Staging Greek myths with whisky, dating apps and fascinating ideas in ‘Armadillos’ at Factory Theatre

While introducing the world premiere of Colleen Wagner’s “Armadillos,” Factory Theatre’s artistic director Mel Hague included a few words about the difficulties of developing and mounting new plays. In retrospect, that felt like a warning. The play that went up on opening night, while full of fascinating ideas, wasn’t quite ready for a full production.

All of which is a shame. Wagner’s Governor General’s Award-winning play “The Monument” received a riveting remount in that very same venue five years ago, directed by Jani Lauzon, who’s also helming the new piece.

And “Armadillos,” which was programmed by Factory’s former A.D. Nina Lee Aquino, certainly features a promising meta-theatrical set-up.

A quartet of actors is touring the country in a new interpretation of the Greek myth of the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. Midway through the tour, an actor named Karmyne (Mirabella Sundar Singh) has replaced the woman playing Thetis, and this has caused some tension among the other three actors: Jay (Ryan Hollyman), who plays Zeus, Sofia (Zorana Sadiq), who is Hera, and the younger Dyrk (Paolo Santalucia), who stars opposite Karmyne as Peleus.

After a brief prologue, in which we see the actors warm up before going on — and Karmyne appears late, clearly upsetting Jay — we’re shown what appears to be the first act of the Greek tale.

This play-within-a-play explores the prophecy that Thetis’s son would become greater than his father. Zeus, played with rapacious, libidinous energy by Hollyman, is clearly attracted to the 17-year-old goddess Thetis, and so wants his wife Hera to arrange a marriage between Thetis and the mortal Peleus so his potential offspring won’t grow up to overpower him. Thetis, however, has other plans.

There’s a powerful feminist theme here about women challenging established patriarchal systems. Unfortunately it isn’t sufficiently explored in the second act, which is set in contemporary times, where the libations are whisky and sexual partners are a mere swipe of a dating app away.

As they take off their makeup and change into their regular clothes, Karmyne shows Sofia some hookup possibilities on her phone; Sofia’s not interested. After Karmyne has left for her date, Jay barges into the women’s dressing room and frightens Sofia, which triggers some sort of PTSD reaction. Nevertheless, the two actors agree to meet at the bar downstairs later on. In that same bar, Jay runs into Dyrk, and they awkwardly discuss the performance. Later still, Dyrk runs into Karmyne, and they form a connection.

One of the problems with all this is that it feels like the actors are meeting each other for the first time, even though they obviously would have gone through weeks of rehearsals and, with the exception perhaps of Karmyne, have toured the show to other towns and cities.

By that time, patterns and rhythms would have been established and histories unearthed over many a drink and endless tour bus trip. But neither Wagner nor Lauzon suggest any of those details. Strangely, no one mentions the actor who previously played Thetis, and why she left the tour. And there are no crew members around. Why?

Wagner provides some insights into the ever-changing power dynamics between the genders and how language comes with historical baggage. When Sofia tells Jay not to use the word “man” in the expression “Oh, man, sorry,” her point is clear — and fair. And the important idea of consent comes up in a few intriguing ways.

But because we know so little about these characters — we get only the vaguest hints about their backgrounds — their observations rarely resonate, except in the most obvious and superficial ways. After Karmyne says one of her potential hookups calls himself a “sugar daddy” Sofia balks and the younger woman asks whether she wouldn’t be happy as Zeus’s well-provided-for wife Hera.

A hint of what this play could become arrives late in the second act, when the actors’ chaotic personal lives affect the show they’re putting on. But by then it’s too little, too late.

The actors — the real actors, that is — do fine work with what they’ve been given, especially Sadiq, who suggests an emotional history and complex set of emotions as both Sofia and Hera.

And Trevor Schwellnus’s designs for set, props and lighting give us something mysterious to look at. The set is dominated by what look like sheets of twisting pieces of plastic; when different coloured lights hit them they create startling shadowy effects that immediately change the mood and feel of a scene.

If those scenes were better developed, “Armadillos” might shine more brightly.

Armadillos

By Colleen Wagner, directed by Jani Lauzon. Playing at the Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst, through June 24. factory.ca and 416-504-9971.

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