World on our doorstep

>> From Africa to Ireland by way of the West Bank

by AMY BARRATT

May 2000 may be remembered as the month the world came to Montreal. So far we've seen two African plays, one Argentinean, one about Israel and Palestine, and the kick-off of a three-week long Irish Festival. Four continents in the space of a week--not bad.

The Festival des théatres du monde takes a breather until May 23, then returns briefly with Jet Lag, a production in English by New York company The Builders Association. "Multimedia" would appear to be an inadequate description of this piece. According to the New York Times, it features "video imaging and computer animation that challenge the most spectacular sequences realized so far in films and computer games."

New this year, the Irish Theatre Festival hosts visiting companies from Belfast and New York State, but first off the mark is a local company, Elysian River, with a production of Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel. That's through Saturday only at Concordia's D.B. Clarke Theatre. Next week, the Irish Players of Rochester present Da, by Hugh Leonard and the following week (May 24-27), the Ridiculusmus Theatre of Belfast performs an original creation, Say Nothing. Check out that company's Web site at www.ridiculu.dircon.co.uk.

Still playing is Josué Kossi Efoui's Le Carrefour/The Crossroads, in back-to-back English and French by Black Theatre Workshop. It's a lyrical tale of oppression set at a sandy crossroads marked by a looming streetlight. There isn't much more to Ana Cappelluto's set than this, but her minimalism has captured the barren hopelessness of the piece. Lighting, also by Cappelluto, costumes by Xenia Buchman and especially the electro-acoustic score by Yves Gigon all combine to create a place that is at once Africa and no-man's-land. All four young actors (Naila Belvett, Omari Newton, Chimwemwe Miller and Roberto Blizzard) give truthful if, on opening night, tentative performances. I felt at times I was being protected from the real passion and pain of the subject matter and being fed something self-consciously beautiful in its place. The dances by Delphine Pan Déoué are highlights of the evening.

With its production of Reading Hebron, Teesri Duniya Theatre proves once and for all that it can play in the big leagues. The play, by Jason Sherman, is fast-paced, funny and will rattle your cage no matter where you stand on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This is the scene that shocked me: the protagonist, Nathan (Howard Rosenstein), boffs the granddaughter of Yitzhak Rabin as she eulogizes him and both characters' dead grandfathers look on. The four cast members other than Rosenstein are having a blast playing multiple roles. Anna Furstenberg and Harry Standjofski are particularly shameless, which is just what the script demands. There was a bit of line-flubbing on opening night and the play lost some momentum near the end, but that still left more than enough oomph to carry the day.

Isabelle Larivière's set design works wonders with the gallery space at the MAI, erecting a stage between the four existing concrete pillars and placing the audience on two sides. Invigorating stuff. :

The Crossroads, until May 13 at the Monument National, 871-2224 Reading Hebron, until May 21 at the MAI. 982-3386
Irish Theatre Festival, Wednesday through Saturday until May 27 at D. B. Clarke, 790-1245 or 934-6026
Jet Lag, May 23-26 at Usine C, 844-2172