"I detest amateur performances. Kids with no talent making disgusting spectacles of themselves."
So states David of the latest HSSS production David and Lisa performed at the Eagle Eye Theatre last week. The dripping irony of this off-the-cuff remark is only one of several brave moments delivered by actors who are, in fact, very talented.
Adapted from a book by Theodore Isaac Rubin and the screenplay by Eleanor Perry, director Ryan Mooney said he wanted to direct the students in a drama. And he certainly chose an intense one.
Set in the 1950s, the play depicts 16-year-old David, who's afflicted with severe neuroses and moments of explosive anger. His parents - an overbearing mother and disappointed father - send him to a school for psychologically damaged teens, and this is where David meets Lisa. Lisa is an endearing child-like girl who barely acknowledges reality. Speaking in rhyme, wearing a flowing flowery dress and running around in bare feet, she charms David and the connection brings each one out of their own troubled view of the world.
Maybe it's that our society is now so well versed in psychobabble that I'm sick of it, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the metaphor-laden dreams and "telling" story-telling of students in English class. But the two-hour play flew by nonetheless because of the impressive and engaging acting skills of the young drama students.
The more I watched Warren Daske as David, the more convinced I became that this boy is due for a real career in the theatre if he so chooses. Daske doesn't shy away from those explosive moments, and his anger seems frighteningly real.
There's no doubt that most of the actors have a talent that surpasses their age. Nicola Toews as Lisa truly was charming and could emit emotion even though most of her dialogue was incoherent rhyming. And I was sincerely disappointed that Peter Vartanis had such a small part as David's father. Vartanis seems to have captured that trick good actors have of reacting before acting. You could see a "Eureka!" moment before he exclaimed a thing. And he has great timing.
Mention must be made of Jeevan Grewal as Carlos. Without his farcical Puerto Rican accent (political correctness didn't exist in the 50s) and absolutely hilarious physical humour, the play might well have been too heavy.
