A bone of contention

WOOF: Actors Hugo McGuinness (left), Suzan Anderson and (right) Susan Partington can’t help but laugh during rehearsals at Tirzah Russell’s performance as a dog in Evolution Theatre Company’s upcoming production of AR Gurney’s comedy, Sylvia. Picture supplied

A dog found in the park and taken home is the premise of AR Gurney’s 1995 play, Sylvia. Some US producers initiallly felt the play lacked promise because “it equated a dog with a woman, and to ask a woman to play a dog was not just misogynist, but blatantly sexist”, Gurney once said.

Yet rehearsals for Evolution Theatre Company’s production of the comedy are barely underway and young actor Tirzah Russell as Sylvia has already proven to be “pee your pants funny”, says director Dinna Myers. By the end of the second act most of the cast is in tears, including Hugo McGuinness who plays Greg, the man who found Sylvia in the first place.

Greg’s wife Kate (played by Suzan Anderson) is not happy about the idea of bringing a stray dog into their lives but the couple eventually agree Sylvia can stay for a few days before they decide whether she can stay longer. Greg spends more and more time with Sylvia and tension increases between Greg and Kate.

What underlines the tension is the fact that on stage Sylvia doesn’t look like a dog. She displays some dog behaviours but walks upright like a human and her costumes are regular clothes. In a sense, Sylvia is a metaphor for ‘the other woman’, says Russell.

“I’m a bit too dog to be fully human. At the same time my character is too human to be a dog. It’s a lot of fun, specially because I’m a real dog lover. We started with the dog idea but as we went along she got more human, but then I got a note from Dinna to get more dog in there. My character is between a human and a dog.”

Greg has his own conflict — treating Sylvia like a human. He’s reminded by some characters Sylvia is a dog.

“It’s almost like we’re seeing this through Greg’s eyes,” says Russell.

“The dog is like a young woman — lots of energy and personality — compared to his wife. And he can take her for walks and go places.

“He’s even started calling her Sweetie.”

Russell describes the play as a comedy with real life situations such as when a friend visits for a deep and meaningful chat but Kate goes off on a tangent because she can’t talk to Greg. Then there is the scene with Greg and Kate’s visit to a therapist who is ambiguously male and female depending on her patients’ state of mind. After a session with Greg, the binomial therapist Leslie tells Kate to get a gun and shoot Sylvia.

“I hope you get her right between the eyes.”

“By the end of Act 1 you see the tension between Sylvia and Kate,” says Russell.

“By then Sylvia knows Kate doesn’t like her. One of my lines is ‘let the best species win’.”