ATP STAGES CHARLOTTE’S WEB
Friendship, selflessness, loss and death
Written in 1952, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web is a story about friendship and selflessness as seen through the eyes of farm animals.
It's also a story about loss and death which is pretty heady stuff for children but, then again, these themes are the basis of so many Disney classics from Bambi to The Lion King.
Wilbur (Tenaj Williams) was born on the Arable farm as part of a litter of 11 pigs. Being the runt, Wilbur's fate was sealed except that young Fern Arable (Annabel Beames) intervened, promising to care for Wilbur.
Wilbur is not only innocent but a bit naive, so he doesn't understand when the old sheep (Sarah Wheeldon) tells him his reprieve is only temporary and that, by feeding him, Fern is actually fattening him up for the inevitable.
Because Wilbur remains blissfully unaware of his impending doom, it is up to the wise and caring spider Charlotte (Leda Davies) to find a way to save Wilbur from the slaughterhouse.
Into her web one night, Charlotte weaves the words 'some pig' proclaiming that Wilbur is a special porker. It works, bringing the intended attention and fame but only temporarily so Charlotte has to weave more accolades until the Arables and their friends, the Zuckermans, decide to enter Wilbur into a contest at the state fair.
If Wilbur wins the blue ribbon his life will be spared, but that means even more words and poor Charlotte is exhausting herself at a time when she must prepare her egg sack.
With Wilbur being pretty much a one-note, static character in his own story, E.B. White wisely threw in some comic relief characters. There's the goose (Nadien Chu) and her gander (Philip Fulton), who repeat everything three times and produce a new batch of goslings each year.
We're meant to laugh at the sheep and her lamb (Aubrey Baux) even though they are voices of doom.
It's the job of Templeton the rat (Geoffrey Simon Brown) to find words for Charlotte to weave and Brown steals the show as he is meant to. Templeton is a chronic complainer and Brown plays his grumblings to the hilt and he has a great little trap door to pop up from.
Davies uses silk ribbons as the strands of her web and the effect is suitably intriguing.
All of the actors except for Beames and Williams do double duty.
When he is not the fussy gander, Fulton is Fern's father, whose common sense is often at odds with his daughter's idealism. You can't save every animal from the dinner table.
Stafford Perry gets to play farmer Zuckerman who lets Wilbur stay in his barn during the fattening period and eventually takes most of the credit for owning this special pig.
The stage adaptation of Charlotte's Web by Joseph Robinette that Alberta Theatre Projects is presenting under the direction of Laurel Green is largely uninspired. The actors speak the exposition like a kind of Greek chorus until Robinette gives them spurts of dialogue to work with. To their credit, the actors infuse everything with a kind of cartoon enthusiasm to ensure the youngsters in the audience are intermittently captivated.
Ethan Cole, who wrote the music for this ATP production, is also its live musician and a sound effects man which, in the opening scene, proves particularly funny.
As much as possible, Anton de Groot's set and lighting designs and Jennifer Lee Arsenault's costumes help disguise the flaws in Robinette's script.
The ending when Charlotte's eggs hatch is beautifully executed.
Charlotte's Web runs in the Arts Commons Martha Cohen Theatre until Dec. 31, but it's best to check out atplive.com for performance dates and times as they vary throughout the run.