THEATRE REVIEW: KING OF THIEVES
16 Aug'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 3 out of 5

STRATFORD -- Playwright George F. Walker may have injected his own two cents worth into Bertolt Brecht's THREEPENNY OPERA -- but in the end, it all doesn't seem to add up to the value of a full nickel, plugged or otherwise. The play is called KING OF THIEVES and it had its world premiere here in the Stratford Festival's Studio Theatre Thursday, in a slick production helmed by Jennifer Tarver.

Like Brecht's THREEPENNY, which featured music by Kurt Weill, KING OF THIEVES, with an often sparkling score by John Roby, is a musical theatre adaptation of John Gay's enduring BEGGAR'S OPERA, set in the underbelly of society, where every day is a matter of life and death.

In his retelling, Walker sets his tale in the days immediately before the market crash that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. And where in Brecht's world, Mac -- immortalized as Mack the Knife in Weill's score -- became the prototypical anti-hero, he is transformed in Walker's world into a swaggering cross between GUYS AND DOLLS' Sky Masterson and a singing ROBIN HOOD. Played by Evan Buliung, he is fighting against a conniving trio of corrupt bankers (Scott A. Hurst, Sandy Winsby and Shane Carty) and a pair of corrupt cops (Nigel Bennett and Paul Fauteux) to save the world from their dastardly and far-too-sketchily-explained plots.

But if Walker is to be faulted for lack of plot development -- and truthfully, in the wake of our most recent economic crisis, most of us simply lack the resources to understand all but the broadest brush strokes of economic chicanery -- director Tarver has to wear at least some of the blame for this King's less-than impressive reign.

While Tarver conspires with designer Peter Hartwell and choreographer Tracey Flye to bring King's gritty court to impressive life, she also conspires to impose such a high sheen on things that the grit and sweat and grime -- the humanity, in fact -- that is Walker's milieu is all but removed. So while there are fine, even polished performances from a supporting cast that includes Sean Cullen (as our meta-theatrical master of ceremonies) Stephanie Roth (as Jenny), Shane Carty (as a tragic beggar boy), Laura Condlin (as Mac's wife, Polly) and Jay Brazeau and Nora McLellan (as her parents, the evil Peachums), they are all boldly and broadly two-dimensional.

Tarver seems content to have her cast sing of their suffering instead of showing it to us. Worse, when the bullets start to fly and it looks as though no one will make it out of this production alive, there is absolutely no sense of either risk or danger. It's has all been reduced to mere entertainment. So in the end, watching KING OF THIEVES is a lot like eating a wonderful soufflé. What you get is beautifully prepared and even delicious, but don't expect to leave the theatre feeling well fed.