Next Stage Festival – The Red Queen Effect – Seventh Stage Productions

By Sam Mooney

The Red Queen Effect

The Red Queen Effect – from Seventh Stage Productions – is playing as part of the Next Stage Festival.  Sometimes I’m a bit slow on the uptake.  It took me till the end of the play to realize that ‘the red queen effect’ must refer to running in place as fast as you can just to stay in place.

There was a lot of running, but it seemed to me this Alice did get where she wanted to go.  Or at least she managed the first leg of the trip.

Alice goes through the looking glass and rather than Wonderland arrives at Crown Assets Corporate Fund, with her newly minted Harvard MBA in hand.  The story held no real surprises for me.  Alice is supposed to be part of the sales team, the main sales guy treats her like a secretary, and Alice complains to the female VP of Finance who does nothing.  Then… serendipity, Alice lands a big client, and the main sales guy gets fired.

My favourite part of the show was the scene between Alice (Monica Dottor) and Leo (Nicolas Campbell) – the potential big client.  The timing was great, and the scene felt quite natural.

There was a lot of stylized dialogue and movement in the rest of the play. Although this is a ‘message’ play, parts of it were quite funny. 

Details:

– The Red Queen Effect is playing until January 17th at The Factory Theatre Mainspace, 125 Bathurst St
Showtimes:
Thursday, Jan 14 5:15
Friday, Jan 15 9:30
Saturday, Jan 16  5:00
Sunday, Jan 17 3:15
– Tickets are $12 for shows that start before 7pm, and $15 for shows that start after 7pm. Multi-play passes are also available.
– Tickets are available at the
box office or online.

Photograph of Monica Dottor and Nicolas Campbell