Maja Ardal, star of 'The Cure for Everything'
WHAT'S THE PLAY?
Writer-performer Maja Ardal first introduced audiences to Elsa in her solo show You Fancy Yourself, in which the 11-year-old child of Icelandic immigrants struggled to fit into 1950s Edinburgh.
The Cure for Everything continues the adventures of this lovable misfit, now in her early teens in the early 1960s and with a whole new set of challenges: a raging crush on a brooding fellow named Brian Baxter who reminds her of George Harrison; a putative friendship with a "groovy" Twiggy look-alike named Sheena; and the mortifying embarrassment of being chosen to play the gawky French horn in orchestra rather than the ladylike flute.
All Elsa's problems are put into context after she discovers her parents listening intently to the radio: The Cuban missile crisis is under way. With just a few short days before the world blows up, Elsa decides to tackle two things of utmost importance: getting drunk for the first time and losing her virginity.
WHO'S THE PERFORMER?
Under the adept direction of Mary Francis Moore, Ardal - who herself was born in Iceland and raised in Scotland before immigrating to Canada at age 21 - proves once again that she is a talented mimic, capable of creating dozens of distinct characters with their own movements, manners and accents.
Her particular strength lies in perceptive physical observations, such as, for instance, the way Sheena and Brian pass a cigarette back and forth in an ostentatious attempt at flirtation. At other times, Ardal employs her mime skills to hilarious effect as when Elsa struggles into a panty girdle to head out to the pub or puffs on a half-finished cigar butt she found in her parents' ashtray at the end of the weekend.
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Now into mod clothing and Merseybeat, Elsa seems to have forgotten the lessons she learned in You Fancy Yourself about the perils of trying to fit in with the popular girls. "Sexy is smoking and being cheeky," she tells her mother after purchasing the aforementioned panty girdle.
The familiar and funny aspects of Elsa's coming-of-age story are an uneasy fit with some of the troubling twists in the plot. Elsa's scary sexual encounter in an alleyway is one thing, but Sheena's revelation of just how extremely distressing her home life is ends up weighing down the show so much that it becomes very difficult to care about Elsa's minor concerns any more.
WHAT'S YOUR POINT?
While Ardal's impersonations are accomplished, The Cure for Everything could use a panty girdle itself to rein in some of its more meandering moments. In takes too long to find its focus and then too often the ticking clock of the Cuban missile crisis vanishes from view. Sheena's sudden befriending of Elsa could use some clarification, while Brian could use some fleshing out. Most of all, in the flash-forward that ends the play, Sheena's story needs a more satisfying resolution (or non-resolution) for Elsa's French horn lesson to not feel like such a sour end note.
The Cure for Everything
- Created and performed by Maja Ardal
- Directed by Mary Francis Moore
- At the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace in Toronto
The Cure for Everything runs until Dec. 4.