Review: (Kingston) A Beautiful View

A Beautiful Play

by Will Britton

(Republished in collaborating with Kingston Theatre Reviews

It is through the partnership of Theatre Kingston and Volcano Theatre that A Beautiful View, Daniel MacIvor’s play about another partnership, is currently playing in the Baby Grand Studio.  Two women appear on stage and tell the story of their relationship.  Sound simple?  Of course it does.  But of course it’s not.

As is typical of MacIvor’s work, A Beautiful View is far from a neatly packaged, linear and straightforward night at the theatre.  In this case, though, such is entirely suitable because the same can be said of the nature of self-identity, friendship, and love as explored in the piece.  Just like any meaningful relationship, the play demands a level of commitment – a combination of effort and perseverance to see it through to its end.  For it’s only at the end that the various elements of the narrative come full circle and truly make sense.  For those who manage to navigate the entire journey of the two performers, it is a beautiful and touching experience.  The risk, however, is that there will, no doubt, also be some audience members who find themselves left behind, with more questions than answers – quite possibly appreciating the artistic merit of the production, but not fully understanding it.  Kind of like a box of light.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) A Beautiful View

A Beautiful View, but it lacks an uglier side
by joel fishbane

A new production of Daniel MacIvor’s A Beautiful View has blown into Toronto and it has brought with it some admirable talent. The two-decade old Volcano Theatre has paired improv performer Becky Johnson with veteran NTS graduate Amy Rutherford to explore MacIvor’s drama about two women whose inability to put a convenient label on their unique friendship leads to conflict and complication. The result is a unique mix that, while entertaining, only occasionally illuminates MacIvor’s text.

Two unnamed women (Johnson and Rutherford) reunite to tell us the story of their relationship through re-enactment, monologue and commentary – often they break out of a scene to make remarks on what’s just occurred or defend their actions to the audience. It’s a fascinating theatrical technique but this production, directed by Ross Manson, seems uninterested in exploring it. Instead, Manson seems more focused on adding movement and physicality to the play as a way of exploring, presumably, the inner lives of the play’s two enigmatic characters.