THE GLADSTONE VARIATIONS
Featuring Christopher Stanton, Sanjay Talwar. Variation 1: The Tearful Bride written by Rick Roberts. Directed by Aaron Willis. Requiem for a Hotel: Written by Mike McPhaden. Directed by Aaron Willis. Variation 2: The Card Trick: Written by Brendan Gall. Directed by Alan Dilworth. I Grow Old: written y Julie Tepperman. Directed by Rebecca Benson. All presented by Convergence Theatre. To Aug 3. Variations 1 and 2 in rep: check website for schedule. Sun-Fri 7pm; Mon July 28, 1:30pm. Sun-Thu $25; Fri $30; Mon mat $20. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. 416-504-7529. www.artsboxoffice.ca.
For a moment, the lady bustling down Queen West, all Price Chopper bags, Salvation Army sweats and self-talk, seems like a real Parkdale local on a personal mission. Then the wrangler for Requiem for a Hotel, one of four chapters of The Gladstone Variations that unfold simultaneously around the Gladstone Hotel, ushers the audience to follow her. Like the lead characters in the three other variations (you have to go twice to see all four), Rhonda, played with shrill believability by veteran actress Janet Amos, wants something from a hotel that’s more than just a place to crash.
All four variations unpack the lives of unwanted, marginal souls. The Tearful Bride, with its elastic time and crisp narration by Richard Greenblatt as a concierge, is the only one that doesn’t aspire to you-are-there realness, but does the best job handling its philosophical musings and ghostly imaginings.
The logistics are fascinating. Small audience groups chase actors up stairs, down alleyways and into claustrophobic rooms. The sweat-soaked proximity, overlapping characters and 3-D setting can feel more cinematic than theatrical. It takes some improv and script-padding to make it work. But work it does. The Gladstone Variations is an inventive team effort, where a historic building plays a big part in examining how hard it is to check out of the past.