by AMY BARRATT

Playwright Joel Fishbane is an original, as is every one of his plays. You can never guess what this Montrealer is going to do next. Well, in the case of The Three Apollos, there’s been word on the street for about a year that Pumpkin Theatre was incubating a farce, but as far as I know it’s Fishbane’s first—and maybe last—work in the genre. A theatre history buff, he throws himself into the form with glee.

As you walk into the Bain St-Michel for this infinitheatre co-pro, James Lavoie’s black and white art deco set immediately puts you in the mood for something frothy and Noel Coward-ish. A 1920s jazz, blues and ragtime soundtrack gets your feet tapping.

Then the play begins. There is a relentlessly amateurish feel to this production that troubled me at first but ultimately was part of its charm. The bad wigs, bad make-

up and frankly coarse acting help play up the innate artificiality of the form. It’s as if the playwright, who is also the director, is saying, “I don’t expect you to believe this, but I’m really hoping you’ll enjoy it.”

Fishbane’s script exaggerates the absurd plot elements necessary to farce: deceptions, disguises and mistaken identities abound. The scene in which a husband fails to recognize his wife after she dons a wig and clownish makeup is typical farce; the fact that the wife fails to recognize her husband when he has done nothing more than put on a hat is either bad writing or deliberately absurd. I’m giving Fishbane the benefit of the doubt.

The program does not mention where or when this play is set, and that seems to be deliberate. You couldn’t pin these things down without pointing up a score of little anachronisms. At one point, it is suggested that women will be getting the vote any day now. That would make it before 1920 (in the U.S.) but otherwise the mise en scène screams Jazz Age. There’s also talk of a war that may or may not still be going on. There’s no question in my mind that Fishbane knows the history of the period. If he deliberately bends it, it is in the service of the plot. This is farce, folks, the play keeps reminding us—you were expecting maybe realism?

This nudge-nudge, wink-wink approach almost works. Farce is a silly, annoying form, no matter how well written, so it’s enjoyable to see it mocked from within. However, there is a part of us as spectators that wants to be sucked in, and this production keeps pushing us away.

There was a festive atmosphere in the theatre on opening night, and many in attendance were seriously yucking it up. Fishbane knows his way around both punchlines and sight gags. On the strength of that alone, this play—though not with these actors—could fly as part of a Centaur season.

The Three Apollos is at the Bain St-Michel (5300 St-Dominique) until Dec. 18, 987-1774, $12–$15

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