Reviewed by James Karas
A Case For The Existence Of God is another superb production by Coal
Mine Theatre. God is never mentioned and if there is a case for His existence
it is left to our imagination or perhaps a scene in the play. Thank God.
Samuel D. Hunter’s play has two characters and it builds on their lives, their hopes and aspirations, their past relationship, their evolving friendship and eventual fate. Hunter modulates the plot and we see the players in dramatic and humorous scenes that make for wonderful theatre.
The play’s two characters are Keith (Mazin Elsadig), a Black homosexual mortgage broker and Ryan (Noah Reid), a working-class man looking for money to buy a piece of land. We are in Twin Falls, a real city of about 52,000 inhabitants in south Idaho. (It’s real and I checked it on Google). And I may add that Hunter comes from Idaho.
The two men come from different worlds. Keith is an educated son of a lawyer who has travelled and after getting a degree in Early Music and English literature ends up as a mortgage broker. Ryan is going through a divorce with a fight for custody and wants to buy a parcel of land that was in his family a century ago. He wants to build a house.
The play is built around a few scenes that
change quickly and seamlessly with almost no indication of the change but you
can tell that it happened from the context. The set by Set and Costume Designer
Nick Blais represents a pleasant if sparsely decorated office with a desk and
two chairs where Keith is trying to find a mortgage for Ryan who has a bad
credit rating, no assets and lies about having a job.
A Case for the Existence of God. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann
The play reveals the backgrounds of the two men and we learn that despite their social and educational differences, the men have many points in common. Ryan is fighting for custody of his daughter and Keith has gone into fostering a child to be able to adopt her. He runs into a problem when an aunt of the child appears and claims the right to the child. The two watch lovingly the little girls playing in playground in a scene that is moving and humorous.
Elsadig and Reid act superbly. Elsadig, being black, gay and the son of a lawyer comes from a well-heeled family that provided international travel. Despite having a university degree, he ends up as a lowly mortgage broker and he is aware of his lack of achievement. He has failed to adopt a child and even the fostering route seems to be headed for failure. Elsadig shows Keith’s subliminal and obvious feeling of a failure and he cannot establish a friendship with Ryan.
Reid as Ryan has a failed marriage and the probability
of getting limited access to the daughter that he adores. He is aware of his
lack of education (“harrowing” is a big word and unknown to him), and that he
comes from a broken family He understands nothing of the process of buying and financing
the purchase of a piece of land that will return him to the past when his
forebears were more successful. Reid gives a wonderful portrayal of Ryan. Both men
come out as sympathetic and we are rooting for them but if their fate is a case
for the existence of God, He does not appear to be on their side.
There is a final scene that may suggest that God exists and there is some redemption for the men however indirect. But I am not sure and I will not reveal the content of the scene. Go see the play for yourself.
Ted Dykstra devotes his immense talent in directing a seemingly simple play and getting all the drama, humour and depth of the play and the characters. He modulates every word and every line for full effect be it to move us to tears, to get a guffaw from a single word or to show the attempt of the men to make human contact. Terrific work.
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A Case for the Existence of God by Samuel D. Hunter continues until December 1, 2024, at the Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave. Toronto, (northwest corner of Woodbine and Danforth). www.coalminetheatre.com/
James Karas os the Senior Editor, Culture, of The Greek Press
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