Reality is split in two in Duplicity Girls, a thought-provoking new play that will leave you with unanswered question and a desire to find the answers.
Duplicity Girls is a two woman play about constantly bickering sisters, though the play leads you to believe that they are two personalities of the same person, with a Freudian twist. Isobel is the conservative, sarcastic, super ego who is stuck in a rocking chair and bitter about every aspect of her life. Perdita, is the bubbly, outgoing id who is free to do what she wants.
Directed by Tanner Harvey and written by Ned Cox, Duplicity Girls is an intellectual play that requires some audience participation. The inspiration for the play came when Cox first met Paula Costain, who plays Perdita. Cox heard that Costain and actress Johanna Nutter, who plays Isobel, looked very much alike. “They often get mistaken in auditions,” said Harvey.
The play opens with Perdita walking into the sisters vintage home. Exploiting the opportunity to have great use of the small room, the audience is dragged into the action and the argument. Viewers are forced to turn their heads from left to right, along with Isobel who is sitting in a chair, as Perdita stomps from the living room to the kitchen and back again as the sisters argue about various subjects. In such a small space, the action is pronouced and vivid.
The hour-long play depicts the sisters’ fight for control and questions whether someone who is unable to move from a sitting position can have power over a person towering over them. Sibling rivalry turns to a conquest of each other’s minds, as they quarrel to the point that neither knows who is “crazy one.’
The fight that sparks off all the others is when the sisters begin to drink. The clocks chimes and they both yell “that would be martini time!” The audience roars with laughter as the two women battle between who gets the onion and who gets the olive. In the end, Perdita won over the olive, starting yet another argument between the sisters. “In the depths of your duplicity you were rolling that olive around your mouth…and then you…swallowed it!” Isobel yells in utter surprise and disgust.
Talking about their childhood memories, of which Isobel’s character has no recollection, the two behave like children. Perdita jumps up and down as she joyfully recounts their trips to the beach while Isobel sulks sourly.
“Three minute rule,” declares Perdita at one point, popping a cookie in her mouth. “No, it’s the three second rule,” drones Isobel, rolling her eyes as Perdita spits it out.
The play is a constant tension between the sisters, until eventually one of them gives way.
Never mentioning each other’s names, it was hard to distinguish one sister from the other, effectively creating a sense of duplicity in the battle of identity and confusion. It is a battle between the super ego and the id more than between two sisters. Unable to completely identify with either character, the audience is strained to look inwards and decide who they would rather be.
Confused and can’t figure out who is who? You should be.
Duplicity Girls plays at the Freestanding Room, 4324 St-Laurent, tickets are $15 (cash only).