THEATRE REVIEW: AURASH
19 May'10

'Aurash' arrow scores bull's-eye

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 5 out of 5

TORONTO - If there is a single thing that marks most really great theatre, it's the simplicity with which it is made.

Case in point: Modern Times Stage Company's ever-green production of AURASH -- a seemingly simple little piece of theatre based on a story almost as old as time itself. As a play, AURASH first came to life on the stage of the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace back in 1998 and after conquering the world, one tiny stage at a time, it's come home to Toronto to roost, if only for a very brief time.

After a Saturday opening, AURASH is spinning out its tale for Canadian audiences once again in the Young Centre's intimate Tankhouse Theatre until May 29, even as other casts prepare to open productions in Sarajevo and Bogota later this spring and summer. And if one is looking for the reason for this international success and appeal, one need look no further than the theatrical simplicity that marks its every scene.

Based on an Iranian folk tale, AURASH tells the story of a simple young herdsman, caught up in events beyond both his ambition and his ken. It has been translated from a work by Iranian poet Bahram Beyza'ie and adapted for the stage by Soheil Parsa, Modern Times' artistic director, and Brian Quirt.

A work for four actors, each of whom brings a powerfully understated sense of passion and commitment to the piece, this script leads them through harrowing battles and into the courts of kings as they tell their story under Parsa's elegant direction. It all begins with a battle -- and the Iranians (read Persians) are losing badly.

In the face of their imminent defeat, the Iranian Commander (Christopher Morris) strikes a deal with the opposing King (Martin Julien) wherein the border of their two countries will be set by distance travelled by a single arrow, fired from the highest mountain by the Iranians' leading archer, Kashvad (Ron Kennell). But Kashvad wants no part in such a scheme, certain it will mire him in infamy, and when Aurash (Michelle Latimer) is sent as messenger to the King to beg for more time, the King capriciously decides that the humble Aurash will fire the arrow that determines his country's future.

The entire story is narrated and brought to life by the cast in a theatrical style that fuses speech, movement, and acting into a single powerful force. Arrayed in costumes of functional elegance designed by Setareh Delzendeh, they take to an all but bare stage designed by Parsa and Delzendeh and transform it into a riveting landscape, filling it with brief tableaux that suggest that if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a theatrical vision is worth millions.

Happily, the passion and commitment this superb cast brings to the project is echoed at every turn by the creative team. Richard Feren's visceral soundscape proves to be a major theatrical force on the stage, particularly when it is supported by Andrea Lundy's flawless lighting.

For all its simplicity, however, AURASH manages to pack a lot of freight, saying volumes about the cupidity of kings and generals and not only the desperate hunger for peace that burns in the common man, but the terrible price he often has to pay to find it. Having trusted his four talented performers and his design team to carry the show this far, it is hardly surprising, then, that Parsa trusts his audience to find these things on its own.

Under his direction, AURASH never stoops to preach, but fittingly is content to merely shepherd its audience while we find our way.