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Production of The Monument is resounding success

By Andrii Krawchuk for northern life Review: The Monument, by Colleen Wagner. Directed by H. Ulrich Sikora. Cast: Richard (R.J.) Comeau and Valerie Senyk. Thorneloe University Theatre, through September 18th. Information: 673-1730.
By Andrii Krawchuk
for northern life

Review: The Monument, by Colleen Wagner. Directed by H. Ulrich Sikora. Cast: Richard (R.J.) Comeau and Valerie Senyk. Thorneloe University Theatre, through September 18th. Information: 673-1730.

Richard Comeau and Valerie Senyk turn in outstanding performances in The Monument, presented by Thornloe University. The play runs until this weekend.
Colleen Wagner?s The Monument is a harrowing reflection on the ravages of war and individual responsibility.

A soldier on death row for war crimes unexpectedly receives a new lease on life from a mysterious woman.

Thorneloe University is presenting the play, and director H. Ulrich Sikora has done a fine job with what he correctly observes is a ?very strong? text. The play was awarded the 1996 Governor General?s Award.

Richard (R.J.) Comeau plays Stetko, the condemned soldier. His opening monologue sets the stage with language and graphic descriptions that can shock many an ear. Colleen Wagner is a courageous writer, and has entered into the mind and voice of a violent murderer. Comeau effectively conveys Stetko?s gradually evolving states of mind ? from haughty self-righteousness, to fear for his life, to moral outrage and repentance.

The female antagonist, Mejra, played by Professor Valerie Senyk, represents the catalyst for this remarkable transformation. From her initial appearance, Senyk has a powerful stage presence, and it is to her credit that she does not take over the story. Instead, a virtually flawless balance is achieved and maintained between the two characters. The result is an authenticity that speaks truthfully and does justice to some of the most horrible and complex moments of human existence.

Is Mejra a ?real? person, an historic mother in a real situation, or a symbolic angel of mercy who perhaps has visited Stetko in his tormented mind?

That is left open to interpretation. Some personal names are vaguely East-European, but that is as far as any context can be identified.

The play skilfully maintains a creative tension between a particular story of human suffering and a universal statement about all wars and the human suffering that results from them.

As the story unfolds, powerful themes and sub-themes are introduced and interwoven: the inhumanity of war, the elusive nature of truth, the destruction of relations between ethnic groups and between men and women, the possibility of restoration and redemption, and the moral significance of memory.

The production is a resounding success.

Director Sikora is to be thanked for his decision to present it in a theatre-in-the-round arrangement. In doing so, he literally pulls no punches in his fidelity to Wagner?s disturbing piece, but at the same time he wisely provides the audience with the comforting reassurance of its own presence, and distance from a horror which is all-too-real.





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