Admirable indeed is the performance of The Admirable Crichton playing at the Young Centre in Toronto

By Sam Mooney

This is the first production I’ve seen by the the George Brown Theatre School and it certainly won’t be the last.  Pat, my companion for the show, and I both thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

The Admirable Crichton is the story of an earl who believes in equality – when it suits him.  His butler finds these views horrifying – believing that everyone has a place and should follow the rules of society.  The family and servants are shipwrecked and the butler becomes the leader for the time they are stranded on an island.  There is nothing subtle about the social commentary but enjoyable anyway.

The nice thing about a theatre school is that they have the resources to do plays with large casts and a number of scene changes.  There are 16 cast members and Pat felt that the stage seemed a bit crowded at times.

The costumes were lovely, obviously all made for the show – another nice thing about a theatre school.  The scene changes were choreographed pieces of theatre.  Quite lovely.  I don’t think I’ve ever found myself enjoying the scene changes before.  The sets were imaginative, especially the island set.

The cast was excellent, without exception.  They all used accents, not an easy thing to sustain.  I’ve moaned in the past about accents – bad accents detract from a play.  In this case, good accents added to the piece.

The Admirable Crichton was written by J. M. Barrie, something I didn’t know.  It was first produced in 1902.  It stands up well. It’s fun to see what I think of as a ‘traditional’ play; one with a large cast, period costumes, and a fairly elaborate set.

Details:

The Admirable Crichton plays until November 20th at The Young Centre (Distillery District)
Performances are at 7.30 PM with a 1.30 matinée on Saturday November 20th.
Tickets are $14.50 ($3.50 Students) and are available online, at the Box Office, or by phone – 416.866.8666
Young Centre