Order amid chaos
Theatre Junction’s What the Butler Saw is a complete stage experience
REVIEW
WHAT THE BUTLER SAW
Theatre Junction
Runs until October 26
Dr. Betty Mitchell Theatre
Jubilee Auditorium
A wise woman once said that theatre reviewers are notorious for missing the importance of set, lighting and sound in their reviews. "Their focus," she said, "is usually on the actors and the direction to the detriment of everything else." Every once in a while, though, a show comes along in which these ancillary elements cannot be ignored. Theatre Junction’s season opener, Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw, is one of them.
As with most of the company's shows, What the Butler Saw contains strong performances – particularly Martin Evans (Dr. Prentice) and Shauna Baird (Mrs. Prentice) – and skilled direction. But these elements flourish in the environment created by Terry Gunvordahl.
His most obvious accomplishment is the set. Joe Orton’s play is an intentionally chaotic mess of insane comings and goings. Gunvordahl reins in the chaos with an ordered set that uses the space of the Dr. Betty Mitchell Theatre perfectly. Dr. Prentice’s office contains a working sink, a couch and curtain, a bookshelf-desk unit, a skylight and four doors: to the garden, to the dispensary, to the waiting room and to the examination room. Yet, with all the potential for clutter, the office is spacious and logical.
Gunvordahl’s lighting is just as impressive. Time shifts subtly in the shadows of the trees and the dimming of the office’s light, marking the passing of the day. But she confidently throws this away when the play finally descends into madness, augmenting Orton’s anarchism with the red glow of emergency lights – a sort of psychiatric code red.
But Theatre Junction’s technical brilliance isn’t monopolized by the set and lighting. Hidden within Gunvordahl’s set are a number of fun surprises courtesy of props designer Denise C. Clarke. There’s an ice bucket hidden within the bust of Sigmund Freud (home of Mrs. Prentice’s icy, metaphorical expression of sexual frustration), a never-ending supply of scotch whisky hidden within a stack of hollowed-out books, and a flower pot that shrinks to match the cut stems of a bouquet of roses. Clarke’s little things contribute as much to the world of What the Butler Saw as Gunvordahl’s big things.
Mark Lawes’s second crack at What the Butler Saw is a technical marvel, but that’s not the only reason to see it. Fine acting, great comedy and a lot of skin – merely enhanced by the world created by Gunvordahl and Clarke – make Theatre Junction’s season opener an infectiously fun theatre-going experience. And that’s the best reason to see any play. |
