Dying to be reborn

>> Tell Me About Tigers won't revive Imago

by AMY BARRATT

Imago Theatre, founded in 1986, would like us to know that rumours of its demise have been exaggerated. Following its heyday in the late '80s and early '90s, Imago went into a decline, virtually dropping from sight over the past two to three years. But the company, fondly remembered for such productions as Jacques and His Master and Incandescence, is currently attempting a comeback, under new artistic director Clare Schapiro, with Parle-moi des tigres/Tell Me About Tigers.

They've obviously put a lot of money into and invested a lot of hope in this show. Like everyone who was there at the English opening last week, I wish Imago well. Unfortunately I can't help them out. They've chosen an important subject--dying (odd choice for a company attempting a rebirth though)--but this weak production cannot sustain the weak script.

The English and French versions, playing on alternate nights at Théâtre Prospero, are obviously a labour of love for many of the people involved. Playwright Robert Kastenbaum, a researcher on death and dying, based the main character on Montrealer Réjean Marien, one of the founders of Suicide-Action-Montreal (SAC), who was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Director Brian Mishara is also an SAC founder and was Marier's good friend. Translator Jean-Ives Boucher is with the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia and was Marier's "roommate and friend for many years."

Watching the play, it became clear that this company is too close to the material and too incestuous to notice that their work leaves the audience in the cold. They knew and loved this man--who in the play is given the goofy name Joshua Mélange--and so are oblivious to the thinness, not only of the script, but of Pierre Lenoir's performance in the lead.

For one thing, we don't even know if Joshua is gay. Not important, you say? Maybe not, except that the whole production seems to be acting coy about something. I couldn't care less about the sexuality of the real Réjean Marien, but when you put a character on stage, basic things like this need to be agreed upon, even if they aren't mentioned in the script. I didn't get the feeling from Lenoir's performance that he had even asked himself the question, is this character gay? Then again maybe he's just a straight bachelor with a lot of close male friends, some of whom are gay. Yeah, right.

Apart from Lenoir, two little girls alternate in the role of his niece, Francesca, who encourages him to explore "tiger country"--a metaphor for the things that most scare you. Joshua is supposed to have had an encounter with a tiger once in India, a plot point that seems as inorganic to the narrative as the insertion of Blake's "Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright."

Paul Doucet plays several roles, including Joshua's fussy (read faggy) friend Edward and his insensitive physician, Dr. Palanque (where does the playwright get these names?). In his opening scene as Edward on opening night, Doucet's timing was atrocious.

In his program note, Mishara claims, "this is not a bilingual play but rather two culturally different unilingual versions of the same story." Maybe the French version is worth seeing.

Parle-moi des Tigres/Tell me about Tigers at Théâtre Prospero (1371 Ontario E.) plays tonight, Nov. 23, in French at 8pm; both French and English performances run until Sunday, Nov. 26; $16-20; Reservations: 526-6582