influenced

Dionysos, Parthenon, 438-432bc, British Museum

Victoria, British Columbia is a city filled with a variety of cultural activities and yet, as always, people will bemoan a lack of them, or at least of certain types. Until Sunday Intrepid Theatre is presenting Influence a two-act play by Janet Munsil. The setting is the British Museum in 1817 shortly after the Parthenon sculptures, commonly known as the Elgin Marbles, are placed there permanently. The main players include several Greek gods alongside a pair of mortals, poet John Keats and painter Benjamin Haydon. I thoroughly enjoyed the production and would recommend it to anyone with any vague interest in Art or 'the arts.' Erin Macklem's costumes are superb as is the cast, Ian Case, David Radford, Karne Lee Pickett, Paul Terry and Elliot Loran (Loran plays Keats but looks strikingly like a young Oscar Wilde so if you're casting for any such role...)

My frustration with all of this? I made the mistake of reading a review by Adrian Chamberlain prior to viewing the show. It is as though Chamberlain's desire was to frighten all expect a "certain type" of people away from the production. Using language like "overly academic," "densely written," "impenetrable," even pointing out that the critic found the "lack of conventional plot" a challenge will intimidate a potential audience. I did not find any of these critiques to be accurate, nor did my un-Academic companion. This was helped even more so by the very informative programme we were given prior to the show; perhaps Chamberlain did not receive one. At any rate, see it if you can as it is an enjoyable and unique piece of local theatre and be wary of critics. The last thing Victoria needs is to be turned off these types of events by those in the media who should be encouraging them.