Live and in person at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Ont. Crow’s Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre Company present: The Master Plan runs until Jan. 5, 2025.
Written by Michael Healey
Adapted from the book “Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy” by Josh O’Kane
Directed by Chris Abraham
Set and props by Joshua Quinlan
Costumes by Ming Wong
Lighting by Kimberly Purtell
Sound by Thomas Ryder Payne
Video by Andrea Scott
Cast: Christopher Allen
Ben Carlson
Philippa Domville
Tanja Jacobs
Michael Healey
Rose Napoli
Mike Shara
An impassioned remount with a few cast changes that are all committed.
The Story. The Master Plan by Michael Healey played last year at Crow’s Theatre and was a huge success. It’s being remounted this year only this time at Soulpepper in collaboration with Crow’s and with some new cast members.
It’s based on the book “Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy” by Josh O’Kane, a reporter with the Globe and Mail. Crow’s artistic director, Chris Abraham, loved the book and asked playwright Michael Healey to adapt the book into a play. The book is full of politics and it’s right up Michael Healey’s alley.
The Master Plan is a kind of political-thriller-David vs Goliath comedy drama involving slick operators from New York City backed by Google, vs the hard-working, by-the-book civil servants in Toronto, who try to keep up with the shenanigans.
Larry Page was one of the young creators of Google—a monster of a search engine. What Page dreamed of was to create the perfect self-sufficient city using high tech to create automated vehicles, efficient waste management, sidewalks that don’t need shoveling because they would be heated to melt the snow and an efficient rapid transit system—that’s not an oxymoron.
A subsidiary of Google was formed called Sidewalk Labs to work on this project. Sidewalk Labs was headed by Dan Doctoroff, a slick operator from New York City.
In 2017, Waterfront Toronto, which was the Toronto organization responsible for the development of the waterfront, approached Sidewalk Labs to develop 12 acres of underdeveloped waterfront to fulfill the experiment.
Dan Doctoroff came to Toronto with his shined shoes, smart suit and $50 million to get things rolling. It was thought that the scheme for Toronto could then be marketed to other cities around the world and Sidewalk Labs would rake in the money.
Things did not go smoothly. After three years of squabbling, misunderstanding on the part of Sidewalk Labs about how Waterfront Toronto works, miscommunication, mishandling of details, and secret backroom deals, it fell apart in 2020. Globe and Mail reporter, Josh O’Kane wrote about the details of the scheme and the eventual debacle for two years. It resulted in his writing a book about it.
It’s interesting to see the slick and aggressive ways the New York movers and shakers approached the project vs the careful, collaborative and by-the-book ways the Canadians worked. Playwright Michael Healey can dissect a situation for its truth and also find the humour if not jokes, then satiric situations.
It’s a story full of facts and figures as one would expect a play about politics, development and the involvement of various levels of government. Added to that are the many and various participants with their own agendas, concerns and attitude toward the project. The thing that’s intriguing about it is the tug of the rope with one side wanting to cut corners in the process—the New York contingent—and the Canadians who go by the book. It’s fascinating to see the backbiting politics of the process; the maneuvering; the games playing. So yes, it’s full of facts and figures which can be dry. But they are presented by different personalities, often volatile, fighting for their argument and the need to win. That makes the piece dramatic and even theatrical.
The Production. While every production of a show is different, this remount production, with a few cast changes, is similar to the production last year at Crow’s Theatre. The play is the same but there are cast changes and the configuration of the set is the same but seems to be smaller to accommodate the space, or it seems to me.
The audience sits on four sides of the playing area designed by Joshua Quinlan, who also designed the props. When the audience enters there is an expansive model of wood configurations on a large table. One assumes this is the model of the ideal city.
Eventually the model is removed and characters sit at the table with their laptops, cell phones and other necessities. The floor of the stage is composed of octagonal shaped pieces that fit together and can be easily removed if one of the pieces wears away.
Suspended above the playing area is a frame on which is projected information, facts, headlines, timelines, meetings, maps, the area of the waterfront at stake and other areas that Sidewalk Labs wanted. There is also a running tally of the many and various people on boards, in jobs and positions that are constantly shifting. The use of tech is impressive. At every turn you are bombarded with projected stuff. Kudos to Amelia Scott, the video designer for amassing such an array of videos.
The play is loaded with dates, meetings, facts, figures, reports, information and lots and lots of people being ignored while the folks in charge are running roughshod over everybody. I think director Chris Abraham does a brilliant job of realizing the dense, dizzying accumulation of facts, fiction and misinformation that went on over that time. He has directed his stellar cast to deliver the information with conviction, urgency and a sense of absolute importance. The cast that is always on the move, lobbing information at us as well.
The blending of the new cast members with the original cast is seamless. Each one is inventive in their own way. A novel addition is that playwright Michael Healey, who wrote the play, is also an actor in the production. He plays the narrator and a tree that was slated to be chopped down. Healey has a fascinating sense of humour and throws it into the mix expertly, although I found he sounded a big hoarse and forced in his delivery.
Mike Shara plays Dan Doctoroff, the CEO of Sidewalk Labs. Doctoroff never met a back room he didn’t like for his secret deals. Mike Shara plays Dan Doctoroff in a tailored suit, shined shoes and the most understated polka dot socks. He could not understand the Canadians with their adherence to rules, public town halls for the public’s input and process. Mike Shara plays him with charm and a penchant for thinking quickly on his feet.
He is matched by Ben Carlson as Will Fleissig, of Waterfront Toronto who remembered exactly what was said and not. Fleissig’s control of information and the facts are always at odds with the seat of your pants thinking of Dan Doctoroff. Ben Carlson plays Will Fleissig as tempered, contained and anxious to be accommodating. Philippa Domville, Tanja Jacobs and Rose Napoli play various parts and bring their own imagination and creativity to the many and various characters they play. Christopher Allen as Cam Malagaam continues to provide the heart to the story. Cam was really committed to the project because he felt it would be good for mankind. He was always trying to do good. Christopher Allen was heartbreaking when he realized the dream of this project was finished.
Director Chris Abraham has re-directed this with a strong sense of style and movement. I do think that the production seemed shouty at times. Lots of lines are pushed to give a sense of urgency, so the actor sounded strained. However, I think the play is a huge accomplishment. It’s tempting to be overwhelmed with the information. Don’t. Look at the larger picture…how it pertains to the whole. The play and the production are worth the effort.
Crow’s Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre Company present
Plays until Jan. 5, 2025.
Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes (1 intermission)