by AMY BARRATT

Damn CBC Radio.

The public broadcaster’s seemingly insatiable appetite for radio drama has spawned a breed of playwrights who write for a radio audience even when they’re writing for the stage.

You could close your eyes and listen to Maureen Hunter’s Vinci—now playing at Centaur—and follow the storyline perfectly. This is not to say that you’d want to close your eyes, because Gordon McCall’s production is lovely to look at, from John Dinning’s Leonardo-sketchbook-inspired set to Spike Lyne’s golden lighting. And of course there’s nothing wrong with clarity in storytelling. Unfortunately, Vinci achieves it through great blobs of exposition.

The story is straight out of TV tabloid news: young, poor, single mother fights to keep custody of her son against the rich, aristocratic family of the father. The “remarkable” four year old in question will grow up to be the original renaissance man: Leonardo da Vinci.

The play begins with a projection of Leonardo’s famous “Last Supper,” commented upon by elderly priest Bartolomeo. It turns out he was a friend of the da Vinci family and has known the artist all his life. Through no fault of actor Marcel Jeannin, who goes out of his way to make Bartolomeo human, this character is the weakest link in the play. He has so clearly been fabricated by the playwright to narrate, and push the action along.

Jeannin is one of five young Montrealers featured in this cast of six. Carrie Colak plays Caterina as smart and strong, with occasional gusts to strident. Still, the barely contained emotion in her final speech is moving. Sasha Roiz plays Piero, the dutiful son who gets the serving-girl pregnant, as a decent sort caught way out of his element. Catherine Allard is touching in the role of Albiera, the “suitable” girl Piero marries. Daniel Brochu is somewhat wasted in the role of younger Vinci brother Francesco who is, again, less of a character in his own right than a device to move the plot along. Kent Allen, from Saskatoon, plays the Vinci paterfamilias, Antonio, like a 15th-century Joe Kennedy.

That early glimpse of “The Last Supper” is the first hint that Hunter is going to try to turn Leonardo into a Christ figure, or at least portray his mother as a saint. Granted, the 15th century was a period steeped in religion, and people were much more likely than we are today to cast any situation in a religious light, but Leonardo, among his many talents, was also a man of science. Would he have appreciated having his life story portrayed in these terms?

What this play wants is the presence of an adult Leonardo to comment on the action. We all know that he grew up to achieve great things. The question this play fails to answer is, was it because of the people who raised him, or in spite of them?

Two small companies take over the smaller Centaur space: The Elephant Club, winner of the Centaur Showcase award at last June’s Fringe, is playing through Saturday, Oct. 5. Then, from Oct. 9–12, Purple 9 Productions, who brought you Cobra: The Musical at the Fringe, present the season’s first bowdlerized Shakespeare. It’s called King Lear: A Godfather’s Tale. Tickets through Centaur box office. :

Vinci, until Oct. 20 at Centaur Theatre, $20–36, 288-3161

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