Is God Is: revenge is muddled
14 May 2022

by Drew Rowsome - production photos by Elijah Nichols, promotional photos by Dahlia Katz

Is God Is begins explosively with the stage engulfed in apocalyptic flames and noise. One expects the entrance of a metal band or a hip hop girl group, but instead there is a surtitle stating "Is God Is" and, a wonderful effect, a smouldering couch. Two women enter and we find out they are twins who have survived a horrible fire that left them scarred. Oyin Oladejo (The Father) has scars on her back that are not instantly visible, while Vanessa Sears (Alice in Wonderland, Caroline, or Change, Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz) is wearing uncomfortable looking prosthetics that suggest severe burns on her chest and half her face. The twins talk about their day and their potential love lives and display a touching intimacy as they apply ice packs to their scars. They also narrate what they are doing, talking of themselves in the third person as if the audio description has accidently been left on during a post-apocalyptic sitcom.

 
This is the first of what are many confusing affectations to come. Quickly the plot becomes a revenge saga. The twins discover their long lost mother, Alison Sealy-Smith, in a hospital bed in an institution that is located specifically in many US states simultaneously. Everywhere but nowhere. This simple scene is the most extraordinary thanks to the sheer power of Sealy-Smith's performance. Lying in a bed, wrapped in a sheet that covers all but her face, she tells the tale of the fire and demands revenge on her ex, the twins' father. It is riveting and when she exclaims that she wants him, "Dead, dead, dead" and that it is ok if there is a lot of blood, it is chilling on a visceral level. But then the sheet is removed for a shock moment that underwhelms, the mother's horrific scars appear to be feathers and the effect is to wonder if we have suddenly landed in a Kids in the Hall Chicken Lady sketch. 

There are more ominous surtitles and the twins set out to do mother's bidding. Lots of people die horribly, some with gory and frightening effects, some with minimalistic suggestions. Just as some narrate themselves in the third person and some don't. Is it meant to evoke a Greek chorus? An inner psychological state? Clues for those audience members whose attention has wandered? An attempt at Brechtian alienation? Is God Is is trumpeted in the press materials as genre-hopping but it also contains a wide variety of theatrical styles. As mentioned the effects veer from startling to mimed, but the elaborate and effective projections are supplemented by physical props and set pieces that have to be wheeled on and off the stage. Sometimes we are misdirected so that the set changes are invisible, sometimes they are flaunted. There is a lighting cue salute to classic circus with pin point spots that rake the stage, drawing our attention between three simultaneous scenes treated as three rings. It must mean something as I'm sure Canadian Stage has a full complement of faders on their lighting board, or maybe someone just thought inducing whiplash would add to the mashing of genres and styles.

The twin's quest takes some odd turns with a pill-popping possibly suicidal lawyer obsessed with the cut of his Bermuda shorts, the donning of disguises as strippers, and occasional choreography evoking, well I'm not exactly sure. There is a section satirizing domestic life that veers into a critique of poetry that is either satirical or supplicating, again I'm not sure. Shoehorned in is a brief coming out story featuring a compelling Micah Woods, disconnected from anything before or after, but perhaps thematically linked to Sears' fear that her scars make her ugly. Though she also states that her scars are her superpower because they make her invisible. There is a lot going on. The one female character, a woefully underutilized Sabryn Rock (Rose, The Royale, Fun Home, Obeah Opera) who stands up for herself is quickly dispatched by the twins. This is not a feminist parable. The word "mother" becomes interchangeable with "God." That is particularly unfortunate as whenever someone claims they are on a "mission from God," one hopes for Aretha Franklin but knows that it will only be Kathleen Freeman. 

All of the performers are deeply committed and Is God Is moves at a brisk if erratic pace. A lot of time and effort (and money, it seems that every major banking institution was thanked in the opening remarks) has been lavished on Is God Is but to little effect. Sears, who is as talented as she is charismatic, plays the emotional twin which means she pukes often. The final beat of her character's arc is, I think, meant to be shocking. Sears plaintively and far too late in the proceedings, while dangling the main murder weapon (a rock in a sock) if the family is cursed. But by that point the stage was littered with more bodies than Hamlet or a Tarantino wannabe, and a bit of thematic clarification or emotional connective would have been more welcome than a predictable jump scare and a limp conclusion that revenge isn't always satisfying.