Review
ADAM AND EVE (THE MUSICAL)
Lunchbox Theatre
Starring Shari Wattling and Brandon Firla
Written by Vinetta Strombergs and Stephen Woodjetts
Directed by Mark Bellamy
Runs until April 24
Bow Valley Square
There are some tangible limitations placed on the shows at Lunchbox Theatre. They must be one-acts, no longer than 50 minutes and entertaining. Well, two out of three….
Based on Mark Twain’s love letter to his wife, The Diaries of Adam and Eve, Lunchbox’s Adam and Eve (The Musical) aspires to tell the story of the title characters. We meet them at the time of Eve’s creation and follow them through their introduction, romance, procreation and demise. If it sounds like a lot of territory to cover in a short time, it is. If you’re thinking that it might be as amusing as one of those "Entire History of the World" or "Complete Works of Shakespeare" franchises, it’s not.
Unless director Mark Bellamy has entirely missed the boat – and I’m not convinced he has – playwrights Vinetta Strombergs and Stephen Woodjetts have created a strange piece that is doomed to awkward staging. The dialogue is written for laughs, while the songs are written for drama and sentimentality – and, in this case, the two do not complement each other at all. You begin by watching a droll little tale that explores the first battle of the sexes – and before you know it, it has evolved into a drawn-out explanation of why these two people might be attracted to each other. Who cares? Strombergs and Woodjetts certainly haven’t provided any reason why we should.
That said, the two-person cast does a competent job of keeping the audience occupied, especially Shari Wattling as – you guessed it – Eve. Armed with exceptional timing, Wattling can make almost anything funny. Unfortunately, the script is working against her. Brandon Firla is a little chilly as the uptight Adam – you might say that, at times, he mistakes acting reluctant for reluctantly acting. But apart from the song he sings in the character of the snake, which is absolutely the weakest musical link in the entire piece, he does deliver some genuine comic moments, and for that I am truly grateful.
The goal of Adam and Eve may be to present a larger metaphor for the relationships between men and women, but this is familiar turf. It’s been done before, with more style, more laughs and more drama. Lunchbox Theatre is capable of producing exciting works within its limitations but this is not one of them. As a fan of live theatre, Mark Twain and lunch, I thought it was a match made in, well… Eden. Instead, it looks like they paved paradise with good intentions. |
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