Review: Family, freaks full of pizazz in Jerome

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Two Planks and a Passion Theatre has taken an enduring Nova Scotia mystery, the story of the legless man Jerome, and added one pile of pizazz.

This fast-paced play has quality and character from the moment the ringmaster (Graham Percy) climbs out of a trunk in front of an astonished audience. This accomplished ensemble cast jump from rural Nova Scotians to traveling sideshow freaks in nothing flat.

Ben Stone as Jerome has the greatest challenge. Only an actor with his physical prowess could kneel for 75 minutes and convey so much without speaking a word.

But it is Sue LeBlanc-Crawford who captures our affections with her portrayal of the child Madeline. She absolutely sells the song, Jerome’s Lament, which pins our emotions to a group society has cast out.

“We are all but strangers in a strange land given to one another’s care,” she sings. “When the sea has tossed your soul to the tides of time, who will be there?”

Frogman Ryan Rogerson becomes a perfect braggadocio judge, while Alex Maclean deftly switches into a snake-oil selling physician. Burgundy Code catapults from bearded lady to Acadian madame to clucking hen. The pacing is superb.

We worried for Simon Henderson aboard stilts on opening night as he traversed wet grass and giggled with the gossipy Siamese twins, Chris O’Neil and Alexis Milligan.

Bestselling author Ami McKay has inventively couched a sad tale in colour and universality. Director Ken Schwartz has added the enduring entertainment values of the Commedia dell’arte. His use of the environment is great, but fabricating ocean swells from old nets is even more captivating

McKay and Schwartz have worked marvelously together to create a magical mystery tour about what it takes to be a family. The Garvey’s caravan adds the perfect note in a set, while Denyse Karn has outdone herself in costume design.

Each character has a costume that allows them to pitch a new persona: Madeline’s fabulous tattooed garment came from a biker shop in Toronto for molls who want a weekend tattoo look. Allen Cole has provided his always poignant musical contribution.

I could rave on, but go and see how bizarre fantasy works to forge a new reality.

Jerome: the Historical Spectacle opened Aug. 2 beside the pond at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. It will run Thursday through Sunday until Aug. 17, with matinees Aug. 7, 9, 14 and 15 at 2 p.m. Call the box office at 582-3073 to reserve.