Short reviews of plays that have closed, all worthy of comment.

A Doctor’s Visit

Produced by The Chekhov Collective, the Page to Stage Theatrical Reading series. Played at VideoCabaret, 10 Busy Street, from Feb. 26-March 2, 2025.

www.thechekhovcollective.com

By Anton Chekhov

Written by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Rena Polley
Cast: Susan Coyne

 Rena Polley

 Brenda Robins

 David Storch

It’s always a rich adventure in stage-craft, acting and Chekhov to see one of the Chekhov Collective’s readings.

A Doctor’s Visit tells the story of a physician apprentice who travels outside Moscow to treat the daughter of a wealthy factory owner. Nothing appears to be the matter, until the family convinces him to stay the night. The doctor (a wonderful David Storch) is judgmental of the people in the house—from their looks to their attitudes to the fact that he feels the patient (an equally compelling Susan Coyne) should be married (she’s single). Attitudes change when the doctor and the patient kneel on the floor, look at each other, and quietly talk to each other.  

Rena Polley has directed with great sensitivity. This is more than a staged reading—the cast has mainly memorized the text. The space is used as are props. Wonderful. Be on the lookout for their next show by going to www.thechekhovcollective.com.

Big Ticket

At Theatre Kingston, Kingston, Ont. Played from Feb. 6-23, 2025.

www.kingstongrand.ca

Written by Jim Garrard

Directed and set by Rosemary Doyle

Lighting by Will Smith-Blyth

Sound and music by Richard Feren

Cast: Susan Del Mei

Reece Presley.

A world premiere. I went because Jim Garrard, a theatre pioneer, wrote it, and Rosemary Doyle directed it and invited me. Fine acting; space well used; but the script could use another pass because it’s confusing and contradictory.

David Morrison (Reece Presley) owns a towing company. He meets Annie Polito and brings her to his office—he seems to live there—to get ‘to know her better.’ She seems willing. He shows her around the small office including ‘the cage’, an enclosure made of chain link fencing. There is a desk inside the cage and a combination lock on the door of the cage.

Annie shows how willing she is to get intimate with David when she seductively takes off his clothes to his briefs then pushes him into the cage and locks the combination lock. Annie had ulterior motives for ‘coming on to David.’ It seems she has 100 parking tickets because the signage regarding the hours one can park is confusing. She has been towed four times, by David. And she’s going to get even with him. She sets fire to his beloved truck. She wants publicity for her cause. The police and fire department arrive.  She wants to speak to the mayor and the media.  

The story is confusing, murky and thin. Annie is in real estate.  She either wants to bring attention to the unfairness of parking laws or she wants people to be kind to each other. She fluctuates. At two hours with an intermission the story is thin and so is one’s patience to source the truth. While Rosemary Doyle uses the space well, there are too many obvious moments of eye-brow-knitting. When Annie is out of the room (bathroom) David climbs on the desk perhaps to try and escape but changes his mind. Why? There is no fenced in top to the cage. He can climb over easily and overpower her. He frantically works the combination lock almost to opening it, when Annie comes in the room and he stops. Yet he doesn’t continue to unlock it when she isn’t looking and there were plenty of times. Both Susan Del Mei as Annie and Reece Presley as David Morrison have a lovely rapport and acquit themselves well. Disappointing play though.

MONKS

Played live at the Theatre Centre, Toronto, Ont. that ran from Feb. 26-March 2, 2025.

Co-created and co-directed by Veronica Hortigűela and Annie Luján

MONKS was a hit at the Toronto Fringe and the Theatre Centre brought this irreverent clown show back to cheer us up during the dreary winter.

Veronica Hortigűela and Annie Luján play monks in a monastery. Both are named “Brother.”

Veronica Hortigűela has a uni-brow and Annie Luján has a droopy moustache that at one point takes on a life of its own. It’s an old gag—a moustache that becomes unglued. But Annie Luján is ingenious in working this ‘planned mistake’ by running her tongue over the unhinged part of the moustache to try and reconnect it.

The other monks have gone off for the day leaving these two to fend for themselves and watch the donkey grazing in the field. But first they engage with the willing audience; give out precious ‘bundles’ of dried lentils; asking a member of the audience to volunteer to participate in various endeavors, one of which is to re-attach the tail on the back of the donkey (Luján).

