Live and in person at the Factory Studio Theatre, Toronto, Ont. A PRESSGANG Production in Association with Factory Theatre. Playing until March 30, 2025.
Written and directed by Graham Isador
Lighting consultant, Trevor Schwellnus
Sound and composition by Ron Kelly
Cast: Craig Lauzon
Ellie Moon
Tim Walker
Playwright Graham Isador knows how to read the future. He began writing his play Truck ten years ago, envisioning a world with driverless trucks. (Perhaps this was before Elon Musk thought of a similar idea, and obviously before he thought of how to keep the bumpers on).
The truckdrivers of the Edison Trucking Company are on strike. They want better pay and longer sick leave. While there seems to be a joint effort of the strikers, the head of the strike is Nathan Dalton (Tim Walker giving a take control performance). Nathan Dalton’s striking colleague is Alan Moxley, played by Craig Lauzon giving a fine performance as a fretful, insecure man who just wants to work and take care of his fractured family—he’s separated from his wife and daughter. The Edison Trucking Company is not budging in its efforts to stiff the workers. The company is represented by Jamie Baker, played by Ellie Moon, giving a bristling performance of a woman who is as devoid of moral character as she is of concern for anything other than the corporate bottom line.
Playwright Graham Isador has created a production that is spare in props/set pieces, and rich in sound (kudos to Ron Kelly for the sound design and composition) and plot twists. Graham Isador keeps the audience guessing where the twist will lead to next. At the center is Alan Moxley who just wants to do the right thing. Alan is being ‘played’ from various sides. He knows it. He is coerced into giving a compromising speech. He struggles to deal with it. We are led to believe he has found his own way to resolve the situation but that is not entirely clear in the end. The speech becomes something else entirely different. The text could do with a bit of tweaking to strengthen the final result. Graham Isador has written a play he began ten years ago that envisioned a future that is frighteningly our present.
A PRESSGANG Production in Association with Factory Theatre present:
Playing until March 30, 2025.
Running time: 60 minutes (no intermission)
www.factorytheatre.ca