I was delighted to experience Uvic’s The Killing Game the other night. Not knowing what to expect and not even having done a cursory web search of the show, I went in effectively with no opinions. Well, other than: “how much fun can an absurdist play be on a Tuesday night?”
The opening scene set the tone for the show with a strong mix of humour and timed movements. It was perfectly choreographed to a slow, tapping metronome and moved quickly into the over the top paranoia and dramatic deaths, one on top of another.
The basic premise of the play is that there is a terrible plague that strikes down people in any stage of their lives with effectively no warning. We see a series of vignettes that show the responses from a wide range of groups municipal workers, the wealthy and the poor, the medical establishment, police, resistance fighters, opportunistic politicians, and just regular folk. In some ways, it was so frightening how much Ionesco got right about our own plague that would come roughly 50 years after this was written, and it is strangely comforting and hilarious to see humans will respond much the same to threats at different points in history.
So much of this show is leaning into the frenzy and, well, the absurdity without bogging down too much in details. This young ensemble did this with skill, deftly moving from one scene to another with barely any pause.
I will acknowledge that in some later scenes the energy did lag a little, maybe owing to the actors focusing more on getting the words perfect (and it is a tricky script!), rather than the meaning behind them.
It is such a fine balance to get the words out, to add a sense of urgency, and pause for comedic effect, but overall, this ensemble cast was very effective at getting us right into the action and kept things moving right along!
The technical elements of this show were quite strong. I include the image above because it gives a feel for the set pieces that were used, with items flying in, and everything clearly just a bit akimbo. This is impressive work from set designer McCairns.
The costuming evoked “somewhere” around the 20s but included some anachronistic details so it is (I believe intentionally) not clearly any specific time or place. Costume designers Doucet and Fraser maintained a very narrow colour palette, but avoided making it look drab or needlessly repetitive.The costuming immediately let the audience know who was who, class divides and who what the characters were doing there.
I will acknowledge that many people aren’t yet ready to laugh at the foibles and inaction in the face of a deadly disease or other crises. And that is perfectly fine, if laughing in the face of death is too much, that is very human and nothing to be embarrassed about.
But for me, Ionesco’s work felt like we see and acknowledge the absurdity, and almost feels a little cathartic after going through our own plague. If you’re ready to handle a bit of dark comedy and a full night of absurdity, it is a fast paced and enjoyable time!
The killing game runs until February 22nd at Uvic’s Phoenix Theatre.
