In an uncaring universe, morality is just something we use to bring order to chaos, justice to the unjust, and civility to animals. With sufficient arguments, you can justify anything. That’s what Donny (Daniel Pagett) believes, anyway, and that’s what you’ll believe by the end of Help Yourself.
Donny is a self-employed, self-titled consultant, informing his clients on matters that they can’t bring to anyone else. He does a good job, and makes good money. His girlfriend, Samantha (Tosha Doiron), knows both these things. On this particular day, Ted (Tim Walker) comes to Donny with a problem. Scotch and Darwin are two of Donny’s secret weapons, and the two explode in an exchange that is hilarious, tragic, and provoking all at once.
This story is occasionally broken by flashbacks to various episodes from Donny’s and Samantha’s relationship, and there we see the sensitive, awkward, human side of Donny. Pagett reveals the range of his acting abilities in these two storylines, and though it is initially offputting to see how his character behaves around Samantha, in time we realize his great depth. Doiron plays an elegant, intelligent woman with incredible elegance and intelligence. The two create great chemistry.
The script is crisp, with lines often relying on the effortless execution of the actors. Possibly outpacing himself, Pagett sometimes falters on his lines, but quickly picks himself up. The fast-paced dialogue is salted with improvised lines.
Probably the best part of the play, however, is the seamless transitions between the storylines. In one part, we see Samantha and Donny about to walk to stage right, while in the previous scene Donny exited from stage left. A quick exchange: “Oh, did you forget the –” “Yeah.” and Donny walks to stage left to pick up the Item.
This effortless connection between the two storylines is the play’s own undoing, however, as the ending is made apparent five minutes in. Regardless, it is enjoyable to watch everything unfold, and the tension in the room can be cut with a knife near the end.
Help Yourself is a must-see. It doesn’t come up with any new ideas per se (the idea of moral relativism is often explored), but the actors’ performances, smart script, and excellent direction make it more than worthwhile an experience.
Another contained piece that uses time to fragment its narrative, Kat Sandler’s Help Yourself is a far better at using its stunt-y premise to engage and thrill its audience. Donny (Daniel Pagett, who co-wrote the work with Sandler) is a sort of freelance life consultant, though he is generally hired on his unchanging approach to his job, which is to help convince his clients to justify committing an act they can not convince themselves of doing. After his girlfriend Samantha (Tosha Doiron) storms out of his apartment after having confronted Donny on the nature of his profession, Donny welcomes in his 1:00 appointment, Ted (Tim Walker), a shlubby middle-aged security guard who seems a little stunned to have wandered into the room. He decides that he requires Donny’s assistance in convincing him to murder his cheating wife. The slickly dressed and slick-talking Donny attempts to do just that, and for the next hour, throws a hodgepodge of different arguments at Tim, including Darwinism and poorly thought out ethical situations to help illustrate to the universe, but more importantly Ted himself, will be better off if Ted takes his revenge.
Pagett’s Donny is the onstage lynch pin between Walker and Doinon, sharing conversational duets with each of them as the narrative alternates between advancing further in time as Donny and Ted have a bro-ish dialogue about the kinds of moral structures humans can plausibly abide by, and retreating backwards in time as we watch (in the tradition of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal) the relationship between Samantha and Donny flourish from disillusionment and terror into the naivety and excitement of a new romance. Donny’s unshakable confidence with Ted is interchanged with a more vulnerable, though no less sharp-minded persona that he exhibits with Samantha. As the play gradually accelerates into its stressful, well-executed finale, the two storylines come together in a way that is somewhat distracting in its gimmickiness and narrative convenience, though still thematically coherent with the themes presented in the preceding ninety minutes: the idea of a human passing a moral judgment upon another human, already a questionable notion, becomes even murkier when we realize just how much we rely on the people in our lives to validate and reflect back to us our ideas of reality, and how much such people give us meaning and drive. Donny is faced with the realization at the exact moment that it is too late, and the play ends suddenly but with undeniable effectiveness.
