostly to other people. Practically everything is sung through.
The music itself blends contemporary Broadway Ballad styles with a bit of vaudeville and music hall tropes; the recorded audio the actors sang to consisted of piano, bass and guitar with some string quartet flourishes. The songs alternated between the two actors, who sang together on only a couple of numbers, a wedding piece and a finale.
The formal aspects added a bit of distance to the story in a Brechtian sense; following the Ebb and Flow of the romance was easy and direct. It’s a fine piece of writing by any measure, already a success on Broadway; it’s also been made into a less successful film.
The production I saw—co-produced by Summersby Productions and the South Shore Summer Theatre, and directed and produced by Darren Summersby—was surprisingly brisk and effective. The minimalist staging—two chairs and a couple of boxes—was all that was on stage, and the actors managed just a few costume changes each; the lighting was basic, which emphasized the singing and then the story.
Both were vigorous and well delivered. Fiona Clancy (as the struggling actress Kathy) and Callum Eddy (as the successful novelist Jamie) were dazzling in their delivery; these were exceptional performances. Eddy comes out of the gate with an ‘aw-shucks’ charisma that almost overwhelms. He looks like the captain of the college swim team, and sings and moves with confidence and intent. Clancy begins dolorously announcing the end of the affair and marriage;
it takes her to the middle of the show to catch up with Eddy with a show-stopping song about being stuck in a regional theatre show in Ohio. Clancy gains strength through the show as Eddy ends up dressed in black towards the end, preparing as if for a funeral; they fulfill the old Aristotle idea that characters have to change in drama.
Considering Western Culture’s current dim view of heterosexual love stories—a European Vogue Magazine recently stated that having a boyfriend was ‘an embarrassment’—The Last Five Years can seem a little old-fashioned at times.
The reverse narratives, however, really pack a punch, and the sheer excellence of the acting by this production makes it a must-see
If it ever comes your way….which I hope it might be, as it seems a very portable production.
Highly recommended
