Review: THE DEVILS Haunts the University of Alberta's Timms Centre For The Arts

In 1634, the French city of Loudun was consumed by accusations of sorcery against a local priest, Urbain Grandier. John Whiting's 1961 play, The Devils, re-imagines the hysteria-fraught events leading up to Grandier's death sentence. This tense melodrama closes out the 2022/2023 season of The University of Alberta's student productions at the Timms Centre for the Arts' Studio Theatre.

The audience is wrapped in a palpable foreboding from the moment they enter the theatre. In a tableau appearing to have sprung straight from a horror movie, a lone nun stands on the dimly lit stage. The eerie sensation only intensifies as the play begins, settling in the air like a wintry chill. Haunting choral music often floats through the air, intensifying the plot's growing danger. Characters' voices echo within the cavernous church and convent settings; the shrieks of the nuns claiming to be afflicted by evil spirits are especially chilling. Instead of a stationary set, props appear alongside the performers to establish different scenes.

Playing the leading role of Father Grandier is Yassin El Fassi El Fihri. His portrayal of the condemned priest showcases impressive versatility as Grandier goes from being a powerful leader to a prisoner pleading for mercy. Grandier's primary accuser, Sister Jeanne, is played by Kristin Unruh, who completely disappears into the haunted character. Seeing Bazin writhing and screaming is genuinely terrifying, especially when Sister Jeanne is confronted by a surprise exorcism by the shouting Father Barré (Karen Gomez Orozco).

Standouts among the supporting cast are Katie Yoner as an unnamed sewerman, Aaron Refugio as the blinged-out Bishop De La Rochepozay, and Alice Wordsworth as naive teenage girl, Phillipe. Yoner brings much needed comic relief as she pops in and out of a trapdoor to banter with Grandier. Refugio also earns big laughs as the flamboyantly dressed bishop. Wordsworth, on the other hand, is heartbreaking to watch. It is deeply unsettling to witness Phillipe's innocence being taken advantage of by Grandier, who is tasked by Phillipe's father to tutor her in Latin.

Despite the show's many strengths, it is not without shortcomings. After an attempted exorcism of Sister Jeanne and three other nuns, a pair of television screens are brought out. Two modern adults sit watching the simultaneously filmed onstage chaos as if it is a football game, one of them even bearing a foam finger. Coupled with inexplicable showers of confetti, this sudden jolt to the present distracts the audience from the afflicted nuns. The play's 1634 setting contrasts sharply with the townspeople's 1950s' style clothing, and a gratuitous sex scene is far more explicit than necessary.

An ambitious production featuring a strong cast and impressive technical effects, The Devils concludes the Timms Centre for the Arts' 2022/2023 season. It runs at the venue's Studio Theatre until April 15.

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