Jordan Pettle, Ari Cohen and Michelle Monteith in Waiting Room
Reviewed by James
Karas
Near the end of Waiting Room, Diana Flacks’s new
play, there is an explosion of emotion that is simply staggering. A couple’s
child has died after going through some horrendous medical procedures but
nothing worked to save her life. The death of a child surely produces the most
deeply-felt and keenest pain that a human being can endure. This play brings
that pain to the stage in all its rawness.
The waiting room is in a children’s hospital. Andre (Ari Cohen) is a
gifted neurosurgeon who is arrogant, gruff, egotistical and completely lacking
in anything that may be called human. He has detected that he is suffering from
early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that does not humanize him
in the least.
The main plot involves the treatment of Jeremy’s (Jordan Pettle) and
Chrissie’s (Michelle Monteith) daughter. Andre wants to try aggressive and
untested treatments while his assistant and lover Melissa (Jenny Young), and
Dr. Aayan (Warona Setshwaelo) try to keep him within ethical bounds. Andre
wants to treat his own battle with Alzheimer’s the same way.
A seriously ill child, a distraught couple and a young doctor with a
serious illness can provide heart-wrenching drama as well as compelling
arguments about the ethics of experimental procedures and end-of-life
decisions.
It works only partly. There is a great deal of medical terminology which
no doubt makes sense but comes out as simple jargon. There are some attempts at
describing the diseases in simple or metaphoric language but the jargon seems
to dominate.
Melissa is a sympathetic character but she is stuck in an untenable
situation. Chrissie and Jeremy argue but do not express as much emotion as the
situation justifies until near the end of the play.
By the final scene Flacks seems to have run out of material and provides
a rather insipid denouement. It may be an attempt to tie up loose ends and give
us Andre’s and Melissa’s fates but it is somewhat unconvincing.
The set by Kelly Wolf consisting of gray tones eschews the sterile white
tones of a hospital. There are no white lab coats (except Dr. Aayan) and other
indicia of a hospital except for an intravenous stand. Images of the human
brain are projected on a screen at the back of the stage as well as enlarged images
of cells.
Pettle’s Jeremy and Monteith’s Chrissie are somewhat immature characters
who do not communicate the depth and intensity of their impending tragedy until
the end. There is a danger about the play becoming maudlin and sentimental but
in trying to avoid that Flacks has robbed us of what should have been an
emotionally draining play throughout.
We never warm up to Andre and his final fate which should fill us with
emotion at the terrible end of a young doctor, leaves us indifferent.
Flacks had a great idea for a play but the final result still needs some
editing to bring that idea to its full potential.
______
Waiting Room by Diane Flacks continues until February 15, 2015 at the Tarragon
Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. Toronto, Ontario.
www.tarragontheatre.com
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