{"id":832,"date":"2019-11-08T22:53:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T03:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21?p=832"},"modified":"2020-10-24T23:08:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T03:08:10","slug":"review-girl-from-the-north-country-gorgeously-blends-the-talents-of-two-impeccable-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/review-girl-from-the-north-country-gorgeously-blends-the-talents-of-two-impeccable-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Girl From the North Country gorgeously blends the talents of two impeccable artists"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Review: Girl From the North Country gorgeously blends the talents of two impeccable artists<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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November 8, 2019<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo Coutersy of Mirvish Productions<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Joshua Chong<\/h3>

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\nStarring: Katie Brayben, Donald Sage Mackay, Gloria Obianyo
\n\nDirector: Conor McPherson
\n\nMusic and Lyrics: Bob Dylan
\n\nBook: Conor McPherson
\n\nVenue: Royal Alexandra Theatre
\n\nRun Information: Girl From the North Country<\/i> is currently running through November 24, 2019.

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Rating: \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it a musical? A play? A play with music? Girl From the North Country<\/i>, Conor McPherson\u2019s gorgeous new work that weaves Bob Dylan\u2019s timeless songs with a depression-era story, defies categorization. But whatever it is, the cathartic, immutable warmth that radiates from the Royal Alexandra Theatre is something beautiful.<\/p>\n

This is not a biographical jukebox musical by any means, where dozens of greatest hits are shoe-horned into a formulaic plot that details the rise of an artist to stardom. In fact, it has nothing to do with Dylan at all. McPherson juxtaposes twenty-one of Dylan\u2019s songs with a story about a group of individuals living in a boarding house in Duluth, Minnesota at the height of the Great Depression. Nick Laine (Donald Sage Mackay) is struggling to keep the business afloat while dealing with Elizabeth (Katie Brayben), his wife who has early-onset dementia, and Gene (Colin Bates), his jobless and alcoholic son. Marianne (Gloria Obianyo), their adopted black daughter, is also carrying a baby that no one can account for. Nick\u2019s only comfort comes from Mrs. Nielson (Rachel John), a widowed guest at the house and Nick\u2019s not-so-secret lover. Also living under the roof are the Burkes (David Ganly and Anna-Jane Casey), a once well-off couple who have since fallen from the upper class and must take care of their developmentally challenged son, Elias (Steffan Harri). Set over the course of one Thanksgiving weekend in 1934, the lives of these characters begin to unravel following the arrival of two guests: the bible-selling Reverend Marlowe (Finbar Lynch) and a black boxer named Joe Scott (Shaq Taylor).<\/p>\n

Without Dylan\u2019s intoxicating hymns, the piece could stand alone as a compelling drama that explores the social and racial tensions of post-War America. McPherson\u2019s layered script shares many qualities with those of the great American playwrights of the twentieth century; the depth of characterization and the searing dialogue could very well have come from Eugene O\u2019Neill\u2019s pen.<\/p>\n

But when the characters sing and let Dylan\u2019s potent lyrics float to the rafters, magic is created. Most of the songs, arranged exquisitely by Simon Hale, do not propel the plot forward, reveal character, or connect to the story in a literal way, like in a traditional musical. Rather, McPherson draws out the metaphorical connections between the dialogue and the songs. When Brayben\u2019s Elizabeth steps up to an old-time microphone and belts out \u201cLike a Rolling Stone,\u201d Brayben seems to step out of character and sing to Elizabeth, asking her, \u201cHow does it feel? To be on your own.\u201d<\/i> Or when Casey sings \u201cSweetheart Like You,\u201d while playing the drums, she appears to be giving a sharp rebuke to her character of Mrs. Burke, lamenting \u201cWhat\u2019s a sweetheart like you, doing in a dump like this?\u201d<\/i> This uncanny structure is not only daring but brings new meaning to Dylan\u2019s universal lyrics and pushes the story to a darker and more haunting realm. As McPherson puts it, there is \u201ca conversation between the songs and the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brayben\u2019s Elizabeth, the main character in this large ensemble cast, is in a somewhat hypnotized, trance-like state, stuck between her melancholic reality and another world. When she sings, one can hear the emotional baggage that Elizabeth carries. Obianyo is also compelling as Marianne, Nick and Elizabeth\u2019s adopted daughter who has almost lost hope after her father tries to marry her off to Mr. Perry (Sidney Kean). She gives a subtle performance, although there are some enunciation problems when she sings.<\/p>\n

McPherson, who also directs, masterfully stages the piece with precision. He artfully balances softer moments between characters with larger choreographed numbers, such as the bombastic \u201cDuquesne Whistle,\u201d sung by Harri. McPherson\u2019s ensemble cast of nineteen inhabits a simple, abstract set (designed by Rae Smith) that seems to \u2014\u00a0as is described in \u201cTrue Love Tends to Forget\u201d \u2014 \u201cdrift into infinity.\u201d Flat pieces of scenery, with black and white projections, deftly mark each location. Accompanying this is Mark Henderson\u2019s understated lighting design, which sometimes is unfocused and makes it difficult to distinguish between which character is speaking.<\/p>\nBut you don\u2019t come out of Girl From the North Country<\/i> thinking about the lighting design. You come out of it marvelling at its utter beauty, a languid kind that can only be created by the marriage of talents by two incredible artists. It\u2019s a piece that continues to reveal itself long after the last downbeat has disappeared. Perhaps that is the mark of art of the highest order.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review: Girl From the North Country gorgeously blends the talents of two impeccable artists Arts and Culture November 8, 2019 Photo Coutersy of Mirvish Productions Joshua Chong Editor Starring: Katie Brayben, Donald Sage Mackay, Gloria Obianyo Director: Conor McPherson Music and Lyrics: Bob Dylan Book: Conor McPherson Venue: Royal Alexandra Theatre Run Information: Girl From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"enabled","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions\/846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2020-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}