Coming into with a quivering lip and a tense trembling foot, Cliff Cardinal (Soulpepper’s Huff), playwright and performer on this invested VideoCabaret manufacturing of (Everybody I Love Has) A Horrible Destiny (Befall Them) is a charming, and suitably uncomfortable presence. The repetition of the title fully resonates, because it does in his life. He, one after the other, lists off all of the loves of his life which have had horrific fates befall them. And we will’t assist however lean in, whereas leaning again, all on the similar time. The spectacular listing of catastrophes is epic in its creation, rushing shortly and articulately from crushed windpipes from a docile horse, by way of overdoses, all the way in which to amputations. It’s powerfully participating, and simpler, he believes, and rightly so, that remaining emotionally disconnected and wanting nothing from anybody of significance is the one method ahead. And after that listing, we kind of agree.
Cliff Cardinal in VideoCabaret’s (Everybody I Love Has) A Horrible Destiny (Befall Them). Picture Credit score Michael Cooper.
The framework elicits a robust emotional response, one full of sophisticated reactions that don’t coordinate collectively nicely. It’s spectacular, this fractured duality, because the 80-minute present spins itself ahead on the intimate VideoCabaret (in affiliation with Crow’s Theatre), and by no means falters in its unprecedented supply of his absurdist journey. It’s fueled with a seemingly unending cocaine snort, right here and there, edging the power towards chaos, as his story of cursed love runs quick and furiously ahead. It’s relentless and stumbling at occasions, when phrases and concepts really do battle in his thoughts and tongue, making an attempt to get out of itself as shortly as potential. It’s fascinatingly darkish and delirious, forging ahead with a limp, twisted snarl, daring us to disagree, however retaining us considerably eliminated as if he’s nervous that this destiny and his curse may envelop us all in its darkish deadliness.
In (Everybody I Love Has) A Horrible Destiny (Befall Them), director and dramaturg Karin Randoja (Buddies in Unhealthy Occasions’ Gertrude and Alice) unravels this darkish curse solidly in sections of layered storytelling, paneled by three formulations entitled: “LOVE,” “CURSED,” and “FATE,” courtesy of set and props designer JB Nelles (Toronto Fringe’s Dancer). Every is given an in depth framework and a posh concept to play with, edging the story in the direction of an unknown final result with trembling and jerky deliberation. Cardinal by no means disconnects with this manic drug-fueled power and desperation, however embraces it, pulling his jacket on and off with frantic unfocused formality. It’s deliciously troublesome to soak up typically, as he begrudgingly takes on different types, together with the rambling “cribbage nazi” neighbor or the hockey-card psychic addict, with tremors of concern and disgust radiating outward, by no means failing to hit the goal.
Every panel feels linked to the chaired area that sits earlier than it, and Cardinal deliciously dives into the power of every as if pushed to exasperation and desperation by the dis-love of his mom. Staring out from the earthshine circle of sunshine that he needs to be inside him, designed strongly by Raha Javanfar (CS’s Is God Is), the play unpacks the dilemma that stands earlier than this achingly nervous man, costumed completely by Sage Paul (Indigenous Vogue Arts), with out ever actually giving him a simple out. It’s jagged and scrambled, with photos of asteroids crashing into arenas, killing hundreds, all due to a second of common love that radiated out from this troubled man’s thoughts.
As off-balanced because the cabinets are behind him, Cardinal journeys ahead, looking for his disappearing-act method by way of life in a misplaced Northern metropolis, hoping that distance and a harsh mindset will save all of those that need to return shut. Together with himself. In his desperation, he enters a unifying area that he hopes is protected; a help group created only for broken souls like himself, run by an endangered, however smart white rhino who unleashes knowledge that’s magnificently revealed from behind the cursed curtain. It’s one of many extra compelling moments in a chunk that typically doesn’t appear to know the place it’s taking us. The play appears to exist, at occasions, solely to be thematically quirky and interesting. Which is dynamic, however with out an endpoint, we’ve to surprise why we’re climbing in for the journey.
The sneering outwards of this character and the edgy speed-talking work as a method to each maintain us protected and at a distance, saving us from his lethal love-giving, whereas additionally giving us simply sufficient of a purpose to lean in. When he connects with the viewers, as he does over cough drops and sleepiness, it feels distinctive and disparagingly compelling; harmless however susceptible, with an fringe of anger and frustration. However at different occasions, his chaotic hyperactive supply retains us one step too far eliminated, questioning what this cursed endeavor is in the end about. The desperation for love and hate feels expansive and interesting, as if we’re watching some self-fulfilling prophecy turn out to be accelerated and inflated past the conceivable. And in that, (Everybody I Love Has) A Horrible Destiny (Befall Them) is a surprise, because it reveals, however perhaps not totally embraces, this compelling formulation. However perhaps that’s what’s retaining us protected from his curse. Alive. And out of hazard.
(Everybody I Love Has) A Horrible Destiny (Befall Them) runs at VideoCabaret (10 Busy St.) till November 12. For tickets and knowledge, click on right here.
Originally posted 2023-11-01 18:57:01.