Friday, 05 August 2005
The Foursome: slightly under par
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - For the final production of their 41st season, the Arts Club tees up The Foursome, the Norm Foster play about four college classmates who reunite for 18 holes of laughs, self-examination and fun some 25 years after their school days. This isn't the first time that the Arts Club has produced this show. In 2000, also at the Stanley, Jackson Davies headed up the cast, who returns with Stephen Dimopoulos (who was also in the 2000 production), Hrothgar Mathews, and Tom Pickett.
Over the course of two acts, the quartet traverse the boards done up in well-worn Astroturf, simulating a golf course. Despite the characters teeing off at the ungodly hour of 7.00 am, the beer doesn't cease from flowing. They crack open a few, and soon enough dispense with reminiscences about their college days, as well as chatter about what they've done since school-the kids, the wives, the exes, the job situation, and the money.
Since it's a comedy, there's funny stuff said. The pants of one golfer are duly noted for their loudness, while the typical anecdotes of sex and ex-girlfriends are shared. Davies, as Rick, and his partner Donnie (played by Mathews), boast about Rick's sexual conquests, hoping to throw off Ted (Dimopoulos) and Cameron (Pickett). Ted has a younger bride, and that's the subject of some discussion, and expected derision-he drives her to the prom, and to visit her, you'd have to go to the school grounds at recess.
Naturally, the hilarity is punctuated with some dramatic revelatory moments where each of the men wonder about their existence, their love lives, children, and their faded youth. There were moments of heightened drama, where something compelling or dramatic is uttered, that the audience at the Stanley is moved to silence. But since it's a comedy, the silence is quickly shattered by a funny look or a comical quip. Davies, Dimopoulos and Pickett are adept at employing comical quiet, while Mathews is notable in his hilarious poses while batting the ball. By the way, there are no balls putted on stage. The actors mime balls, with a sound effect off stage.
The buddies share and seemingly care for each other, despite the distances of time and space between them. They pine for their youth and friendship, but it's obviously futile, as they seem unwilling to actually recreate or recapture it. Perhaps it's because you can't recreate friendships of the past, or recapture your youth, that they're unable. But despite their outpouring of feelings, it's hard to find any of the foursome likable.
Jackson Davies, who is the focal point of the show, is obviously a very popular performer in these parts. He enters the fore to a polite round of applause from the audience. That likeability quickly fades. Rick is conniving and scheming. Right off the bat, he's not affable enough to want to golf with. His lothario ways are hardly endearing. Moreover, despite revealing his humanity in wanting to marry a long-time love, he's still not likable. Ted is a clueless drunk, who shows off his flakiness as they discuss his young wife, and his nearly pointless growing interest in Buddhism. Even Cameron, who seems to be the most sympathetic character, exhausts ones patience near the end of the show. Donnie tests his friends, not to mention the audiences, patience with his incessant chatter about his wife and kids, only redeeming himself with those lively golfing stances.
The Foursome with its quick quips and male humour is ill fitting on the stage. The cast, though very often funny, play characters that are hardly personable or charismatic. The actors do well with their paces, but they're handicapped with a show that appears to have had its original gem of a story ostensibly stretched. It's longer than it should be. And even though the two acts are short as they are, they're unsettled. The pace and the timing seem more appropriate for a sitcom.
It's perhaps inappropriate to want to care for these characters, as it is a bit of a mindless comedy. Nevertheless, as the show moves from the hilarity of the first act to a bit of thoughtfulness and meaning in the second, the show seemingly misses a beat. The Foursome is uneven in its mix of light comedy (with very little slapstick, where more was apparently needed) and tinges of drama. It seems that some thoughtfulness was thrown in, hoping the product would yield some underlying meaning. If that's the case, in the end, it was hard to find. Then again, it's the summer, and four buddies are wont to walk around a golf course, argue, complain and challenge one another. And drink beer. It's hardly life altering to begin with.
***
Starring Jackson Davies, Stephen Dimopoulos, Hrothgar Mathews, and Tom Pickett, and directed by Bill Millerd, The Foursome by Norm Foster is at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville Street, Granville at 12th) until Sunday, 04 September 2005. The show runs Tuesday through Saturdays at 8.00 pm, with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2.00 pm. Tickets are available through TicketMaster: 604.280.3311, or through the Arts Club Box Office: 604.687.1644 or http://www.artsclub.com.
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