REVIEW: Heist steals from cinema’s playbook at London’s Grand Theatre
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
What does it take to pull off a heist? And more importantly, what does it take to pull off a heist on stage? The Grand Theatre’s latest co-production with the Citadel Theatre answers these questions with thrills, style, and spectacle. I wish there was also a bit more substance.
Written by Arun Lakra and directed by Haysam Kadri, the Grand is advertising Heist as Ocean’s Eleven for theatre. As a lifelong fan of caper movies, I was excited to see one of my favourite genres presented in my favourite medium. And, as we enter the auditorium, we see multiple screens projecting striking visuals of cityscapes made up of well-lit skyscrapers and bridges. Adele’s “Skyfall” and The Pink Panther’s theme music play in the background. The mood is set. An urban thriller is about to unfold in front of our eyes.
The play tries to remain as close to the cinematic medium as possible. As the lights go down, movie-style credits roll on the screens, which also facilitate quick spatio-temporal shifts, similar to cinematic cuts. The multiple locations quickly morphing into computer circuits during the initial heist (there are two heists, yes) does much to maintain the illusion of this being a film. Throughout Heist’s interval-inclusive 115 minutes, there are also times when nobody is present on stage, and scenes continue on screen. However, once the actors enter the stage, it becomes difficult to forget that we’re watching a play.
The plotting cuts right to the chase, as we see five teammates in the middle of a heist, attempting to steal a ruby worth 6,000,000 dollars. As the robbery unfolds, Marvin (Devin Mackinnon), the mastermind and the leader of the group, narrates how he formed the team. We’re introduced to the key characters: Ryan, the second-in-command (Callan McKenna Potter); Angie, the gymnast with a moral compass (Gillian Moon); Fiona, the computer genius (Priya Narine); and Kruger, the old-school thief in charge of security (Emilio Vieira).
While many plays lean toward either showing or telling, Heist commits to doing both. After Marvin informs us of each character’s key qualities, we are also shown the characters projected on screen, video-game style, along with a list of their good and bad traits. The successful theft soon turns into a nightmare, as the team finds that the ruby they stole is fake because someone within the team switched it out.
After a few months, Marvin brings everyone together again for another mind-bending, essentially impossible heist, which involves stealing from a wealthy and dangerous woman named Spider (played to perfection by Belinda Cornish). The team gets together, but with an additional aim: to uncover the betrayer. Thus unfolds a saga of crisscrossing agendas, intricate plots, bluffing, and double bluffing.
The clear winners in the show are the design elements. Sets by Beyata Hackborn, consisting of a sideways slope at the back of the stage and mobile wine cabinets, sync smoothly with Siobhan Sleath’s lighting design and Corwin Ferguson’s exquisite projection design. Together, they create a visual symphony and a spectacle, as when Moon’s Angie escapes criss-crossing laser lights as Narine’s Fiona provides instructions through the screen. Richard Feren and Nick Shostak’s pulsating electronic soundscape helps further elevate the tension. Kadri crafts scenes so that transitions between past and present feel seamless.
What made Ocean’s Eleven such a success was its witty, clever writing as well as its endlessly charming performers. With Heist, unfortunately, the acting and writing don’t always match the quality of its design and direction. Except for Cornish’s authoritative and intimidating aura, which kept me on the edge as soon as she entered the stage, and Moon’s wonderful athletic display, I found it hard to invest in the characters. Perhaps the issue is in the script: Lakra goes for simple characters without much emotional depth or interiority. This leaves the actors grasping at straws as they try to engage audiences with what the script has given them to work with.
One of the things I was excited to see was how the play would subvert or expand the caper genre, but the writing hardly moves beyond familiar tropes. Some scenes feel contrived to trick the audience into following a red herring and distract us from the real culprit. For seasoned fans of the genre, this won’t come as a surprise, but if you are less familiar with caper movies and crime thrillers, these techniques might just be enough to keep you guessing.
Sharper, wittier, and more organic writing accompanied by powerful performances could have elevated this play. Despite its shortcomings, Heist is worthy of admiration because of its ambition, and its attempt to dramatize a story we mostly see only on screens — adding to a rich Canadian tradition of using cinematic techniques on stage.
Heist runs at the Grand Theatre until February 1. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Abhimanyu Acharya
Abhimanyu is an award-winning writer, theatre-maker, and scholar. He is the writing specialist at Kings University College, and a postdoctoral associate at Western University in London, Ontario.
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