MASTERS OF THE FRINGE NO. 2: A Momentary Lapse a witty Lemoine
A Momentary Lapse
Stage 12 (Varscona Theatre)
The “Law” has collared two miscreants: Louise (Jocelyn Ahlf) is a flute playing yoga practicing Amnesty International member, wife and mother. Then there’s Arthur (Luc Tellier) a twitchy 16-year-old Grade 12 student and sometime pyromaniac. The pair created a ruckus on a flight and have been summarily dumped from the aircraft. As we join them, The Law is explaining the finer points of the legal action to be taken against them.
The commanding Mathew Hulshof starts his comic lecture: “I’m The Law. Normally, I’m more of a concept and less of a fellow.”
The journey to their predicament is long and twisted – and constantly charming and funny. A Momentary Lapse is a production of Stewart Lemoine’s Teatro La Quindicina, written by the playwright-director along with Jocelyn Ahlf. It is a well crafted, free-form, shaggy dog meditation on over-achieving matrons and alienated youth. Affable and off-the-wall, the playwrights seem to be following whatever wacky idea comes to them.
Hulshof, Ahlf (who is also in the play) and Tellier gleefully create a gallery of goofy stereotypes. Instantly changing characters, the actors deliver a motley collection of broadly-drawn cartoons, including a new take on the Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius triumvirate. Lemoine and Ahlf have not only given these characters life but choice dialogue on which their two protean performers can dine out.
Ahlf, an old hand at this, has a great sense of timing and the ability to instantly create memorable characters. Tellier, who seem to be fashioning a successful career in creating comically distressed young people, is right at home with the witty rapid-fire dialogue and character morphing the role demands.
If you are looking for hard Fringe theatre, my suggestion is that you go up the street and take in After Miss Julie or Faust. But if you wanna just kick back and enjoy the fun with an energetic cast, splendid acting and some wonderfully witty words, this is the show for you.
4 out of 5
