Tarragon Theatre / Interior Design, written by Rosa Laborde, directed by Kat Sandler, Tarragon Extra Space, closes Nov. 10. Tickets here.
Acclaimed playwright Rosa Laborde has been called one of the most refreshing voices in Canadian theatre, and for good reason. She wants to make people laugh.
While some of prolific Laborde’s output is certainly on the dark side — think Leo, Hush and True — the lion’s share of her plays veer toward comedy. In fact, Laborde is on record as saying that many people have stopped going to the theatre because they don’t like leaving feeling down.
That’s why she believes that plays can be entertaining, while still being about something serious.
Her Tarragon world premiere Interior Design is vintage Laborde, with laughs coming a mile a minute as the drama unfolds beneath. It wouldn’t be a Laborde play if it didn’t address significant issues.
The Characters
Four 30/40-something friends who have known each other since childhood, having grown up in the same immigrant neighbourhood, are gathering for a “skin party”, where beauty products will be sold.
Unbeknownst to one of them, the real reason for the get-together is an intervention, and right from the start, the humour begins as the interventionee (if there is such a word) thinks the intervention is for someone else and not her.
The party is taking place at Sophie’s condo. Sophie (Sara Farb) is a life coach and a recent divorcee with children. Maya, (Meghan Swaby), who works in marketing, also has children and is in a lesbian relationship. Cecilia (Anita Majumdar) sells the beauty line, and lives a more fancy free life. Being childless, she entertains herself by picking up all kinds of hobby and interest classes.
Then there is the married Olivia (Rong Fu) who creates and edits news stories and documentaries. She begins the play with a very cynical (and amusing) monologue about life, which is why we, the audience, know that Olivia’s negativity is the reason why her friends are having an intervention. They are very concerned about what they perceive as her profound depression.
Thus, in this first crucial scene, dark underpinnings begin to emerge beneath these lifelong friendships.
Farb’s soft-spoken Sophie fancies herself as someone who loves helping people, but in reality, she irritates her friends with her controlling superior nature. Even more maddening, the almost pompous Sophie is determined to be medium cool at all times, sailing above the emotional fray.
Swaby’s energetic Maya makes categorical pronouncements without thinking of the consequences, while annoying the others by avoiding confrontation, and refusing to take responsibility for any forward action. At one point, she’s accused of being Switzerland.
Majumdar’s Cecilia realizes that she is considered a lightweight flibbertygibbet by the others, and is deeply hurt when she discovers that they feel they have to endure her skin parties. She is almost a flower child throwback with a touch of innocence.
As for Fu’s Olivia, she hits heavy and she hits hard. Everyone hates her put downs and corrections, and Maya even calls her Miss Wikipedia.
And so, Laborde has put in place the dynamics for the various crises that follow as the friends are forced to take a long, deep look at themselves and their relationships, and, more to the point, the impact they have on each other.
The playwright delights in people’s flaws, and as a critic once pointed out, Laborde’s characters are messily human.
There is, however, an important plot device that should be pointed out.
When Olivia decides she wants to give up her career and become an interior designer, Sophie gives her the freedom to decorate her condo, even though Olivia has not one iota of experience. Thus we witness, as the action unfolds, a bizarre transformation of set designer Shannon Lea Doyle’s original minimalist condo into a vision of ridiculousness. Mention should also be made that Doyle’s clever costumes are perfect for the characters.
The Production
Laborde is a master of fast-paced repartee and rapid fire one-liners, and to help the actors of Interior Design cope with this comic element, is director Kat Sandler, herself an acclaimed playwright and satirist. Never does the action flag under Sandler’s assured hand.
Admittedly, it’s hard to do method acting in a comedy, and frequently the actors do sound like they are just saying the lines to get them out quickly, making their characters seem somewhat superficial. I, however, will take speed and delivery over depth anytime, if laughter is the raison d’être.
Yet, despite the archness of some of the dialogue, we do get to know who these women are, because Laborde has avoided the curse of stereotype by providing genuine motivation for action. We do, in fact, see four disparate characters emerge. Laborde has also provided brief breakaway monologues where we get to know them a little better through self-revelation.
The actors are fun to watch because their performances are lively, vibrant and in the moment. Perhaps there is over-acting, but who cares.
Most importantly, Sandler has welded together a fine ensemble.
The Main Theme
Interior Design is a play about friendship, first and foremost, and we are at our most vulnerable when we are with our closest friends. It is within the bounds of friendship that the good, the bad and the ugly will emerge, and Laborde has ensured that they do. This play is a very honest presentation of the inner, even chaotic, world of women, and that is to be admired.
Then there is the concept of interior design, which presents a glossy picture on the outside that may conceal the rotten wood and mouldy walls beneath.
In her director’s note, Sandler sees Laborde’s metaphor of the renovation of Sophie’s flat, of doing just that —stripping away the exterior mask to reveal truth, authenticity and transformation.
Final Comment
It looks like the Tarragon is off to a whale of a season with two hits on their hands.
In the Main Space is the cooky and eccentric Goblin Macbeth, whose run has just been extended, and judging by the gales of laughter in the Extra Space, Laborde’s entertaining Interior Design will be another success.
Right now the Tarragon seems to be the home of comedy.
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