Fortune And Men's Eyes

Julian DeZotti, David Coomber, Alex Fiddes and Cyrus Faird. Photo by Guntar Kravis.

"When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes"... this line from Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 inspired the title of Canadian playwright John Herbert's play Fortune and Men's Eyes, a hard-hitting prison drama that has been translated into more than 40 languages and produced in more than one hundred countries since it premiered off-Broadway in 1967. This month, Birdland Theatre is staging a new production in Toronto for the first time in decades. The show is now playing for a limited run at Dancemakers Studio in the Distillery District.

Fortune and Men's Eyes follows the journey of Smitty (Julian De Zotti), a naive young prisoner who falls prey to the false advice, taunts and violations of his fellow cellmates, Rocky (Cyrus Faird) and Queenie (Alex Fiddes), while befriending another cellmate, the victimized Mona (David Coomber). The piece is given a fresh reshaping under director Stefan Dzeparoski, with a set that spreads across the studio floor, well outside of the traditional dimensions of a confined jail cell. Rocks hang from the ceiling and a metallic puppet stands in as the guard, Holy Face, equipped with a built-in speaker through which the actors speak his lines in turn.

While interesting to look at, Joseph Pagnan's spacious set design makes little use of the generous floor area, and the intimate dialogue is often difficult or near impossible to hear over the eccentric sound design. Fiddes and Faird definitely need to project more in some scenes. That being said, the four talented young actors give a compelling performance: De Zotti carries the production as the straight-man-turned-criminal Smitty; Faird is suitably deranged as the bully Rocky; Fiddes' Queenie is eerily flamboyant; and Coomber gives a deeply moving performance as the delicate, spiritually detached Mona.

After more than 40 years, Herbert's themes of violence, sexual slavery and loss of freedom may no longer shock audienes in the way they once did, but the play's message endures as a reminder of the hypocrisy and evil lurking in and outside of of the prison system.

Fortune and Men's Eyes runs until September 8 at Dancemakers Studio, 9 Trinity St, Studio 313, Distillery District, Toronto. Visit birdlandtheatre.com for more information and to buy tickets.