On April 4th and 5th, at 7pm, nine CEGEP St-Lawrence students will be performing Fewer Emergencies: A Martin Crimp trilogy. The evening will be composed of three plays put together in one seamless performance: Whole Blue Sky, Face to the Wall, and Fewer Emergencies. A postmodernist horror-comedy, this series of plays is performed as a Greek chorus with everyone on stage at all times. Each play explores pertinent themes such as marriage, motherhood, gruesome tragedies, war, and violence. All three plays are preceded by the prologue titled Advice to Iraqi Women which discusses the dangers the world poses to a child. Further analysis of the themes throughout the entire performance will be explored later in this article.
About the author:
Martin Crimp, born in 1956 in Dartford, United Kingdom, is a British playwright who studied English at St-Catherine’s College, Cambridge. In 1997, he published his most famous piece titled Attempts on Her Life, which he is recognized internationally for. In 2002, Face to the Wall premiered at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2003, Advice to Iraqi Women premiered at the Royal Court Theatre as well. Finally, in 2005, both Whole Blue Sky and Fewer Emergencies premiered, once again, at the Royal Court Theatre.
About the play: (No spoilers)
CEGEP St-Lawrence’s rendition of Fewer Emergencies: A Martin Crimp trilogy begins with Advice to Iraqi Women as its prologue. Written in 2005, the geopolitical context plays a key role in its understanding. Following the American invasion of Iraq, atrocities which cost many civilian lives set the tone for the prologue. In a satirical text delivered in an eerie and domestic fashion, the cast warns Iraqi mothers of the dangers posed to their children. Dangers such as small mechanical toys, kitchen counters and zips are compared to minefields and warzones, highlighting the minor hazards everyday life poses to a child being completely thrown out the window when living in a warzone. They illustrate the privilege of living a life free from the burdens of war.
Whole Blue Sky follows three characters as they walk spectators through the story of an unhappy and abusive marriage. Their child mentioned, Bobby, supposedly cements the marriage, however, spectators witness the woman slowly spiral, and it becomes apparent that the child is negatively affected. Juggling themes such as domestic violence and marital problems, this play pushes aside the idea of a “perfect picture” (as mentioned in the play) as the troubles slowly creep through.
The second play, Face to the Wall, follows character 1 as he tries to piece together a story of a school shooting, however, throughout his narration, he constantly gets interrupted and thrown off track by characters 2, 3, and 4 as they investigate for answers. As the show goes on, the line between tale and reality is blurred as character 1 begins to embody the perpetrator. Face to the Wall utilises comedy to explore the theme of gruesome atrocities in search for an answer as to why someone would commit such a crime.
Finally, the third of the trilogy, Fewer Emergencies follows three characters, and they describe things as “improving”, however, it also describes Bobby, the boy from the first play, living through an emergency. The characters’ optimism when describing such a frightful scene allows for an eerie feeling to creep through. Fewer Emergencies is about how society often gets distracted by improvement and turns its head to the current atrocities being committed.
Director: Elizabeth Lavoie
Scenographer: Jeanne Murdock
Cast:
Annabelle Carvajal Velkova
Nesrine Audrey Djiogue Dongmo
Amelie Hermawan
Nicole Medina Barragan
Noémie Nadeau
Morgane Ève N’Zué
Wellan Rhéaume
Maxim Savard
Amélie Trépanier
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