John Mann (left) and Tom Jackson revisit past wrongs in the world premiere of the musical Beyond Eden.

Credit: Supplied

STAGE: “Beyond Eden” falls short of paradise, “Scorched” too hot to handle

BEYOND EDEN

The charm of musical theatre is that it can encompass all genres, from comedy to melodrama, Little Shop to Les Miz, with equanimity. There are no rules to follow and no Aristotelian unities to observe, as long as you’ve got a catchy tune and a sense of adventure. The mere fact that a song-and-dance routine could break out at any moment absolves the musical from the rigours of ‘straight’ drama.

Playwright Bruce Ruddell disregards this basic freedom in the new musical, Beyond Eden. Based on an actual 1957 expedition to Haida Gwaii to rescue decaying totem poles from an abandoned village, Eden is a suitably Canadian effort: an overly earnest, culturally sensitive, soft-rock eco-opera. Even the show’s claim to fame — its exploration of Haida culture — seems strangely abortive.

It all opens promisingly enough. As the woven, raven-embossed curtain comes up, a lone, masked dancer appears on a breathtaking set composed of ramps and truncated cedar logs suspended at angles. And then, in a cruel mirroring of history, the “white man” (in this case, curator Lewis Wilson, played by John Mann) comes along and makes it all about him.

Exploring the twin evils of cultural appropriation and ethnic oppression is a noble endeavour — but can you dance to it? Not in this case. The score (co-written by Ruddell and Bill Henderson) is heavy with Céline Dion-style power chords and tinkling chimes, and hampered by some rather uninspired lyrics. The titular “Beyond Eden,” which opens the second act, is the most hum-worthy tune, thanks to its radio-friendly melody and Mann’s impassioned singing, but, like the rest of the songs, it feels inserted into the narrative rather than part of a free-flowing story.

As for the rest of the cast, Tom Jackson brings his booming baritone and powerful stage presence to the role of The Watchman, the mythical spirit guide for Wilson’s vision quest. An under-used Jennifer Lines is strong and sweet as Wilson’s wife, Sal, and Andrew Kushnir as her son, Jack, injects a welcome shot of humour into the proceedings with his Haida/Elvis Presley mash-up, “Howa Baby.”

The real stars of the show, however, are Bretta Gerecke’s set and costume designs, and Jamie Nesbitt’s projections, which turn Gerecke’s hollow faux-cedar cylinders into intricately carved totem poles. If the substance matched the style, Beyond Eden would be an unqualified triumph. As it is, it’s a serviceable first draft.

Beyond Eden runs to Feb. 6 at Vancouver Playhouse (Hamilton at Dunsmuir), 8 pm. Matinees Wed., Sat., 2 pm. Tickets $20-$56 from VancouverPlayhouse.com and 604-873-3311

SCORCHED

The ambiguous press description for Scorched bills it as “exploring the immigrant and refugee experience,” when it has about as much to do with immigration and refugees as Nabokov’s Lolita has to do with teen angst. Sure, those themes are present, but on the periphery. What Montreal-based actor-director-playwright Wadji Mouawad’s tragedy (entitled Incendies in its original French) actually explores are the unspeakable horrors of war and the need to confront those horrors in order to move past them. There is no blood and gore or graphic physical violence on the mostly bare stage, illuminated by a beam of light running from one wing to the other. The torture is purely psychological, but no less painful for it.

Spanning a period of some 50 years, the play opens with twins Janine (Cara Yeats) and Simon (Michael Shewchuck) learning from their dead mother Nawal’s (Casey Austin) notary (Paddy Crawford) that the father they thought died in a civil war in the old country is still alive, and that they also have a long-lost brother. The two eventually make their way to the unnamed Middle Eastern country (timelines and other clues point to Mouawad’s birth country of Lebanon), where their search uncovers the horrible acts their mother was forced to endure in a time of war.

Deliberately paced and occasionally plodding with overly florid descriptions of wartime atrocities, Scorched is saved by skillful storytelling that slowly peels back layers of lies and mysteries to get to the big, ugly reveal. The cast delivers uneven performances, with the exception of Austin, who manages to hit many of the right notes in a complex and demanding role that starts in adolescence and continues well into the afterlife.

However, let me reiterate, without dropping any spoilers, that this is one heavy piece of theatre, one that will screw itself into the darkest corners of your mind — unbidden and unwelcome — for a long, long time.

Scorched runs to Jan. 31 at Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright, Granville Island), 8 pm. Matinees Sat.-Sun., 2 pm. Tickets $15-$18 from TheatreInconnu.com.