Somewhere, Samuel Beckett is smiling.
For more than five decades, the renowned Irish playwright (Waiting For Godot), forbade theatrical stagings of his 1957 radio play, All That Fall.
When his estate was finally swayed in 2012, it insisted that all productions mimic the style and essence of the radio, meaning the Canadian premiere of All That Fall last week at the Cultch consisted of five thespians relying largely on the power of imagination to tell their tale.
But when you put veteran actors in front of microphones and ask them to sell a story with just words, mutterings, and self-made sound effects, the result is transportive magic.
Actress Lee Van Paassen, playing cantankerous crone Mrs. Rooney, mesmerizes as she harangues all along on her walk to the local train station. Meanwhile, between delivering their lines, her multi-faceted co-stars are hard at work making the Irish countryside crunch, chirp, chug and whoosh in the background.
Part existential love story, part murder mystery, this punchy 75-minute drama ends with an unexpected answer. And, while All That Fall has had to be picked up and dusted off since first being created, there is still mirth to be found in the dirt.
• All That Fall runs until Jan. 24. Tickets start at $19. Tickets.thecultch.com.
