Well-written, well-performed tragic tale

The Unnatural and Accidental Women

Review

By Marie Clements

Co-Directed by Marie Clements and Donna Spencer

A Firehall Arts Centre Production

Firehall Arts Centre until Nov. 25.

Marie Clements, playwright and co-director, has managed to turn a true story of murder and tragedy from what is gruesome and despicable at best into a beautifully presented and acted play that is now premiering in Vancouver.

The play is inspired by the deaths of at least 10 women who died in the 1980s after being given alcohol by Gilbert Paul Jordan, a man who has been named in the news media as one of our country's deadliest predators.

Jordan now walks free after having served six years for manslaughter in the death of one of these women. The news items that still run on TV and in the papers focus on Jordan and his life-long career of crime, but all that is usually said about the victims is that most of them were Native, alcoholics and lived on skid row.

One would think that a play that is based on a true story that is both enraging and terribly sad would be hopelessly dark, depressing and bleak. But Clements has written dialogue that is playful and engaging, even spurring laughter in the audience.

Clements focuses on the lives of the women, their humanity and emotions, honoring them by rendering them as human beings who lived and loved.

The women are portrayed by a talented cast that includes Gloria May Eshkibok, Michelle St. John, Sophie Merasty and Columpa Bobb, all of whom are award-winning, renowned theatre actors.

St. John plays Rebecca, a fictional character who is a young woman in search of her mother on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Her character lives in Kitsilano in a lifestyle far removed from the last known whereabouts of her mother.

Rebecca's story weaves through the play, finally connecting with the rest of the women in an ending that builds slowly and puts a stop to the tragedies.

We don't get as much personal history about the women who died as we do about the character Rebecca, but we do gain insight into their personalities. We watch them pass into the afterlife and go on interacting with each other in a wonderfully surreal and sometime sad, sometimes humorous, manner.

The characters are nicely varied and performances are as solid as the writing, which combines monologue and dialogue, weaving prose with conversation and song.

The writing style also reflects the presentation of the play, which is beautifully designed to include projected video, images and text. This, along with excellent use of the space in a multi-level set creates a dynamic, visually interesting and thought-provoking piece.