“More people need to pay attention.”
Theatre Calgary’s First Métis Man Of Odesa is a love story and a love letter. It’s a telling of the love story between Matthew Mackenzie and Mariya Khomutova, and it’s a love letter to the Ukraine. It feels like its purpose, it’s reason for being produced is to have more people be aware of what Ukrainians are fighting for. It’s root message is noble and needed. But the story lacks tension and emotional pull. We already know how it’s going to end. We get the happily ever after, or something close to it, at the beginning of the play and it immediately removed any mystery or intrigue in the story. It’s a nice story. But that’s not enough.
The play opens to Matthew introducing his theatre company and giving a bit of a promo for it. This is the telling of how he met Mariya and how their love story unfolded. Through amazing technical elements, Matt and Mariya depict their story, how they met, how they bridged the distance between them, and how they fought to be together. It’s a nice story, that tells of their struggles with humour and a balance between light and dark. We go through the events of them trying to make a long distance relationship work, with many visits before their worlds are engulfed by COVID. They make a quick decision to get married during COVID and wind up moving to Canada. And then Russia invades the Ukraine.
Mackenzie confesses at the very beginning of the production that he is not an actor, but has been convinced to play himself. He is funny, a bit awkward and very warm. His lines bring a genuine levity to the play. Khomutova brings a deep complexity to the narrative, her perspective illustrating the conflict for her in telling this story. Their performances are warm and their characters are likeable.
Director Lianna Makush ensures that the story unfolds nicely, without anything seeming rushed or drawn out. Amelia Scott’s projection design is beautiful. It fills the stage with sparkles that ground the play in its narrative. It’s soft when it needs to be and shadowy and dark when the story demands it. Daraba’s composition as well as Aaron Macri’s sound design support the telling of the story, landing the audience at a wedding – or the in the middle of Niagara Falls.
The First Métis Man Of Odesa is a nice story and it ends on a note of hope. The story has complexity, bridging countries and different cultures and different ways of looking at the world. But the story lacks investment from the audience. We already have the story presented to us, with a neat little bow at the beginning of the play. There are no surprises, there is no reason to wonder. It makes the story forgettable. And for people in Canada to pay attention to the Ukraine, this narrative needs to be memorable.
Theatre Calgary’s presentation of the First Métis Man Of Odesa runs until September 27. More information is available online.
Photo Credit: Dahlia Katz.