Martyr – Review of Aki Studio Production of Mayenburg’s Play

Martyr is an outstanding and tantalizing play that receives a riveting production by ARC. It is jaw-dropping theatre at its best and and something that you should see.
A few words about the plot without providing any spoilers. Benjamin Sinclair is a troubled and obnoxious teenager. His behaviour may be excused as growing pains but he soon reveals that he is a deeply religious youth who displays a thorough knowledge of the Old and New Testaments. Deeply religious is a polite way of saying that he is an extremist, a fanatic and other even less flattering words.
He has a moral code that is based strictly on the Bible and he has specific references for all his convictions. A few examples may suffice. He considers that swimming with girls in the school’s swimming pool where some of their flesh is visible, is a mortal sin and against what the Father that sent him wants.
His mother is divorced and and has a relationship with a man, therefore she is an adulteress and is living in sin. Biblical reference provided. She will be judged and thrown in the burning fires of an eternal hell. Women are inferior beings. Homosexuals are an abomination and must be killed as instructed by the bible. He wants to die for Christ and all churches should be destroyed as instructed by the gospels.
Love for and obedience of Christ takes precedence over everything including love, even respect for parents. We are on earth as warriors for Christ and killing disbelievers without mercy is laudable.
The apogee of these views is reached when Benjamin decides to kill his teacher Erica because she is, perhaps, Jewish. He instructs his friend George on how to kill her. I repeat, all is done strictly in accordance with scripture that he quotes.
The plot is developed through deftly constructed confrontations among the characters. Clashes between Benjamin and his distraught mother, a divorcee near the end of her rope. The clashes with the science teacher Erica White who is the voice of reason and the counterweight to Benjamin’s religious fanaticism. Her relationship with husband Marcus Dixon (Richard Lee) provides an interesting sidelight.
His fellow students Lydia (Charlotte Dennis) and George (Adriano Reis) provide interesting insights into Benjamin’s character and convictions. Lydia is the temptress who offers carnal pleasure; George has one leg shorter than another, is promised a miraculous correction of his problem and becomes Benjamin’s disciple and undertakes to murder Erica.
Dexter Menrath (Ryan Hollyman), a Pentecostal vicar, sees a kindred spirit in Benjamin and wants to recruit him to the pursuit of evangelical preaching but is rebuffed by Benjamin.
The play is performed on a raised platform in the small AKI Studio. The actors sit at opposite sides of the playing area when not on stage and the audience is on the other two sides. This is intimate, engrossing and riveting theatre.
Nabil Traboulsi plays Benjamin, the troubled youth who becomes a religious martyr or a religious fanatic, depending on your proclivities. It is a tough and demanding role but Traboulsi handles it with extraordinary acting ability. Memorizing swaths of lines from the Bible is an added bonus for the audience and an achievement for him. I thought I was getting a crash course on biblical references in a wide range of issues.
Aviva Armour-Ostroff plays Erica White, Benjamin’s teacher, who tries to deal with a boy whose literal belief in the bible could make a martyr of any rational being. (You will have to decide who the martyr of the title is for yourself). Erica in Armour-Ostroff’s hands is intelligent, well-spoken and rational but she does not stand a chance against the irrational fulminations of Benjamin. A stunning performance.
Ryan Allen as Willy Belford the headmaster of the school presents a wishy-washy, stupid academic who tries to please everyone and succeeds in looking more incompetent every time he opens his mouth. An excellent job by Allen.
Deborah Drakeford as Benjamin’s mother Ingrid is a woman driven to distraction by her son. She is looking for a solution to her son’s conduct and blames the others for not finding one. Kudos to Drakeford for an amazing performance.
Ryan Hollyman plays Dexter Menrath, the Pentecostal vicar who thinks he has found a kindred spirit in Benjamin who can go out and practice his considerable talents as a preacher. He offers sanctimonious cliches and prayer as becomes his calling and Hollyman gives a fine performance in the role.
Director Rob Kempson does an admirable job in maintaining a brisk pace and staging a play on an empty platform with spectators on both sides.
Marius von Mayenburg is a prolific German playwright with some 17 plays to his credit. Martyr premiered in Berlin in 2012 and was produced in London, England in 2015. This production by ARC is its Canadian premiere.
Martyr by Marius von Mayenburg, translated by Maja Zade, in a production by ARC continues until January 29, 2023, at the Aki Studio, Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St E. Toronto, ON M5A 2B7. www.arcstage.com