The Centaur
lets loose

>> Local talent is the main attraction
at the Wildside Festival

GRIMM INTERPRETATION: Rubin

by AMY BARRATT

“A stolen glance into the strange realm of nature” is how the Brothers Grimm described the folk tales they made it their life’s work to seek out and record. This also works well as a description of Too Close to the Sun’s play The Girl With No Hands, especially if you insert the word “human” in front of nature. Talya Rubin’s solo piece, co-devised with Jodi Essery, uses the fantastical tale from a collection by the Grimms, to reveal truths—some flattering, many not—about human nature.

Previously produced in the 2006 Fringe fest, the play has been reworked and refined for a run at the Wildside Festival, which wraps up on Saturday at the Centaur theatre (the final performance of Girl With No Hands is on Friday at 9 p.m.). Rubin and Essery have found lots of dark humour in the story of a girl whose father cuts off her hands as punishment for some real or perceived sexual transgression. The play is like a jazz improvisation on the story exploring its many versions, which, the play suggests, tell more about the tellers than about the girl.

Rubin—whose inner stillness and outer bone structure make her fascinating to watch—portrays many characters. A grumpy old storyteller, mit ein thick German accent, presents the material as a cautionary tale for young girls to keep their legs together or risk a horrible death. Other characters include the girl herself, a kvetching Wilhelm Grimm, and a gaggle of country women whose “oral tradition” Grimm is supposed to be recording; they have a lot of opinions, he finds, but not a decent beginning, middle or end among them.

Rubin’s performance is wonderfully enhanced by Paul Chambers’s set featuring bare saplings that reach toward the sky like bony fingers (also evocatively lit by Chambers) and by a live soundtrack provided by roving accordionist Julia Kater.

The Wildside, now in its 11th year, was instigated by Gordon McCall in his first year as artistic director of the Centaur. Over the years, the festival—five plays, ten nights, two performances a night—has caught on, attracting both regular Centaur subscribers eager for something a little edgy, and younger crowds who don’t necessarily go to mainstage shows but might be persuaded to in the future. It has never been a money maker for the theatre—most of the box office goes to the artists and the space is provided for free—but it’s seen as an audience-builder.

Although it usually features at least one show from out of town, the Wildside in recent years has been a vital showcase for local talent, not just actors but also directors and writers.

This year, The Cyclops, by Rabbit in the Hat Productions, is an all-Montreal venture: written and directed by Paul Van Dyck, it features singer-actors Neil Napier, Alison Louder and Tamara Brown as well as three live musicians under the direction of Spanky Horowitz. Final performances are tonight, Jan. 17 and Saturday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.

The Wildside Festival, to Jan. 19 at Centaur Theatre.
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors. Second show on the
same night: $7. Box office (514) 288-3161. see
www.centaurtheatre.com for full schedule.