Play: World Without Shadows

By: Lance Woolaver

Director: Gil Garratt

Blyth Festival Of Canada (www.blythfestival.com)

Runs: August 1^st to September 1^st 2007

3 Stars

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Tonight was the opening night of the play World Without Shadows at the Blyth Festival of Canada. The story of Maud Lewis’ life and times was a harrowing look at a woman outwardly crippled and deformed living with a man inwardly crippled and deformed. World Without Shadows is a look at Ev and Maud Lewis’ life in a shack in Nova Scotia, Canada. Maud Lewis is known as one of Canada’s greatest artists, not for her professionalism or realism, but for the heart and idealism she infused into her paintings. As is the case of Vincent Van Gogh’s ear, sometimes it is better to let the paintings stand alone and leave the artists lives and misfortunes out of the limelight. World Without Shadows is Lance Woolaver’s interpretation of Maud and Ev Lewis’ life and seeing as Woolaver grew up in the same county as the Lewis’ and had to live with the mythology of Maud, the famous painter, an audience member would seem to think that Woolaver had a strong grasp of Maud Lewis’ story.

Apparently Maud was abused by Ev, her companion, key-keeper and resident moocher. Ev didn’t do much it appears he was a ‘gimme me, get me’ type of person whose life revolved around what he could get out of people. Maud seemed frail, in love with her art, and too emotionally battered to stand against Ev’s tyrannical manner. The community around her was generous and gave Ev a lot of kindness because of his connection with Maud; but the play mostly portrays a community trying to help poverty stricken Maud with her artistic growth through buying her paintings and bringing wood, food and canvas for Maud to paint on. World Without Shadows depicts Maud’s life towards the end where her health was an encumbrance to her talent and when her authoritarian and vulgar husband had his strongest hold over her.

The stage was well set with a framework of decrepit wood exterior and a small and basic house inside which was brightly painted from Maud’s imagination everything from the bread box to the oven; the interior of the house looked like a tapestry of colour and nature, courtesy of Maud Lewis.

The performances by Anne Anglin as Maud and Randy Hughson as Ev seemed on all accounts to be accurate portrayals and not at all a surprise if these overly one-dimensional characters did exist; particularly in Ev’s case. However, the supporting performances by Susan Stackhouse, Andrew Moodie, Peter N Bailey, and Robert B Kennedy seemed to really make the play of interest when their characters arrived as community members to Maud and Ev’s house.

The first act of World Without Shadows seemed to be one long and drawn out scene with perpetual repetition that might hark back to Woolaver’s career as a children’s book author. Ev seemed to be the central character, not Maud, and I kept wondering whether I was watching a play about Maud Lewis or about her hard-done-by disenfranchised husband Ev? At least 90% of the first act was spoken by Ev; typically the bigger part goes to the lead actor and main character of a story. I had hoped for more from the second act, but was sadly disappointed as the plot development was weak, with almost no plot turns, except for Maud’s deteriorating health.

The second act felt equally long and drawn out and the audience seemed to lose empathy for the characters somewhere along the monotonous journey. World Without Shadows was poorly scripted and seemed to plant the world of Maud Lewis in her physical being – restricted at that. I think this play could have done with an insurgence of the inspiration and imagination of Lewis’ paintings; somewhat akin to the interpretation of Frida Kahlo’s life in the film adaptation. Maud Lewis lived in her paintings, so why weren’t the audience privy to that in a play about Lewis’ life and artwork?

I normally thoroughly enjoy biographical stories as I’m always interested in the lives of incredible people, but was saddened to see World Without Shadows not give the full respect to Maud Lewis’ life which was both grounded in abusive and painful reality but also given wings in paint brushes and imagination.