MONKS was silly, irreverent, deliberately rough in places, as a fringe show is, very funny and illuminates the beautiful chemistry between Veronica Hortigűela and Annie Luján. They are accomplished clowns and  improvisors, quick witted, poignant and a delight.

The programme didn’t include a link to any website for the duo, so just be diligent in seeking them out whenever they next play.

Fly Me To The Moon

Played at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, February 19 to March 2, 2025. Produced by Shillelagh Theatre Company.

Written by Marie Jones

Directed by Wayne Ward

Designed by Leslie Wright

Sound by Joe Taylor

Lighting by Mike Slater

Cast: Sarah Evans

Melee Hutton

Smart. Funny and a wild Irish story set in Belfast Northern Ireland. 2012.

Loretta (Sarah Evans) and Francis (Melee Hutton), are professional caregivers in Belfast. They both chatter in the bedroom of their client, while he’s in the bathroom. Both women dream of going on vacation to Barcelona but money is tight. Loretta’s husband is out of work. It’s tough. And the patient is still in the bathroom. He’s really quiet and doesn’t answer when Loretta yells through the door. She checks to see if he’s ok. He’s not. He’s dead. Panic. What to do? Call the police? Fire department? But his pension cheque is expected that day, and they deposit it in the account cause the patient is house-bound. And there is his winnings from the bookies. Who would know if they took the money for themselves?

Marie Jones has written a comedy that ratchets up the tension, complications and the laughs. Both Sarah Evans as Loretta and Melee Hutton as Francis bring a sparkling chemistry, an easy wiliness, and an irreverence to the story. These are two characters who just want to catch a break and the two fine actresses, easily win over the audience and make the play pop.  

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Live and in person at Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Ave. Toronto, Ont. Produced by Crow’s Theatre. Playing until March 30, 2025.

www.crowstheate.com

Written by Anusree Roy

Directed by Nina Lee Aquino

Set and Props by Jawon Kang

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Michelle Ramsay

Sound and composer, by Romeo Candido

Cast: Sahiba Arora

Afroza Banu

Sehar Bhojani

Michelle Mohammed

Muhaddisah

Prerna Nehta

Imali Perera

Anusree Roy

Zorana Sadiq

Mirza Sarhan

A gripping, provocative play about the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. A play and a production that will leave you breathless with its artistry, vision and fearlessness.

The Story. Playwright Anusree Roy writes what she knows. As a woman of South Asian descent, born in Calcutta, she knows about life in South Asia. She has written about that life in such plays as Pyassa, Letters to My Grandma, Brothel #9, Little Pretty & The Exceptional and Sultans of the Street, to name but a few.

She has written about the caste system; women duped into thinking they were offered work as a servant only to realize they were sold into a life in a brothel; and about the stigma of mental health issues in the South Asian community. All these plays are bracing, compassionate, and vivid.  With each play Anusree Roy has grown as a playwright, a thinker and a weaver of stories.

Trident Moon is a play that shows Anusree Roy at the top of her writing powers. It is astonishing. It takes place in 1947. The British partitioned British India by drawing a line on a map, creating the two independent countries of India, that was mainly Hindu and Pakistan, that was mainly Muslim. The results were tensions along religious and ethnic lines; violence and the displacement of millions of people. Trident Moon distills these huge political issues and places them in the back of a truck, initially holding three Hindu women and three Muslim women. The truck is being driven toward Hindu India.

The Hindu women are Alo (Anusree Roy), her sister Bani (Sehar Bhojani) and Bani’s developmentally delayed daughter Arun (Sahiba Arora).  She has initiated the kidnapping of the three Muslim women, Bani (Sehar Bhojani), Pari (Muhaddisah) and Heera (Prerna Nehta) tied their hands behind them and declared revenge because Pari’s husband was responsible for the death of Alo’s husband and two sons. In the pandemonium Bani was shot and is in severe pain.  Alo worked for the Muslim family as a servant. They looked down on her and her family as inferior and lower class. Because of the fraught political times three other women are taken into the truck: Sonali (Zorana Sadiq) a pregnant Sikh woman, Sumaiya (Afroza Banu), who has secrets about her nationality, and a young woman, Munni (Michelle Mohammed), who Sumaiya says is her daughter.

