The Circle delivers teen mayhem, but needs more vulnerability

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Parental Advisory: Explicit Content. So reads a giant label affixed to the beer fridge in the suburban Calgary garage that is the setting for a teen party in Tarragon Theatre's production of Geoffrey Simon Brown's 2015 play The Circle.

It could be affixed to the entire show. You've been warned.

Ily (Jakob Ehman), a high-school dropout, lives in this garage, along with a collection of bongs (one nicknamed Trudeau) and samurai swords. Amanda (Vivien Endicott-Douglas), his high-achieving girlfriend, lives in the attached house with her mom – until she turns 18, at least, when the two plan to move out. If Ily can afford an apartment in Calgary on the money he makes working at the Keg, plus a little minor drug dealing on the side, that is.

The party happens like this.

One night, when Amanda's mother is away, she invites her friend Will (Daniel Ellis) over for a casual hangout so she can meet his shy boyfriend, Daniel (Jake Vanderham).

Unbeknownst to her, Ily has also asked over an old friend Tyler (Brian Solomon) and his new girlfriend, Kit (Nikki Duval) – or, rather, Tyler, a street kid who actually goes by the name of Mutt now we soon learn, has invited himself over.

That this accidental party will end in shattered friendships and bongs is apparent from the moment Tyler arrives on the scene, like a mutt in a head shop. He clearly has trouble with boundaries and, after a number of years now living in squats and on the streets, it seems he even has trouble with walls.

Designed by Patrick Lavender in a corner of Tarragon's studio space, this garage is so small, it could barely fit a compact car. When the swords start swinging or a bong-heating blowtorch comes out, you really hope – as an audience member, sitting feet away from the action – that the invisible third and fourth walls are going to hold up.

The Circle is a solid debut play by a guy young enough to genuinely remember being a teen – and Tarragon's Toronto premiere is similarly solid.

When I saw The Circle's initial production at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary last fall, however, I remember finding, amid the mayhem, some unexpected poetry. The hesitant, inarticulate speech of Brown's characters captivated me – for instance, in a speech, early on, where Tyler tells what he believes to be a hilarious story about shoplifting at a Sobeys:

So we go in

An we're like

Kay well shit

We're in Sobeys

So like Like whadda you steal fromma fuckin Sobeys?

An like

Steaks are prolly the mos spensive thing

Or like

Yeah So we pile our backpacks full alla these steaks.

At the Tarragon, playing this part, Solomon is a fascinating terror, giving a sneering, leering performance. I still felt pity for him, but I couldn't hear the poetry in his words this time, however.

Part of it is the pace: Pasyk's production of this one-act play begins with a song by the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord and continues on furiously to its shocking conclusion.

Looking back at my review of the Calgary production, I was astonished to find I'd described The Circle as "atmospheric." Here, easily 10 or 15 minutes shorter, it feels like a thriller. To me, all the lost hesitations and awkward pauses said something about the uncertainty and insecurity of being a teenager – and had a lot of humour in them as well.

Perhaps having just recently experienced the gloriously gawky and graceless reality of actual teen beings in Jordan Tannahill's similarly themed play Concord Floral, I found it harder to vibe with the twentysomething actors in teenage roles here – especially from two rows away, in an intimate theatre space.

Pasyk's production is a very polished thing – with some really neat design elements hidden in the set – but delivers too much bravado and not enough vulnerability.

The Circle continues to Nov. 27 (tarragontheatre.com).

Editor's note

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the part of Daniel is played by Brett Dahl. In fact, it is played by Jake Vanderham.