Toronto Review: Canadian premiere of 'Us/Them' at CAA Theatre
Joe Szekeres, Chief Toronto Critic
I wasn’t expecting what I thought with ‘Us/Them’.
For the last couple of years, I’d read articles on how powerful this two-hander play was as it dealt with children’s reactions to school shootings. That’s all I really knew about the production (oh, and the fact it was only one hour with no intermission. Novelty for sure).
I had wanted to do some research behind the production earlier, but time eluded me somehow. There was a Q and A after the performance, so I stayed behind to listen to some further background on the play. When I discovered the production was based on the Beslan school siege, I did remember that horrible incident on the news. When I came home, I did a bit of quick online research and recalled seeing some of those televised shocking images from an adult perspective over ten years ago. For three days, school children, teachers, adults and family members were held hostage under the most awful of circumstances before the massacre began which tragically ended with over two hundred children who lost their lives.
And this is where my understanding and appreciation for ‘Us/Them’ begins. What I am sorry for is the fact I had forgotten about this terrible incident.
The press release states ‘Us/Them’ tackles this horrific school siege from the perspective of two unnamed children who appear wise and unconquerable on the outside. What made it even far more interesting is the fact these are two adults (Gytha Parmentier and Roman Van Houtven) who must present from a child’s perspective how the survivors might have coped during these three days and in the days to follow.
Ms. Parmentier and Mr. Van Houtven had a challenging task ahead of them. They’re not simply acting as children and how they might respond to trauma. Instead, these two performers must somehow naturally and genuinely use their bodies and their voices to present children who are responding to difficult events. Remember, children may not always respond in the same way that adults do when it comes to sadness.
I believed these two excellent performers for most of the time they appeared on stage. Ms. Parmentier and Mr. Van Houtven are highly energetic when necessary to show that, sometimes, children cannot sit still and need to get up and move around. I especially liked at the top of the show how they tried periodically to talk over each other as children often do to state their point of view. The intensity of the two of them as they chalked the outline of the school naturally captured how children would draw on the ground as they jumped out of each other’s way or a gentle nudge here and there. Some of the hearsay they presented at times was amusing which was important in knowing how tragic this story was in history.
However, there were moments either of raucous excitement or extreme intensity where Ms. Parmentier and Mr Van Houtven’s voices did not carry well and I couldn’t hear them clearly and in what they were saying. Hopefully, they will be mindful as performances continue since so much is conveyed to us through their dialogue.
It’s a bare stage when we enter the CAA auditorium. There is a flat on the back wall with what appears to be coat hooks on it. Thomas Clause’s lighting design is sharp as it made me want to just sit and look at the stage for a few minutes. Far stage left is in shadow, but there appears to be a collection of balloons.
As director, Ms. Wijs utilizes the stage to its fullest for maximum dramatic tension. The supposed coat hooks on the back flat are twine which Parmentier and Van Houtven pull out from the back wall. This twine becomes the tripwire that the soldiers might have set in the gymnasium around the hostages. To look at it from an audience’s perspective was both striking, startling and frightening for me. The black balloons mark the location of the bombs. Very effective indeed. Peter Brughmans’ sound design also nicely underscored the heightened tension.
FINAL COMMENTS: During the Q and A, I discovered the story is also meant to be performed in front of children. Ms. Parmentier and Mr. Van Houtven told us of some of the responses they had from specific school audiences in Europe which interested me. Given our current crisis of education in our school system, I only wish that more students would have the opportunity to see an important work such as ‘Us/Them’. At times, it’s a frightening world in which we live. I believe this production allows youth to speak openly about trauma, tragedy and sadness and to hear the young person’s voice if they want it to be heard.
US/THEM
BRONKS and Richard Jordan Productions with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium in association with Summerhall
Production runs to March 15 at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge Street, Toronto. For tickets visit www.mirvish.com or call 1-416-872-1212.
Production runs approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.
Written and Directed by Carly Wijs
Cast: Gytha Parmentier and Roman Van Houtven
Created with Thomas Vantuycom; Designer: Stef Stessel; Lighting Design: Thomas Clause; Sound Design: Peter Brughmans; Dramaturge: Mieke Versyp
Photo of the cast by FKPH.