Prairie period piece centres on piano
Playful folk tale well-suited to Saskatchewan
If jokes about love, sex or infidelity make you uptight, The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz probably isn’t the play for you. But if you’re willing to embrace silliness and over-the-top performances, with a little music mixed in, the show is as warm and inviting as a hot bowl of borscht.
The production, on now at the Station Arts Centre in Rosthern, is a playful folk tale that is well-suited to a Saskatchewan audience. Set on a Prairie farm in the 1930s, Susch (Tracy Penner) and Obrum (Philip Munson) have been married two years but still don’t have a child. When her husband brings home a broken, old piano instead of a washing machine, the action begins. Obrum hires Beethoven Blatz (Eric Nyland), or “that Russian” as Susch calls him, to tune the piano and teach his wife to play. If it seems like a strange idea, it’s because Obrum’s motive is actually more complex.
Despite the difficult era the action is inserted into, the play is bright and funny. There wasn’t time to wallow in those days anyway. There were cows to be milked, blueberries to be picked and babies to be made. As an audience member, you might see hints of your ancestors, particularly in their accents. Manitoba playwright Armin Wiebe describes the sound as “buggered-up English sprinkled with Mennonite Plautdietsch and warped High German.”
This way of speaking leads to a lot of confusion between the characters. No one is direct about what they want and assumption becomes a dangerous thing.
There is nothing subtle about this show. The characters are big and so are the performances. Penner’s performance of Susch is the heart of the production. Her performance treads into overacting a few times, but her charm as the not-so-simple farm wife keeps it from becoming cheesy or irritating. She has an undeniable charisma in the role, so it’s no wonder the three other characters are drawn to her.
Nyland is wonderfully odd and awkward and Blatz, often looking to the sky and speaking to an imaginary person named Sonya. He wants to write beautiful music, but can’t seem to find the inspiration until he meets Susch. Munson is quite funny as Susch’s somewhat bumbling, but incredibly doting, husband.
Bobbi Goddard has some nice moments as Teen, but her motives aren’t always totally clear. It’s not the actor’s fault here, but the character feels underdeveloped, especially since there are only four people in the script.
The action takes place on a beautifully detailed set by Derek Butt.
The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz has a lot of nice moments, but the play does drag toward the end. The second act gets repetitive, with the other characters trying to get rid of a Blatz who has overstayed his welcome. Because it is so long, the play loses some of its momentum, overstaying its welcome as well. Things that were endearing in Act One are somewhat grating in Act Two.
But that twinkle in Penner/ Susch’s eye, thankfully, is the thing that sticks in the end.
The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz runs until Aug. 7 at the Station Arts Centre in Rosthern.