Each year, the University of Toronto Drama Coalition sponsors a festival at Hart House Theatre for students from each college to write, produce, direct, and star in original plays. Those plays are performed once each and judged by an expert in the field who will name, at the festival’s conclusion, its winners and losers. This year, blogUT will be attending and reporting on all of the plays at the 2012 U of T Drama Festival and letting you know how your college matches up to others in the dramatic arts.

February 15

University of Toronto Mississauga: Twilight Soldier by Gevvy Sidhu, directed by Victor Pokinko

Though not technically a college, UTM is constantly in competition with students of the larger and more well-known St. George Campus, and last night they proved themselves worthy rivals beyond a doubt. Set in Berlin immediately following Hitler’s suicide, Twilight Soldier follows a Nazi, in denial of the death of his leader, who has imprisoned two soldiers, an American and a Soviet, and is not quite certain what to do with them. He is accompanied by another German soldier who regrets his involvement with the war, and Mephistopheles, the demon who never hesitates to comment on or influence the proceedings of the play. Though its very conception may be more than a tad clichéd – the sexy devil in a short black dress, the weeping soldier wondering if he is a coward, the chessboard – extraordinarily convincing performances from its dynamic cast made Twilight Soldier a powerhouse of a play. The emotional energy was raw and real and the pain agonizingly effective. The awkwardness of speaking in English with trite German accents when the conversation was between two Germans was a little off-putting, but almost unnoticeable amidst the heavily allusive, intriguing, philosophical dialogue. Twilight Soldier was an overwhelming experience by a flawless cast and a very likely candidate for at least four of the five possible awards.

University College: Teen Fiction, written and directed by Brett McNeill

The show began with a man in drag shouting at four teen movie archetypes and went downhill from there. Teen Fiction was a parody of teen movies, it seems, even though it was neither a movie nor presented to teens, but inconsistency was only the least of its troubles. The interesting premise, that four archetypal teenagers – the thug, the cheerleader, the bitch, and the nerd – were told they were not allowed to be themselves for the duration of the play, was thwarted by hammy acting and constant unnecessary appeals to popular to teen movies. Every joke was told at least a dozen times, in only slightly different ways, and by curtain call the dead horse of teen movie parodies had been beaten so thoroughly it was almost unrecognizable. Couple in the recurring shtick characters not being allowed to swear (one must say “cauliflower” instead of “bitch”) and some bizarre subplot about a mystery drug that was actually a placebo, and you get a one-act play that sacrifices meaning for laughs and laughs for esoteric appeal. Teen Fiction was all-around poorly written, directed, produced, and executed, and it is unlikely to win any Drama Festival award. And none for Gretchen Wieners.

Trinity College: Down the Drain, written and directed by Salena Barry and Walter Villanueva

Two harsh spotlights shone down on two bathroom sinks and nothing but, giving Down the Drain a creepy but powerful effect of solitude and separation. Horace and Noreen Butler, married for years and with a grown-up child who’s moved away, come to reflect upon their marriage and relationship with each other over their morning rituals. The entire play was set at the bathroom sinks, with deeply realistic dialogue and brilliant chemistry between the cast of two, driving Horace and Noreen into an emotional battle over their lives and what they want. A short and sweet running time made each second of Down the Drain impactful for the audience and the chillingly unresolved ending drove the whole piece home. Superbly detailed set dressing and great sincerity from the actors made the audience feel practically voyeuristic in the home of these two strangers. Down the Drain is emotionally devastating and without a second of weakness, making it a likely contender for at least three of the five possible awards.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at 9:45 am and is filed under Arts, Contests, Entertainment, Events, On Campus, Review, theatre, UT Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.