Sandler directs her work with a simplicity and straightforwardness that compliments these tense, engaging conversations, though too often there’s a self-satisfied frat boy quality to the scenes between Walker and Pagett that limits the characters’ likability and the script’s originality. Still, the logic and veiled taunts used by Donny to rhetorically pound Ted’s ostensible intellectual insecurity into submission are often fun to watch and hear, due in no small part to the skill and speed of Pagett and Walker, as well as Sandler’s ear for naturalistic, overlapping dialogue.
Pagett is an unflappable ball of short, masculine energy, though Walker is ultimately better at exhibiting tonal variety, moving from confusion and disappointment to justifiable rage and sudden self-confidence. Doiron is strong at giving charisma and attractiveness to a thinly sketched character, and is very moving in the final few minutes. The George Ignatieff stage is decorated sparsely, with a white couch and chair, and a desk drawer being the main objects on display, leaving the actors lots of space to run around (literally, at one point). All in all, while there is too much posturing by the script on the profundity of its premise and ideas, and while the ending indulges too much of the play’s insularity, it’s still an entertainingly staged, well-performed piece of pop-philosophical fun.
Help Yourself. Written and directed by Kat Sandler (co-created by Daniel Pagett. Performing at the Best of the Toronto Fringe at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts.
I saw this show towards the tail-end of its run at the Toronto Fringe, in the context of all the word-of-mouth hype and its then recent selection as part of the Best of Fringe. I walked in not knowing what to expect and hoping my judgment wouldn’t be too clouded. The one thing I was assured of was a great performance from Tim Walker (Ted), who I recently worked with (albeit, at an arm’s length as an associate producer) on a production of Edward Albee’s The Goat. Independent of the build-up I experienced before seeing this show, it was definitely one of the best I saw at the Fringe and it certainly lives up to the hype. After experiencing this show, Kat Sandler is also a no-brainer when it comes to selecting her script for the Best New Play award.
Two stories are simultaneously played out over the course of the show, though both revolve around Donny (Daniel Pagett). Donny makes a handsome living as a “consultant” who specializes in helping people who want to commit acts that are illegal and/or commonly perceived as immoral. That is, he tries to convince each of his clients to go through with whatever act they are wrestling with. The first plot line concerns Donny and his long-term girlfriend Samantha (Tosha Doiron). At the top of the show they are having an argument over what he does for a living, leading Samantha to storm out of the apartment. Shortly after she leaves, the primary story line is introduced; Ted (Tim Walker) walks in under the pretext of having an appointment with Donny. Ted wants to kill his wife.
What follows is a whirlwind of dialogue between Ted and Donny, spliced with scenes that show the development of Donny and Samantha’s relationship. Both storylines come crashing together in the last few moments of the show with a twist that’s relatively predictable but an outcome that still leaves the audience a bit shell-shocked.
I can honestly say that there are very few flaws to point out here. In contrast to the bulk of Fringe shows that use a left field concept (and very often, fail at developing it to its potential), Help Yourself is relatively simple in its premise. With a straight-forward concept, Sandler has been able to create incredibly complex characters, dynamic dialogue and an intricate plot line that leaves you wanting to come see the show again just to re-evaluate the text. This is also one of the few occasions where the writer also succeeds brilliantly as a director; this was one of the only 90-minute Fringe shows where I was not bored or disconnected at any point. Sandler’s direction was as straight forwardly effective as her premise and she accomplished absolutely seamless transitions between the two story lines. It’s clear that the actors worked in harmonious tandem with their director.
This show, of course, would not be what it is without the three solid performances by Doiron, Pagett and Walker. While the show centres on Donny’s character, the play functions more as an
ensemble piece. Doiron, who is given the least stage time, develops her character as well as her cast mates and we get to know her as well as Donny and Ted. The advantage that Pagett has over the other two actors is that we’re given far greater access to two spheres of Donny’s life.
The one hindrance in this show would be the slightly overbearing performance that Pagett gives in his interpretation of Donny, particularly in his interactions with Ted (which happen to take up the bulk of the show). At times I felt like Ted’s character development was at a disadvantage due to Donny’s imposing presence and somewhat caricature-like portrayal of a self-assured, self-made man. I wonder, however, if this is done intentionally and this part of his character is merely a front for his clients; the Donny that we see around Samantha is worlds away from this.
Help Yourself is more than deserving of all the hype, and is a must-see at the Best of Fringe.
Intermission Toronto 