ARC/Crows Theatre/Gloria, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by André Sills, Guloien Theatre, Streetcar Crowsnest, Mar. 1 to Mar. 20. Tickets available here.
Multi-award winning American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Grant, and it doesn’t get more starry than that. In other words, we’re talking about one of the most heralded young American dramatists of the current theatre scene.
His 2015 play Gloria was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and happily, you can catch Gloria’s Canadian premiere at Crows Theatre. Its biting satire of the publishing industry is not for the faint of heart. This play is savage, and one can understand why The New York Times called playwright Jacobs-Jenkins, “original and unsettling”.
In act one, we meet three 20-something editorial assistants at an important New York magazine. Stuck in their cubicles, they dream of one day supplanting their bosses, having their own offices, and garnering their own book deals. To say they are ruthlessly ambitious is an understatement, and their workplace culture is toxic.
The focal point of the office is Kendra (Athena Kaitlin Trinh) who represents the worst of them, showing no mercy as she points out their failures. Dean (Nabil Traboulsi) is accused of getting drunk every night as he tries to network. Ani (Jonelle Gunderson) has a brilliant science degree, but has settled for a low paying IT job. Both get back at Kendra by pointing out her rich Asian family and life of privilege have resulted in her complete lack of work ethic. She’s either on a Starbucks run, or out shopping.
The fourth person in the office is the ever observant intern Miles (Savion Roach), a university student who declares that publishing is not for him because everyone seems so miserable in their job. And then there’s the hapless Lorin (Carlos Gonzalez-Vio), who at 37, has never risen beyond the rank of senior fact-checker. His appearances coincide with asking the others to quiet down because their verbal fights are disturbing a meeting. The outcast Gloria of the title (Deborah Drakeford), we see sparingly, but it is she who triggers a traumatic episode at the office.
The second act focuses on the fallout after the violent event. Three of the characters repeat — Kendra, Dean and Lorin — while the other actors play new roles. The main issue is capitalizing on the trauma. Who gets to tell the story? Who gets to write the book that will be the bestseller? Who gets the movie rights? Jacobs-Jenkins is at his most cynical here, reducing an intensely horrifying event to a numbers game.
There is no morality in a story grab. This is pointed out in the first act, when a famous singer dies of an overdose, and the magazine decides to publish a scurrilous article about her sexuality. Truth is reduced to the juiciest bit of dirt. In both acts, the victims are forgotten as everyone trades on their misery. Modern day media is both opportunistic and callous.
In fact, Gloria is jam-packed with issues, and Jacobs-Jenkins keeps throwing them at us. The structure of the play is practically Shakespearean, as the playwright uses soliloquys, so to speak, to hurl out invectives. Kendra, for example, has a diatribe about the death of publishing. (The play is set in 2010 as the internet is on the rise.)
Making his directorial debut is actor André Sills, who has a Jacobs-Jenkins connection of his own. In 2017, Sills starred in the playwright’s award-winning 2014 play An Octoroon at the Shaw Festival, which would have made him well-acquainted with his heart of darkness.
Satiric dialogue works best with rapid fire delivery, and Sills has ensured that his cast expresses Jacobs-Jenkins’ tsunami of words with energy and force. Collectively, they are also able to convey the over-riding tension that exists in the office. In fact, the action never drags, as we are assailed with Jacobs-Jenkins’ litany of horrors.
Some actors fare better than others. Trinh, who has the most to say as Kendra in the first act, seems at times like she is reciting lines rather than acting the part, but redeems herself with a riveting performance in the second act. Traboulsi absolutely shines as Dean, rendering a character portrait of heart-stopping honesty.
Gunderson is impressive in the three roles she plays, striking truth with each one in a low-key but effective style. Gonzalez-Vio’s Lorin and Drakeford (in her two roles), both veteran actors, give fine and assured performances. Roach gives good account of himself as Miles and Shawn, but is over the top as Rashaad.
In all, there are 13 characters in the play, and Sills and the cast have made every attempt to keep them clear and distinct, which is no mean feat given the satiric nature of the dialogue.
Jackie Chau’s set of walls and posters seems a bit rickety, but is enhanced by Chris Malkowski’s astute lighting, placed over the wall panels. Knowing the el cheapo budgets of independent theatre companies, Chau did her best, although we don’t get cubicles, only desks. I do like the fact that for each change of scene, different posters are put on the walls.
Gloria is a troubling play, but it is not telling us anything new. Journalism has become a harlot in search of the big payout.
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