The Shaw Festival’s Androcles And The Lion is a delightful production. It’s fun, interactive, and can leave one with the impression that it’s improvisational at points. However, the impression of improv theatre is just that; these actors know their material to its core.
The premise of the play is taken from a classical folktale whereby a runaway Roman slave, Androcles, relieves a wounded lion of the thorn in his paw and then benefits from the lion’s hunting prowess. Throw in George Bernard Shaw’s variations to the story to advance his views on religion, politics and vivisection, and the play becomes a comedy. Androcles (Patrick Galligan) is a Christian and a vegetarian; the Christians being rounded up for death in the Colosseum are happy people who routinely break into song; the Roman centurion (Shawn Wright) is a buffoon; the Captain of the Roman Guard (Kyle Blair) has fallen in love with Lavinia (Julia Course), a beautiful and devout Christian; and Ferrovius (Jeff Irving) a muscled young Christian fighter struggles to reconcile his violent tendencies with his faith.
The play becomes interactive when members of the audience change the momentum of the story by tossing coloured balls onto the set, and change the direction of the action by re-designing the set. I saw a preview; it was superb. It’s one more example of the energy at Shaw this year under the directorship of Tim Carroll.
Androcles And The Lion is playing at the Court House Theatre until October 7, 2017.
Bonnie Lendrum is the author of Autumn’s Grace, the story of how one family manages the experience of palliative care with hope and humor despite sibling conflicts, generational pulls and career demands. Autumn’s Grace is a powerful commentary on the need for well-organized and well-funded palliative care in private homes and in residential hospices. It’s a gift to people who would like to be prepared as they help fulfill the final wishes of a family member or friend.
Bonnie Lendrum 