Equine execution: Joey Ouellette's "The Red Bridle"
By Burton Taylor
Lance Writer
October 24, 2007
“Hi. Should I let them in? There’s only three of them….Are you going to go on with the performance?” I overheard the box office receptionist say this on the phone while I waited in the Mackenzie Hall lobby. The response must have been in the affirmative, as myself and the two others were soon ushered in and seated, and the show did, in fact, go on.
Joey Ouellette’s “The Red Bridle” is his fifth play featuring Detectives John Moore and Steve Hodgeson. It’s a buddy cop play with Moore (Ouellette) as the even-tempered cop and “Hodge” (Rob Tymec) as his Sancho Panza-esque partner. Our three-person audience was met by a two-person cast as Ouellette and Tymec play not only the two leads but also every other secondary character.
Taking a page from a recent real-life news story about a hit-and-run involving a police horse, the play fictionalizes this incident and imagines that this has inspired a string of further police horse assassinations by sniper fire. These “horse hits” cause a media storm and Hodge and Moore are soon put on the case. Since there are only two actors, the detectives split up to interview witnesses and suspects, and occasionally re-unite to compare notes. The casting leads to some unfortunate side effects; notably there were no female characters on stage whatsoever. Where’s the femme fatale that projects both sex and danger? To the play’s detriment there is no romance or lust to speak of, a damning omission for a mystery.
There are greater problems in the mystery itself. The red herring is never resolved, nor is the killer’s rationale either clear or convincing; both of which are essential to a satisfying solution. I will not spoil the mystery here but will say that the climax doesn’t so much embrace genre conventions as hobble on them. I left the play feeling that there was altogether too little violence, anger, sex, lust, and intrigue for my liking. This was a detective story more soft-boiled than hard.
But all was not lost.
Most of the characters were lively. Tymec’s Hodge was compelling, and many of the secondary characters, notably a loan shark named Louis “I’m no ferret” Mastelotto, were colourful and humourous.
In fact, comedy was the play’s strongest suit. The funniest moments, unfortunately, were a few inadvertent howlers. Take “I don’t want another mount, riding’s never going to be the same,” “There was a popping sound, and suddenly Strawberry went down,” and especially one during a funeral scene where the officers converse as they look out into the sparse audience; “There sure are a lot of people around here.” “Yeah, must be thousands around here.” Funeral indeed, sirs. These two were killing me.
Perhaps Hodges and Moore should next investigate what became the greatest mystery of the night: the case of the missing audience.
If you adore police mysteries and can stomach a lumpy story then The Red Bridle may make for an enjoyable evening of drama. Otherwise, I simply can’t recommend this play. For those who still wish to discover whodunit, there are performances on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 at 8pm at Mackenzie Hall, tickets are $14 Adult, $7 Student.
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