Review: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine

(photo credit: Deanna L. Palazzo)

Ernest's Hammer

by Christian Baines

@XtianBaines

If you’re going to follow the well-worn theatre trope of a disintegrating – though possibly inescapable – relationship, told through an intimate two hander, you’d better find a fairly unique way to flesh it out. The Anger In Ernest & Ernestine rises to the task fairly well, setting its terminally flawed bliss within a self-aware ‘theatre home’ and using banal familiarity to create a sense of whimsy that instantly attracts us to the rather odd central couple.

Ernest is a sweet, well-organized and slightly uptight nebbish. Ernestine is more of a free spirit, for whom a messy life is one well-lived. Writer/director, Robert Morgan (co-writing with Martha Ross and Leah Cherniak) never pretends the course of this marriage will run smooth, illustrating petty annoyances between the pair from the get go. Where, for instance, is the ideal place in the room for a tissue box? And whatever did happen to Ernest’s hammer? 

The Story: Robert Morgan on 25 years of his The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine

Anger Explored and the Oh-Oh moment
by Robert Morgan

I was thrilled when it became apparent that I was going to create a show with Leah Cherniak and Martha Ross. They were the co-founders of Theatre Columbus and in my books and many others’ they were the brightest bees-knees in the business of theatre-making in Toronto… or anywhere else in the country.

That was about 27 years ago. I was working the bottom rung of the ladder of the biz in schools and church basements touring a one-man show called ‘Morgan’s Journey.’ They saw the play and liked it, in part because of its elements of clown so fundamental to their own work. They also liked the theme we came up with for our proposed new co-creation.