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.
