Reviews
THE BARONESS AND THE PIG Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatrre/Shaw Festival
By
Jul 5, 2018, 12:12

Shaw Festival
Through October 6
THE BARONESS AND THE PIG Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre/Shaw Festival

There’s nothing like hearing some person of high social persuasion talk about how this person is trying to uplift some lesser person, applying, of course, the values of the high social person.
Now, most of us probably feel that attitude is more than a little ridiculous, with that suggestion high social persuasion implies just being brighter those of lower caste.
Michael Mackenzie’s “The Baroness and the Pig” carries that tinge of the ridiculous
For the Shaw Festival production, director Selma Dimitrijevic hammers the point home with Yanna McIntosh as the Baroness and Julia Course as Emily, the illegitimate daughter of a pig farm who is more feral than human, with body language of an animal and little human language.
The director hammers her points home by having McIntosh, who is Black, in the lead role and Course, who is White, as the feral Emily.
The baroness opines and expects the Pig to learn the right thing, especially language.
All through the play, we assume there are other people and, somewhere, a baron, who meets a bad death.
It’s a very sparse set in the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre, really a square of what looks like benches out of a locker room.
The Pig and the Baroness become friends and become close, even though attitudes don’t change a lot.
There is a strong one-act play here.
I can understand the desire to do this show, young writer, Enlightenment base and two strong performers, particularly Course, even strong costuming, from designer Camellia Koo.
“The Baroness and the Pig” doesn’t work.

A.W.


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