The Toronto Theatre Review: VideoCabaret’s (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them)

By Ross

Entering with a quivering lip and a tense trembling foot, Cliff Cardinal (Soulpepper’s Huff), playwright and performer in this invested VideoCabaret production of (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them) is a captivating, and suitably uncomfortable presence. The repetition of the title completely resonates, as it does in his life. He, one by one, lists off all the loves of his life that have had horrific fates befall them. And we can’t help but lean in, while leaning back, all at the same time. The impressive list of catastrophes is epic in its creation, speeding quickly and articulately from crushed windpipes from a docile horse, through overdoses, all the way to amputations. It’s powerfully engaging, and easier, he believes, and rightly so, that remaining emotionally disconnected and wanting nothing from anyone of importance is the only way forward. And after that list, we sort of agree.

The framework elicits a strong emotional response, one filled with complicated reactions that don’t coordinate together well. It’s impressive, this fractured duality, as the 80-minute show spins itself forward at the intimate VideoCabaret (in association with Crow’s Theatre), and never falters in its unprecedented delivery of his absurdist journey. It’s fueled with a seemingly never-ending cocaine snort, here and there, edging the energy toward chaos, as his tale of cursed love runs fast and furiously forward. It’s relentless and stumbling at times, when words and ideas actually do battle in his mind and tongue, trying to get out of itself as quickly as possible. It’s fascinatingly dark and delirious, forging forward with a limp, twisted snarl, daring us to disagree, but keeping us somewhat removed as if he is worried that this fate and his curse might envelop us all in its dark deadliness.

In (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them), director and dramaturg Karin Randoja (Buddies in Bad Times’ Gertrude and Alice) unravels this dark curse solidly in sections of layered storytelling, paneled by three formulations entitled: “LOVE,” “CURSED,” and “FATE,” courtesy of set and props designer JB Nelles (Toronto Fringe’s Dancer). Each is given a detailed framework and a complex idea to play with, edging the story towards an unknown outcome with trembling and jerky deliberation. Cardinal never disconnects with this manic drug-fueled energy and desperation, but embraces it, pulling his jacket on and off with frantic unfocused formality. It’s deliciously difficult to take in sometimes, as he begrudgingly takes on other forms, including the rambling “cribbage nazi” neighbor or the hockey-card psychic addict, with tremors of fear and disgust radiating outward, never failing to hit the target.

Each panel feels connected to the chaired space that sits before it, and Cardinal deliciously dives into the energy of each as if driven to exasperation and desperation by the dis-love of his mother. Staring out from the earthshine circle of light that he wants to be inside him, designed strongly by Raha Javanfar (CS’s Is God Is), the play unpacks the dilemma that stands before this achingly nervous man, costumed perfectly by Sage Paul (Indigenous Fashion Arts), without ever really giving him an easy out. It’s jagged and scrambled, with images of asteroids crashing into arenas, killing thousands, all because of a moment of universal love that radiated out from this troubled man’s mind.

As off-balanced as the shelves are behind him, Cardinal journeys forward, trying to find his disappearing-act way through life in a lost Northern city, hoping that distance and a harsh mindset will save all of those who desire to come close. Including himself. In his desperation, he enters a unifying space that he hopes is safe; a support group created just for damaged souls like himself, run by an endangered, but wise white rhino who unleashes wisdom that is magnificently revealed from behind the cursed curtain. It’s one of the more compelling moments in a piece that sometimes doesn’t seem to know where it is taking us. The play seems to exist, at times, solely to be thematically quirky and fascinating. Which is dynamic, but without an endpoint, we have to wonder why we are climbing in for the ride.

The sneering outwards of this character and the edgy speed-talking work as a way to both keep us safe and at a distance, saving us from his deadly love-giving, while also giving us just enough of a reason to lean in. When he connects with the audience, as he does over cough drops and sleepiness, it feels unique and disparagingly compelling; innocent but vulnerable, with an edge of anger and frustration. But at other times, his chaotic hyperactive delivery keeps us one step too far removed, wondering what this cursed endeavor is ultimately about. The desperation for love and hate feels expansive and fascinating, as if we are watching some self-fulfilling prophecy become accelerated and inflated beyond the imaginable. And in that, (Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them) is a wonder, as it unearths, but maybe not fully embraces, this compelling formula. But maybe that is what’s keeping us safe from his curse. Alive. And out of danger.

(Everyone I Love Has) A Terrible Fate (Befall Them) runs at VideoCabaret (10 Busy St.) until November 12. For tickets and information, click here.