Review: 'The Wonder of it All' at Stratford, Ontario's HERE FOR NOW New Works Festival
To witness a relationship crumble after twenty-five years of loving, caring, sharing, children, diapers, first toddler walks…the list is endless... boggles my mind. If, as an outsider, my heart bleeds for the couple I can’t even begin to imagine the emotional turmoil heatedly boiling within that relationship.
Playwright and performer Mark Weatherley cleverly explores how a strained relationship arrived at this possible point of no return or looking back in the world premiere of ‘The Wonder of it All’. At times an adroitly acerbic script, this two-hander performance with Mr. Weatherley and his wife Monique Lund blessedly never ventured into situation comedy territory. Instead, under director Seana McKenna’s attentive insight into weaving humorous and dramatic moments together, this artistic trio pushed those sometimes edgy, uncomfortable moments of “wondering if marriage is the right to annoy one person for the rest of your life” into much needed relief in laughter.
The play goes back and forth in time over some major events in the twenty-five-year relationship. Mr. Weatherley plays Kingsley described as needy and old fashioned by Charmaine in the beginning. Kingsley foolishly tries to impress people at a party he attends while playing his ukulele. It is at this party where he meets Charmaine (Lund) whom Kingsley described as intimidating and tightly wound. An environmental physicist, Charmaine does not want to give Kingsley any attention he seeks at the party. This initial meeting over twenty-five years ago is quite hilarious to watch especially as Kingsley tries to guess Charmaine’s name while aptly using the ukulele as an important prop to soften the tension between the two. Point of interest as well that Weatherley and Lund also play supporting characters at turning points in the lives of Kingsley and Charmaine.
I found it rather sensitively theatrical (and momentarily touching) in the way Charmaine lets her guard down around Kingsley at a humiliating point in her life. It is here where I started to root for the couple and prayerfully hoped that things would turn out well for them.
Alas, as events unfold that does not occur, but is there a glimmer of hope? That part, I will not divulge.
What made this opening night performance flow swimmingly is the synergistic chemistry between Mr. Weatherley and Ms. Lund. They establish a natural and realistic authenticity in their sometimes off-beat behaviour with each other. There are moments I found where I sided with one over the other most notably when Charmaine announces she is going to lunch with someone and Kingsley just says, “Fine”. Background information before led me to side with Kingsley and felt that Charmaine was completely in the wrong. It would be interesting to see how other audience members responded to that same moment.
A simple and bare stage setting and costume design suitably work well here as the focus must remain on watching the peaks and valleys in the couple’s relationship. An outdoor café table with two matching chairs remains centre stage. Up right are shovels, a basket with various props and a man’s blue blazer coat over one of the shovels. Mr. Weatherley wears grey summer pants, deck shoes and a blue t shirt. Ms. Lund wears a polka dot dress and red sandals. When we first see her, she wears a brightly coloured head scarf and dark sun glasses.
Final Comments: I’m placing ‘The Wonder of it All’ in the same mode as another favourite play of mine – A. R. Gurney’s ‘Love Letters’. There are times in ‘Wonder’ as in ‘Love Letters’ where one character addresses the audience to further the plot while the other listens intently and will then respond or comment on what was just said.
Part ‘comedy of manners’, part ‘manners of comedy’ peppered with convincingly plausible ‘real-life’ individuals, ‘The Wonder of it All’ begs us to consider if there truly is a ‘redemptive power of love’ given what life throws at us.
I for one sure hope so.
Performances run to September 5 outdoors at Stratford, Ontario’s Bruce Hotel, 89 Parkview Drive.
Logo for ‘The Wonder of it All’ taken from Here for Now’s website.
‘The Wonder of it All’ by Mark Weatherley
Directed by Seana McKenna
Technician: Callan Potter
Performers: Monique Lund, Mark Weatherley