Reviews

Melville Theatre’s Plaza Suite features three different stories, all set in the same room of New York’s Plaza Hotel, on three different days in 1968. 

Overseen by creative director Susan Lynch, the three acts all have different directors, but feature the same practical but beautiful set design (again by Susan Lynch), and effective sound and lighting design by Clare Talbot. Gorgeous, era appropriate costumes were designed by Michelle Sharp. Despite three directors, this is a production with overall unity and a sense of being a single show.

Greg Fleet wears many caps for his latest venture – playwright, comedian, and actor. Joining him on stage are fellow comedian Kru Harale and actor Brant Eustice. A Star is Torn is equal parts comedy, drama, and tragedy. Amali (Harale) is a dynamic comedian on her way up, when she is heckled by an audience member, who happens to be her comedic hero Matt Francis (Fleet). What follows is an unlikely friendship.     

I have to confess to becoming somewhat of a ‘Tutti groupie’, having seen two of their different shows this week, and ‘different’ is, in fact the word to use. The 4 Sisters of Invention, the stars of this show, spent a delightful hour explaining how their ‘difference’ is, in fact uniqueness. Aimee Crathern, Michelle Hall, Caroline Hardy and Annika Hooper have been singing together for 12 years, and it shows. There are no prima donnas.

Entering into the intimate, dimly lit space of Studio 166 we were met with comforting softness: an environment of pale sheets, pillows, and covered mattress, including draped audience seating.  One dancer, Fern Mines, greets you at the door to query your level of comfort with audience interactive moments then leads you to be seated. The other dancer, Caroline De Wan, is poised with slight unsteadiness on a mattress in the centre, book in hand. A gentle, routine series of actions around the ritual of bedtime unfolds, the two dancers finally snuggling as a couple under a sheet.