A family history in three verses Prodigy has unique sense of logic. Exceptional acting builds momentum of Nancy Huston's tragic chamber piece
MATT RADZ, The Gazette
If they gave medals for excellence in independent theatre, director Gabrielle Soskin and her Persephone Productions would merit one just about every year.
Formed in 2000 as a showcase for emerging talent, Persephone has survived to stand out as a pillar of a suddenly very busy and exciting independent scene.
Like all good artists, Soskin works hard not to repeat herself, taking a different risk with each production. Prodigy, the latest Persephone show, at Theatre Ste. Catherine tomorrow through Sunday, is another original gem that takes the company into fresh dramatic territory.
Written by Calgary-born novelist Nancy Huston, who works in French and lives in Paris, Prodigy takes an unusual approach to the story of a piano-playing Russian-emigre babushka, her not-quite-talented-enough daughter and the genetically blessed granddaughter, who is the play's title character.
Each of them recounts the musical family's history from their unique and separate perspective. They never actually engage each other in direct dialogue and Huston's theatre piece follows a musical, rather than a linear path, creating its own sense of narrative and dramatic logic.
Adapted by director Gabriel Garran from Huston's novella Prodige, the piece was first staged four years ago at Theatre International de Langue Francaise in Paris. Huston did her own translation of Garran's script for Persephone's English-language premiere of the work.
The narrowly intimate setting and postage-stamp stage of the indie scene's mecca on Ste. Catherine St. proved well suited to a poetic chamber piece like Prodigy.
A grand piano and a garish bead curtain are the main elements in Lyne Paquette's design, like Huston's minimalist stage prose at once restrained and poetically extravagant.
An emotional grenade, Prodigy is no happy "genius child is born" yarn. With great talent comes great pain.
Soskin's direction is assured and especially effective in conveying Prodigy's deliberate theatricality.
The piece steadily builds momentum until its final tragic crescendo, thanks to exceptional characterizations by Karen Cromar as the musical babushka, Nathalie Stechysin as her daughter, and Amelia Sargisson, who plays the title character with infectious, childlike energy.
Prodigy by Nancy Huston, dramatized by Gabriel Garran, directed by Gabrielle Soskin. [email protected]
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006
If they gave medals for excellence in independent theatre, director Gabrielle Soskin and her Persephone Productions would merit one just about every year.
Formed in 2000 as a showcase for emerging talent, Persephone has survived to stand out as a pillar of a suddenly very busy and exciting independent scene.
Like all good artists, Soskin works hard not to repeat herself, taking a different risk with each production. Prodigy, the latest Persephone show, at Theatre Ste. Catherine tomorrow through Sunday, is another original gem that takes the company into fresh dramatic territory.
Written by Calgary-born novelist Nancy Huston, who works in French and lives in Paris, Prodigy takes an unusual approach to the story of a piano-playing Russian-emigre babushka, her not-quite-talented-enough daughter and the genetically blessed granddaughter, who is the play's title character.
Each of them recounts the musical family's history from their unique and separate perspective. They never actually engage each other in direct dialogue and Huston's theatre piece follows a musical, rather than a linear path, creating its own sense of narrative and dramatic logic.
Adapted by director Gabriel Garran from Huston's novella Prodige, the piece was first staged four years ago at Theatre International de Langue Francaise in Paris. Huston did her own translation of Garran's script for Persephone's English-language premiere of the work.
The narrowly intimate setting and postage-stamp stage of the indie scene's mecca on Ste. Catherine St. proved well suited to a poetic chamber piece like Prodigy.
A grand piano and a garish bead curtain are the main elements in Lyne Paquette's design, like Huston's minimalist stage prose at once restrained and poetically extravagant.
An emotional grenade, Prodigy is no happy "genius child is born" yarn. With great talent comes great pain.
Soskin's direction is assured and especially effective in conveying Prodigy's deliberate theatricality.
The piece steadily builds momentum until its final tragic crescendo, thanks to exceptional characterizations by Karen Cromar as the musical babushka, Nathalie Stechysin as her daughter, and Amelia Sargisson, who plays the title character with infectious, childlike energy.
Prodigy by Nancy Huston, dramatized by Gabriel Garran, directed by Gabrielle Soskin. [email protected]
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006