Zero's many qualities reach near-perfection: Vancouver Sun, Page D15, THE QUALITIES OF ZERO |
The qualities of The Qualities of Zero are many. A strange and seductive script is performed to near-perfection by a small company clearly committed to its craft, and the result is simply magic. Victoria's secret is out: Atomic Vaudeville has the capital's hottest pack of young actors, and company co-founder Jacob Richmond is a playwright to watch. Anyone who caught Legoland at this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival knows it; don't miss the latest proof. The Qualities of Zero features Richmond as neurotic neuroscientist Dr. Roland Welby, who creates a drug to mask all emotion and tests it on himself. Chaos can ensue all around him, but Dr. Welby won't flinch. He displays only a bland affect and disinterest in the world. With his brother just released from a mental institution and the lunacy of their late mother much on Roland's mind, catatonia seems a safe haven. But his pretty lab assistant offers a glimpse back to the real world where love beckons, so Roland is quickly caught between social paralysis and carnal desire. Worse, he has not only earned the wrath of his supervising doctor but drawn the lustful eye of the boss's wife. Sudden swirls of emotion must be beaten down with an increase of injections. Something's gotta give. The troupe works beautifully together as Britt Small's direction deals with a whirl of choreographed movement. Janis Ward's design is basic but smart: a black curtain | pulled back and forth to close one scene and open another, a door on its own platform spun, to be used in endless clever ways. Johnny Mountsteven's sound design and Jeremy MacLeod's lighting palette are equally attuned to the fine detail of the staging. With one exception, the performances are a perfect match for the material. While Richmond's doctor resembles Mark McKinney as the guy who used to "cresh your tiny skull" on Kids in the Hall, this is still a wholly original comedic creation filled with hilarious tics. That's true as well of Jeff Gladstone as his Christmas-obsessed brother and Rod Peter Jr. as his pot-crazed neighbour. Michael Delamont uses his big frame to exude his own brand of frankly frightening madness as the boss, and Celine Stubel steps back from the all-out insanity of her starring role in Legoland to play Welby's assistant as a sweet ingenue with integrity. As the cougar chasing our hero, Gina McIntosh is too self-absorbed and ends up looking as if she lacks the generosity of spirit so much in evidence in the rest of the cast. The Qualities of Zero is an excellent example of what can result from utter dedication to one's craft. In this co-production with the Vancouver Fringe Festival, Atomic Vaudeville has received not a penny of government funding. So see it, support it and send a message to those folk who can't seem to lift a finger without the Canada Council helping them. |