Review: (Toronto) Eirlys & Eckhart

Arlin Dixon, Matthew Gorman (photo by Scott Gorman)

Boxed In
Confusion mars a potentially thrilling evening
by Stuart Munro
@Stuart MunroTO

Arlin Dixon’s debut play Eirlys & Eckhart purports to be “an eerie domestic horror in which two old friends reunite in a room governed by the rules of children’s logic to solve the mystery of their missing parents.” It’s too bad that this single phrase gives us more insight into the play than the play itself.

This is not to say that the evening is entirely unsuccessful. To be sure, the mood and tone of the space is at times frightening and off-putting, thanks in large part to Dave Plowman’s omnipresent soundscape, and I legitimately jumped in my seat on at least one occasion. But Dixon’s script never quite finds its voice and instead hovers around the idea of fear without ever knowing (or letting the audience know) what exactly it should be afraid of. The play is not atmospheric enough to rely on mood alone, and the plot is too threadbare to help move it along.

First-Person: Matthew Gorman on Cart/Horse

Matthew Gorman in Rum and Vodka

Remember...Everything
Actor, Audience, Story is the tag line we’ve chosen to define our mandate.
by Matthew Gorman
(all photos by Scott Gorman)

We’re a very old fashioned theatre company made up of very old fashioned people. We have very simple tastes, and unfortunately, simple tastes are the hardest to satisfy. When you’ve had the best scotch in the world, it’s hard to get that flavour to leave your memory. As soon as you catch a hint of that smell your mouth waters as you remember not just the taste, but the experience of having that glass. You remember the people you were with, the coziness of the pub, the conversations. When I think of the best plays I’ve ever seen, I think of the whole night, I remember the atmosphere, the collective experience. I remember the story I was told, that feeling that comes from being invited into someone’s life for an evening.

This is what I wanted to create with Cart/Horse.

The plays we’ve chosen to produce have all been deceptively simple. A simple setting or premise. But there’s always much more going on once you enter the room. Like that cozy pub, once you’re inside you get to see the people around you for what they really are, with nothing hidden.

Actor, Audience, Story is the tag line we’ve chosen to define our mandate. Challenge the actor, trust them with difficult material and push them to invest in the work. Invite the audience in, talk to them, not at them. The audience is part of the company, not its customers. Tell a good story, don’t sugarcoat and don’t hide away from difficult truths.