From Donald's Dish:
Best of London Fringe Part 2 http://donaldsdish.ca/2014/06/16/best-of-london-fringe-part-2/:
"Maison des Reves drew my other four-star rating. Talie Melnyk’s solo show, in which she plays a turn-of-the-century Russian mass murderess (and a host of other characters), draws heavily on her chameleon qualities as an actor. She had the same venue as Mackay, true, but her style of presentation, anchored in narrative, made one expect — and settle for — less in the way of production values. Melynk herself needed no special allowances made.
It’s less than scientific, assigning hard numbers to fluid performances. It’s all about how a given show makes a given reviewer feel on a given afternoon or evening. Sometimes he may have just had a nice walk with a pleasant companion, sometimes he (or she) may have just been overcharged for a dull meal with a sulky date. Once again, it’s the luck of the draw. Fringe festivals are like that."
Edmonton Journal August 15, 2014 http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/festivals/Maison+Reves/10091325/story.htmlIt’s less than scientific, assigning hard numbers to fluid performances. It’s all about how a given show makes a given reviewer feel on a given afternoon or evening. Sometimes he may have just had a nice walk with a pleasant companion, sometimes he (or she) may have just been overcharged for a dull meal with a sulky date. Once again, it’s the luck of the draw. Fringe festivals are like that."
"Maison des Reves
4 stars out of 5
Stage 10, Acacia Hall
OK, so, *technically* Alexe Popova was a mass murderer. But cut her some slack. Popova was killing for a good cause: to save women from their abusive, tyrant husbands in Imperial Russia.
Calgary-born, Brooklyn-based Talie Melnyk does an impressive job of portraying Popova and a host of other characters in this one-woman show about the real-life Madame who fatally poisoned some 300 men over a period of 30 years. The story is sombre, haunting and well-acted, the monologue at times upsetting with its brutally graphic details of rape and domestic violence. (The fact the guy beside me chuckled regularly was highly distracting. Uncomfortable laugh? Verbal tic? Each to his own reaction, I guess?)
When we first meet our protagonist, she is 15 and practising piano to drown out the leather strap her stepfather uses on her mother. “She speaks in whispers because he’s convinced her her voice is worthless,” Alexe tells us. Her mother soon dies of her injuries while the girl is studying in Paris. It’s a turning point in the life of a young woman who will soon carry out a personal revenge, then apply this extreme strategy (to the great relief of hundreds of female abuse victims) via the classy brothel she runs with Anastasia, her lowbrow cousin and best friend. Maison des Reves (House of Dreams), indeed!
A saviour, or a villain? “I performed a necessary service. Someone has to stop them,” she tells us, after she is caught (a remorseful wife tattled to police).
I loved Melnyk’s accents and turn-of-the-(last)-century costume in this production, and her simple use of scarves to portray different characters. This is a heavy show but worthy, given that these themes most unfortunately continue to plague the world.
— Elizabeth Withey"
4 stars out of 5
Stage 10, Acacia Hall
OK, so, *technically* Alexe Popova was a mass murderer. But cut her some slack. Popova was killing for a good cause: to save women from their abusive, tyrant husbands in Imperial Russia.
Calgary-born, Brooklyn-based Talie Melnyk does an impressive job of portraying Popova and a host of other characters in this one-woman show about the real-life Madame who fatally poisoned some 300 men over a period of 30 years. The story is sombre, haunting and well-acted, the monologue at times upsetting with its brutally graphic details of rape and domestic violence. (The fact the guy beside me chuckled regularly was highly distracting. Uncomfortable laugh? Verbal tic? Each to his own reaction, I guess?)
When we first meet our protagonist, she is 15 and practising piano to drown out the leather strap her stepfather uses on her mother. “She speaks in whispers because he’s convinced her her voice is worthless,” Alexe tells us. Her mother soon dies of her injuries while the girl is studying in Paris. It’s a turning point in the life of a young woman who will soon carry out a personal revenge, then apply this extreme strategy (to the great relief of hundreds of female abuse victims) via the classy brothel she runs with Anastasia, her lowbrow cousin and best friend. Maison des Reves (House of Dreams), indeed!
A saviour, or a villain? “I performed a necessary service. Someone has to stop them,” she tells us, after she is caught (a remorseful wife tattled to police).
I loved Melnyk’s accents and turn-of-the-(last)-century costume in this production, and her simple use of scarves to portray different characters. This is a heavy show but worthy, given that these themes most unfortunately continue to plague the world.
— Elizabeth Withey"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment