by Shannon Lintott
**Richard Ouzounian from the Toronto Star gave it 3.5/4 stars**
**The Globe and Mail’s J. Kelly Nestruck – 3 out of 4 stars**
Directed by Piper Laurie, written and starring Jim Brochu, Zero Hour is not only the story of one American artist who suffered set backs at every turn, but about a time when art and artist were being questioned at every turn by the government and the nation because of McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklist.
From a painter, to a comedian and Broadway to the big screen, Zero Mostel was an artist by every standard and Jim Brochu filled every corner of this character. He was the painter, he was the comedian and he was, most importantly, the story teller. He was able to captivate and humour the audience while creating the rollercoaster ride of a story that was Zero’s life on stage.
I enjoyed the simple nature of the set and found it was the perfect backdrop to the script as this is really all about the words and not about the setting.
The mix of history and personal drama was the key into giving the audience a bird’s eye view of the life Zero Mostel lived. While some of the jokes and reference went far over my head, either due to age or lack of knowledge, I found that when I left the theatre that I had gained a better understanding of what artists like Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Arthur Miller and Zero Mostel had to go through in order to do what they loved most – art.
Win a pair of tickets to the show which runs at the Bathurst Street Theatre in Toronto until March 11, 2012. Contest closes February 23, 2012.
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Shannon Lintott works in production at a professional theatre company in Toronto. A recent graduate of the Ryerson Performance Production BFA program, she spends her free time exploring the internet, taking photographs, reading or writing on one of her numerous and addictive websites. The majority of her time is spent watching movies and reviewing them on her movie review blog I Like (good) Movies. Follow Shannon on Twitter.