Berner’s design for success

DANIEL MATÉ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

By the time Toby Berner was out of high school, he had already cut his teeth as the youngest-ever member of Vancouver TheatreSports, Vancouver’s premier
improvisational group. The Vancouver actor, who is currently starring in Rock Paper Scissors’ production of Noel Coward’s Design for Living, recalls that while he enjoyed the spontenaeity of improvisation, he longed to hone his craft in a more well-rounded way.

“I was good at one thing, which was comedy,” he said. “Improv has a lot to do with skimming over the surface of a character. At the time, I knew I was scared of emotion and real feeling onstage.”

Berner soon entered the Studio 58 acting program, which he said was gruelling and very much worthwhile.

“It was the exact right thing for me to do,” he said.

Even if solely on the basis of his resumé since graduating five years ago, it’s hard to disagree with him. He’s drawn plenty of positive attention to his work, including a shared Jessie nomination for the improvised musical Blankety-Blank-Blank, which he plans to remount at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre later this year. He’s also been a part of several shows for school-aged children, including the acclaimed high school play Rocks that recently toured British Columbia and Ontario.

Berner smiles broadly when asked about Chutzpah Live!, a one-hour show created over one week and performed at last month’s Chutzpah! festival at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC). It followed three unhappy people and their guru as they search for “inner chutzpah” in a popular self-help course.

“It was a monumental achievement, I think,” he said. “Over five days, we created a show that was not only funny, but touching as well.”

Berner enjoyed the chance to do a show in his “old stomping grounds”; he used to frequent the JCC for swimming and basketball as a child. “This show was a chance to connect with an audience on a Judaic level, which was just great,” he added.

In Design for Living Berner plays Leo, the role that Coward originally wrote for himself. Leo obsesses over success in two areas of his life: the critical reception of his popular but insipid plays, and his quest to win the love of his life, the interior designer Gilda. For Berner the actor, success is closer to home.

“Success to me is what I’m doing right now: making my living as an actor, since that’s really the only dream I’ve ever had,” he said. “When this play does come around, it’s so coveted that the roles usually go to the top or most experienced actors. I’m very grateful for this chance.”

Design for Living, which premièred on Broadway in 1933, was Coward’s ode to unorthodox love. It was frowned upon in its day for its portrayal of a love triangle between two men and a woman. Today, the play still packs a punch, suggesting that the magic number might, for some folks, actually be three and not two. Coward’s ease with language and passion for the subject make for a sharp-tongued and passionate verbal feast.

The stars of this production – Berner as Leo, David C. Jones as the painter Otto and Nicole LeVasseur as Gilda – are all outstanding physical actors. Their movements exude the egotism and idleness of these pompous, nouveau-riche artists. Early on in the show that I saw, only Jones seemed truly relaxed with the intricate, rapid-fire text and British accent; the other two actors seemed tense, perhaps overeager to be understood by the audience. As a result, the dry wit of the text threatened to come across as shrill hysteria instead of familiar, knowing irony.

However, as the plot’s tension catches up with their initial energy, all three rise to the challenge wonderfully. Jones’ and Berner’s work together in Act II, as Otto and Leo discover their love and need for each other over a decanter of sherry, is a highlight.

Complementing the fine work of the leads is an excellent supporting cast who are left largely to stare in befuddlement or contempt at this menage-à-trois. By the climactic third act, I was fully caught up in this whirlwind of ego and emotion, and left thoroughly entertained. Make sure you pop over to the North Shore before this fun and challenging show runs its course.

Design for Living runs until April 20 at Presentation House Theatre, 333 Chesterfield Ave. in North Vancouver. For information, call 604-990-3474.

Daniel Maté is an actor, musician and freelance writer living in Vancouver.

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