A Test of the Spectator
Mixed feelings about Company Theatre's offering
by Beat Rice
The English translation of Lukas Barfuss’ play The Test, premiered this week at the Berkeley Theatre. Presented by the Company Theatre in partnership with Canadian Stage, The Test featured a stellar cast of Eric Peterson, Sonja Smits, Gord Rand, Liisa Repo-Martell and Phillip Riccio. The play was translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte and directed by Jason Bryne.
Barfuss’ sharp writing and Duarte’s translation, combined with Byrne’s direction create a world that is so real yet so strange, we don’t want to get too close. What starts off as the sheer need to know the paternity of one’s offspring creates a series of events with a tragic ending.
