The Net casts absorbing spell
Ship’s Company production brings humour, horror to stage
by ANDREA NEMETZ, Entertainment Reporter, Herald
Wally MacKinnon, left, Douglas MacAulay and Michael Chiasson star in The Net at Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro, which runs Tuesdays to Sundays until Aug. 29. (RENA KOSSATZ)
There’s something almost biblical about the family feud in The Net, an Acadian thriller that opened at Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro on Friday.
It’s there in the intense jealousies of some and the naive trust of others, the absolute intransigence of the patriarch and the absolute authority he wields, the sacred rituals of the family and the metaphorical net in which the Chiasson crab-fishing dynasty is entangled.
This is the Atlantic Canadian English-language premiere of The Net, written by Montreal playwright Marcel-Romain Theriault, who is originally from New Brunswick, and translated by Maureen Labonte and Don Hannah.
Both Theriault and Hannah were in attendance at the gala opening, along with other guests, including local politicians, businesspeople and Ship’s Company Theatre board members. Theriault was reportedly very pleased with the production, directed by Ship’s Company artistic producer Matthew Tiffin, and touched his heart at the loud standing ovation that followed the final bows in the 90-minute show.
The Net opens cinematically with credits rolling on a small black screen in the foreground, while two men are seen as silhouettes behind a light gauze curtain, against a backdrop of a sunset. The sunset changes colours throughout the show, while the stage, which looks like an aged wooden wharf, complete with battered edges, is surrounded by fishing nets, some with glass floats suspended in their midst.
Off to the side, a curtain opens to reveal a bent old man — Anthime Chiasson (Michael Chiasson), the aged patriarch, who kneels beside the grave of his beloved wife, telling her he will join her soon.
The action switches to a spare kitchen in which the tension is palpable between the tightly-wound, middle-aged Leo Chiasson (Wally MacKinnon) and his feisty nephew Etienne Chiasson (Douglas MacAulay), the first-born grandson of Anthime.
A dirty, seasick and somewhat bewildered Etienne has been rescued from a Mexican jail where he was arrested at a protest.
You’d think he’d be happy to be back home. He’s not.
He didn’t want family connections to get him out. He wanted to wait for the Canadian embassy to do its job, which, as observed by the elder Chiasson, could have made for a long, unpleasant stay.
Etienne, who is proud of his MBA, is the very picture of earnest social consciousness. He believes in fighting for the environment, going by the book and sharing to avoid conflict. He wants no part of the crab fishing boat or licences which are his birthright, and which Anthime is determined to give him, bypassing Leo, who has kept the business afloat.
Leo, who has the sea in his blood and an icy approach to making money at all costs, wants what he believes is rightfully his, but Anthime will not budge. Anthime protests this was the way things have always been done, passing a birthright from first-born son (as he himself was and his father and grandfather before him) to first-born son.
And, as the fishermen at the wharf in nearby Shippigan protest, Anthime plots how he will achieve his goals before his death. Leo has his own plots, while Etienne wants to escape all plots and run back to his life in Montreal, which neither relative will allow.
There’s humour and horror and keen social observations in the swift-moving play that keeps the audience guessing till the shocking conclusion. There’s also an undercurrent of pain and loss.
As Anthime, Chiasson rules with a velvet fist; he never loses his cool and never ceases pushing to get his way.
As Leo, MacKinnon seethes with emotion barely kept under control, and has barely disguised contempt for both his father and nephew.
And as Etienne, MacAulay bristles with righteous indignation at perceived injustices, while at the same time seeming like a petulant child, incredulous he can’t always get his own way.
It’s an intense and intensely absorbing and disturbing story, brought to the stage with sensitivity and skill from both performers and crew — lighting by Michael Fuller and sound by Paul Cram are particularly effective — to create a truly epic production, whose ending is not for the faint of heart.
The Net runs Tuesdays to Sundays at 8 p.m. until Aug. 29, with matinees Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18.30 to $27.90. Call 1-800-565-7469 or 254-3000 or visit www.shipscompany.com.
