Before the Fall Review | Scatterbrain Magazine

REVIEW: BEFORE THE FALL - Living Room Productions

Reviewed by Imogene Mahalia

Before the Fall, Living Room Production’s inaugural show, is a gay dramedy that walks a tightrope of inspirations. Between its mystifying scenes of magical realism—punctuated by iambic pentameter, brought upon by moments of tension—and its roots in queer artists pursuing their passions through Montreal’s underground scene, this show lands somewhere far beyond where it began.

Two actors performing onstage in Before the Fall

Photo: Andraé Lerone

A sculptor and a stonemason rethink their debts to each other and to themselves. This is what the play is about, if it has to be about one thing. But every time I watched Before the Fall—and I had the privilege of seeing it more than once—I saw something different. The actors gave something new each time, pulling from a script that is as balanced with tension and philosophy as it is with humour and levity. Feeding off the energy of the audience each night, they played up various elements. On a night when the crowd was knee-slapping-laughing at the slightest pun, the comic relief characters leapt into action, stretching their physical humour and exaggerating the caricature. When the audience was more thoughtful and focused, the leading players delivered their monologues with what felt like fresh layers of emotion.

Two Before the Fall actors smiling together onstage

Photo: Andraé Lerone

The play begins with a break up no one would wish for, though they could probably see it coming. “Cordelia, I’m gay. We have to break up.” says Ellis, one of the two leading characters, to his girlfriend of a year. He’d just witnessed—caused—a life or death experience, and it forced him into reality. What follows is a series of scenes of Shakespearean proportions. Ellis is rejected by a seemingly-fated love-interest—the very same guy he nearly caused the death of—and then fate (Grindr) brings them together once again. He loses his job, lies to his boyfriend about his friends and to his friends about his boyfriend. A pair of art curators pit the lovers against one another for money—and the better shall win. When it all comes to a head, sparks fly and the Earth is scorched (literally).

Before the Fall has a well-balanced cast of eight and a 90-minute runtime —ambitious for a Fringe show, and executed to its full potential. Its title is a reference to an idiom with Biblical origins: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall,” and the show lives up to this layered meaning. A man undergoes his first gay experiences, and while his pride is under question, he is challenged by the pride of others. There is destruction, and a hell of a fall. All the while, the show is lifted by spirit and love.

An actor presenting a menu during Before the Fall

Photo: Andraé Lerone