Live and in person at Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, Ont. A co-production with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Playing until March 8, 2025.
www.theatreaquarius.org
Written by Nick Green
Directed by Andrew Kushnir
Set and costumes designed by Joshua Quinlan
Sound design and composition by Ashley Au
Lighting design by Logan Raju Cracknell
Cast: Sharon Bajer
Noah Beemer
Alicia Johnston
Gloria Mampuya
Gregory Prest
Catherine Wreford
A deeply moving, cathartic play about living and hoping with AIDS. As the patients in a hospice wait impatiently for a visit from Princess Diana, in seven days.
The Story. The play takes place in Casey House, a specialty hospice in Toronto caring for people with Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV AIDS). This was before the cocktail of drugs was discovered that could control AIDS and prologue the life of those infected with AIDS. At that point there was nothing to be done but make the patient feel comfortable until they inevitably died.
One such patient is Thomas. He has been at Casey House for five months and he is nearing the end. But the patients have been told of an upcoming event that changes their lives—a royal visit from Princess Diana. Thomas is buoyed by the prospect of the visit. He is ready to meet her.
The Production. We are told at the end of the production there is a comfort room/quiet room should a person need it.
Joshua Quinlan has designed a comfortable looking room with two beds. There is a vibrant coloured bed covering (quilt?) on each bed. There is a window up center that can be opened or closed behind one of the beds. This is Thomas’s (Gregory Prest) bed.
The other bed is by the stage right wall, perpendicular to it. There are two chairs in the room.
At the top of the production, Thomas (Gregory Prest) is lying in bed. There is a lesion on the side of his head. A woman in a pink suit (skirt and jacket) stands downstage, her back to us, looking up stage at Thomas. The tilt of the head conveys unmistakably that it’s Princess Diana (Catherine Wreford). She is formally introduced to Thomas by a nurse, Vera (Gloria Mampuya).
As Thomas, Gregory Prest sits up in his bed, delighted to see this icon he has revered since she came on the scene to marry into the royal family. He puts out his hand but it’s not clear if he means to shake her hand, from the position of it, or if he wants to touch her. He realizes this might be too forward. He says with a hint of hope, “I heard you touch people.” The point is of course that people hesitated to touch a person with HIV AIDS. Diana goes towards him without hesitation and shakes his hand firmly and holds it. She bends down at the knees, beside his bed. It’s a moment of stunning kindness and humanity. She then sits on the bed, beside him, not facing him—the audience won’t see her face, otherwise.
Thomas breathlessly tells her about her wedding day, in great detail. It’s a speech filled with the joy of the event and the recall of the details of the dress, the crowds, her poise. It’s a speech that goes on and on, to the point that I wonder if she will get a word in edgewise. But of course, patience is needed for playwright Nick Green to lay out the play; to recollect memories; to wonder if this is real or imagined. While Gregory Prest conveys Thomas’ joy at meeting Diana, the prevailing sense of this performance is anger and intensity that this is happening. The proximity of Thomas’ sister Pauline is reason enough, but add to that, that he is sick and not getting better.
For the recollection, Catherine Wreford as Diana, calmly listens to Thomas’ memory. She says little but when she does, it’s with a gentle English accent, total concentration of what he is saying and tremendous care.
The play moves back and forth during that time when the news that Diana is set to visit Casey House. I love the subtle use of language here. Someone says that Diana will be there in a week and will visit the rooms of each patient. Vera corrects the person and says she will be there in seven days. The distinction is subtle but profound. The number of days gives the patients something to hold on to; to tick off on a calendar as the days go by; to note they lived one more day until they could meet her. The impending visit had a great effect on the patients of Casey House. They rallied; took care to shave and be clean; to move; to hope. Stunning.
Sharing Thomas’ room is Andre (Noah Beemer) an angry, unsettled young man who has just arrived and is fearful his mother will find out. Noah Beemer gives a nuanced, multi-layered performance as Andre. Vera is a matter-of-fact nurse and is beautifully played by Gloria Mampuya. She is all business but is compassionate. She has been at this job for a long time and knows how fragile emotionally the patients are. We know about a character by what they say, what they do, and by what people say about them. We see how controlled and caring Vera is. Later Thomas says that Vera is the best nurse there. We have to see that in Gloria Mampuya’s performance, and we do.
Contrasting her is Marjorie (Sharon Bajer) a cheerful volunteer who blurs the lines between being helpful and breaking the rules to be compassionate. One gets the sense that Marjorie is also needy to be wanted. Rounding out the cast is Alicia Johnston as Pauline, Thomas’ estranged sister. She said hateful things to him as a gay man. For much of the play she won’t touch him. She asks the questions one might ask today: why is her brother still in Casey House five months after moving in? Why can’t he come and live with her and have her take care of him? (a horrible thought). What Pauline doesn’t understand is that at the time there was no cocktail of drugs to prolong an HIV patient’s life. If one went into Casey House they generally were not coming out. As Pauline, Alicia Johnston frustrated and angry in her own right. She is being shunned by her brother and doesn’t quite get it. Alicia Johnston creates a sense that Pauline is wounded in her own right. She is blinkered, often homophobic and clueless about what her brother is going through.
In a moving scene the personas of the compassionate Princess Diana and Pauline who finds her own compassion, meld and comfort Thomas, holding his hand.
Director Andrew Kushnir has used the space of this small stage beautifully. He has ensured that every person in that audience sees every moment without obstruction. There are chairs located in the room, but they are rarely used, because the visitors sit on the bed or stand close to it, indicating that the visitors care deeply for these patients.
Comment. When I first saw another production of Casey and Diana at the Stratford festival two years ago, I wondered why the play was written 33 years after this event. I recall the sound of sobbing during that production. The play gives those who were touched by that event (and we all were to some extent), closure. Thirty-three years after this event playwright Nick Green has written a play that celebrates the patients who just wanted a little dignity as they came to the end of their lives; the nurses who tended them as best they could and the volunteers who brought their own reasons for being there to help. It’s cathartic for people who lost loved ones.
I heard sniffling on the opening night at Theatre Aquarius as well. Be prepared and bring Kleenex.
Theatre Aquarius in a co-production with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre present:
Plays until March 8, 2025
Running time: 2 hours, approx. (1 intermission)
www.theatreaquarius.org