From the wrong side of town, there are few ways of escape. You can hope muscle and skill can get you a sports scholarship like Ponyboy’s brother Darry had in his grasp when their parents died leaving Darry working two jobs struggling to keep Ponyboy and their middle brother, Sodapop, together as a family.
Darry knows that Ponyboy has the real golden ticket out. Ponyboy reads and is smart and, even though he’s only fourteen, Ponyboy is perfect for a college scholarship.
If only Ponyboy can stay out of scrapes with the Soc’s, the rich kids with the flash cars patrolling the poor neighbourhoods looking to rumble with the Greasers.
In the world of S. E. Hintion’s classic young adult novel, The Outsiders, adolescence is full of highs and lows of extreme emotion, smart talk and quick fists, furtive flirting, and everyone pretending to be more mature than their young years, and sadly, some of them already robbed of their youth.
The Cape Breton University Boardmore Theatre’s production of Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of Hinton’s novel is an intense, high energy drama thanks to a talented, engaging cast and urgent direction by Todd Hiscock.
I saw the performance on Wednesday morning with a theatre filled with junior high and high school students from Baddeck, and, after a late start (buses-don’t get me started), who watched with keen interest the story of death and hope from a time when their grandparents were teens. It probably struck them the same way Ponyboy he feels towards the Civil War American south as presented in the copy of “Gone With The Wind” he reads to his buddy, Johnny: a lost time, full of fate and heroism, and inescapable tragedy.
Maverick MacDougall, as Ponyboy, gave an emotionally vulnerable performance and captured his character’s dilemma to stay true to his greaser buddies but trying to hold onto the “gold” of childhood as he aspires for something better. The scenes between him as Ponyboy and Naomi Colford, as “Cherry” in another strong mature performance, perfectly caught the bittersweet turmoil of young love.
Graeme McNabb had a powerful stage presence as Dallas, the Greaser whose stint in jail tainted his soul. Patrick Curtis, as the frail, haunted Johnny, gave an assured and, at times, heartbreaking performance-a stand out performance.
Daniel Farrow as the gruff, tough Darry seemed the bossy older brother but Farrow’s performance allowed the audience to see his character’s immense love for his brothers even as it was crushing him with responsibilities. Daniel MacGillivray, as Sodapop, found a distinctively unique space between his character’s two forceful brothers as middle siblings often do.
Jenny Danyluk was smart and sassy as Cherry’s BFF, “Marcia”, and even more impressive roller skating across the Boardmore stage as a Dairy Queen carhop. Mora MacDonald, as Sandy, was touching in her scene with Sodapop trying, and failing, to explain why they couldn’t be with each other anymore. When she plaintively says “we’re only sixteen!” the audience experiences not only the desperation in her character, but the shock of realization that the cast of actors is mostly the same age as their characters and they are wrestling with understanding the same tumult of emotion as their characters.
Including two gangs, a burning church full of school kids, and various disinterested adults, all of the cast of over two dozen brought their best work to the stage without a single weak performance.
Segel’s playscript is full of short, punchy scenes, a bit too much like a film screenplay, but director Hiscock maintained a headlong momentum full of physical movement and high emotion so the pace never allowed the audience’s attention (especially a younger audience’s attention) to drift away. With a set (designed by Hiscock and Cheryl Bray) made of the scraps of chain link, busted tires, and wood pallets one might find in any working class neighbourhood alley and aided by projections buildings and scenery, the audience was always sure where they were and what was happening. Diana MacKinnon-Furlong’s costume design, leather jackets and Levis for the Greasers, cardigans and soft plaids for the Socs, set not only the era but the character of the warring factions.
After a week of school performances, The Outsiders has three public performances scheduled for this weekend at the Boardmore Playhouse: Friday, November 30, and Saturday, December 1 at 7pm both nights; and Sunday, December 2 at 2pm.
