Burn, the first in Sidekick Players’ series of four Canadian penned productions this season, completed a most successful run at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre.
Written by Ontarian John Muggleton and directed by Delta’s Patrick Truelove, Burn is a mystery play in which the audience is challenged to determine the actual nature of the mystery before it can even begin to solve it.
The cast of four outstanding actors came to the Sidekick Players’ stage from both the professional and local amateur ranks.
The drama opens with a prologue in the form of a home video showing five characters playing a party game of association. When the stage lights actually come up, the three surviving members of the group are meeting for drinks. They are awaiting the arrival of Eve (Emma Young), the daughter of one of their deceased friends.
When Eve enters, curiosity and uncertainty arrive with her. She has a story to tell which Robert (Mark East) finds discomfortingly familiar. Robert’s unsophisticated, but honest friend David (Jeff Pannell) is intrigued with this confident but somewhat creepy young woman. Samira (Marci Chimich,) whose importance to the plot is withheld until the end, maintains a distant neutrality as Eve’s story plays out.
Muggleton skillfully writes natural conversation in the opening act, leading the audience to an easy acceptance of the micro culture of the three old friends.
When Emma arrives, the atmosphere shifts as she challenges the friends to recall events they would much rather keep hidden. Young is particularly adept at keeping the discomfort level of the other three palpable. Her manner, her facial expressions and her tone of voice are commanding as she manipulates the other characters.
We can sense the embarrassment, fear and anger of David, Sam and Robert as she toys with them and brings us closer to the horrific truth.
The limited space available is utilized very effectively. The set design (by Truelove and Geoff Gruson) is crucial in supporting Robert’s back story of his pals, his missing wife and his deceased friend (also Eve’s father.) Because everything in the production is tuned to portray the normality of these characters, the reveal of the mystery comes as a total shock to the audience.
This production of Burn was an outstanding opener for Sidekick Players’ 2018/19 season at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre.
