Lessons in Depression

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by AMY BARRATT

In Montreal's theatre schools, 'tis apparently the season to be Horvath. The 1930s Austrian playwright is suddenly in vogue: currently playing at Concordia's D.B. Clarke Theatre is Oedoen von Horvath's Faith, Hope and Charity. Opening next week at National Theatre School: his Tales of the Vienna Woods.

Thanks to set designer Jackie Chau and lighting by Benoît Beauchamp, Faith Hope and Charity has a striking look, evoking the Depression years (also, of course, the leading-up-to-WWII years) in Austria. The play is one of those cold, political exercises that came out of Europe at the time, in which people aren't really people but concepts. Joel Miller's direction exaggerates the stiffness of the characters and steers clear of any emotional connection between them. Despite their protestations that they will never lose heart, these characters already have. Their spirits have already been crushed by the time the play begins, leaving the actors nowhere to go, and the audience no one to care about.

Faith, Hope and Charity, nightly until Saturday, Dec. 9, 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 10, 2 p.m. Tickets $10 or less; 848-4742.

Tales from the Vienna Woods, at the Monument-National, Dec. 12-16, 8 p.m., $5; 871-2224.

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