Haunted by the past

>> Fallen Angel revives A Lie of the Mind,
Sam Shepard’s compelling tale
of two deranged households

CRAZY IN LOVE: Jessica Rose

by NEIL BOYCE

As we come out of our long, bitter winter, it looks like the dramatic artists in our city still have a few issues to work through.

The theatre season so far has seen plays full of incest, divorce, suicide and people getting beaten over the head, shot in the face and pelted by the audience with stale baked goods. But aah, spring is here!

Before the lighter fare of warmer months arrives (i.e. Geordie’s The Jungle Book), Montrealers still have a chance to wallow in despair and see a most compelling work from the enigmatic Sam Shepard in Fallen Angel’s revival of his 1985 gem, A Lie of the Mind.

The play that Shepard called “a love ballad...a little legend about love” is a striking, split-stage production that tells twin stories, played out in turn, of two deranged households. It opens with the delirious rambling of a bandaged woman, spinning a tale of anger, love and control that is pieced together by her family and the family of her abuser. In a way, it’s a synthesis of all that Shepard had been exploring till that point: alcoholism, domestic violence, a distant father and, most of all, the struggle to live an “authentic” life.

Fallen Angel is a relatively new company with a string of three well-received productions—Monster, Quills and last year’s Heaven—already under its belt. Founder/director Frances Balenzano says the most important things she brings to a play as a director are research, and plenty of time spent working with and preparing actors.

“There’s a certain amount of chemistry you can create in rehearsal,” she says, “but I think the spark has to be there. I like to work with many of the same actors in each production. If there’s a strong connection, there’s no limit to the things we can do.”

Part of the process has Balenzano running through improvised scenes with the actors in character. They imagine two brothers in the story in a bar having an argument, and see how it plays out. Jessica Rose, who plays the injured Beth, readied herself for the role by consulting a doctor about brain injury and the effects of medication.

“I would never want an audience member to feel disconnected from what they’re seeing,” says Balenzano. “Good or bad, as long as emotions are brought to the surface for them, I feel like we’ve done our job.”

Balenzano elaborates on her attraction to the story: “All of these characters are imprisoned by their past,” she says. “In a sense, they are only living a version of their lives. It’s very easy to be haunted by the past. Our parents’ own mistakes are thrown on to us, and in allowing ourselves to be caught up in old experiences, we become incapable of moving on.

“Our main goal is to engage the audience. We want them to feel like an active participant. As they question and react to what they see on stage, I hope that they are the element that completes the process.”

A Lie of the Mind, until April 27
at Mainline Theatre (3997
St-Laurent), 8 p.m., Saturday
matinee April 26 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: (514) 489-0271,
www.fallenangelproductions.ca