The Production. Jawon Kang has created a stark yet beautiful set. Floating down from the flies are curving swaths of elegant fabric, evocative of the material for saris or other national clothing from South Asia. On stage level is a floor leading up to the door at the back of the truck. Michelle Ramsay’s lighting creates a shaft of yellow light that bisects the space. The Hindu women, dressed in pale yellow, are on the stage right of the truck. The Muslim women in pale green are on the stage left of the truck.

For the first part of the play invective is hurled to the Muslim women on the other side of the yellow line, usually by Alo, played with fierce conviction by Anusree Roy. The Muslims return their own invective, usually by Pari, played with imperious disdain by Muhaddisah. A quibble here, I initially found Romeo Candido’s soundscape at the beginning of the production intrusive and overpowered the dialogue. There are a lot of characters on stage. It’s imperative we hear each clearly. The volume should be turned down a notch. It was fine and evocative for the rest of the production.  

As the play progresses, the invective hurled and returned, the focus of the ‘sides’ begins to blur. At times the wounded Bani lays across the yellow line. The tension in the truck increases in a steady pace as more and more credible complications arise. At one point all the women are confronted by a gun-wielding rebel named “Lovely” played with hair-trigger intensity by Mirza Sarhan who breaks into the truck to steal any money or jewels. He has to prove himself to his fellow marauders. The women subtly band together to thwart him. The fault lines shift.  

The production is beautifully directed by Nina Lee Aquino. Her attention to the slow and relentless building of tension keeps the audience engaged, holding their breath and gripping the arm-rest. There is an ebb and flow of the tension to give the play some breathing room. And through all the high drama of the confined situations, there is humour. It’s not easy and cheap. It’s earned and true. Playwright Anusree Roy captures the particular turns of phrases of her characters quirky speech patterns. Sumaiya, wonderfully acted by Afroza Banu, is a woman who thinks on her feet. She pleads to enter the truck on the journey dressed as one religious faction, but is really of the another. She has to win over both the Hindu and Muslim women in the truck. Her banter is quick-witted, irreverent but not insulting.  She is jokey, hilarious and always compelling. Afroza Banu as Sumaiya gives one fine performance. All the performances are dandy. The cast is a true ensemble.    

Trident Moon is a bristling, evocative play that encapsulates the rancor and cost of hatred, religious, ethnic and political intolerance all placed in the back of the truck with nine woman and one man representing the many and various sides of this explosive situation. Playwright Anusree Roy creates many twists and turns in her multi-faceted story, and not one of them are facile or sentimental. They are all earned.  Her characters are fully drawn and all have their own absorbing story. She has taken the huge, complex political division of two countries, and distilled it down to the human face of the partition.   

Comment. A symbol for India is the trident. A symbol for Pakistan is a crescent moon. Playwright Anusree Roy combined the two symbols to create the title of the play. Fitting and brilliant.

I saw a workshop of Trident Moon about 13 years ago. It was stunning then. I have waited impatiently as the play had its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre, in London, England in 2016 and a workshop at the Stratford Festival a few years ago, before an artistic director had the vision to program it here. Kudos to Crow’s artistic director, Chris Abraham for programing Trident Moon for his present season. It was so worth the wait. How lucky we are to have a playwright as gifted as Anusree Roy, who goes from strength to strength telling her stories with conviction, truth and profound artistry.  

Crow’s Theatre Presents:

Runs until March 30, 2025.

Running time: 90 minutes. (No intermission)

www.crowstheatre.com

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Live and in person at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Produced by Canadian Stage Company. Playing until March 16, 2025.

www.canadianstage.com

Written by James Ijames

Directed by Philip Akin

Choreographer, Jaz Fairy J

Set by Brandon Kleiman

Costumes by Ming Wong

Lighting by Andre du Toit

Projection design by Laura Warren

Sound by Jacob Lin

Cast: David Alan Anderson

Raven Dauda

Nehassaiu deGannes

Peter Fernandes

Virgilia Griffith

Tawiah M’Carthy

Tony Ofori

The Story.  James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer Prize winning play is a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set in the United States. It concerns a Black family. Juicy is in mourning for his dead father, Pap. He was murdered while he was in prison. Juicy is also reluctantly pulled into blowing up balloons for decorations for his mother Tedra’s second marriage to his uncle Rev. While Juicy is alone in the family’s backyard, he is visited by his father’s ghost who wants revenge. Pap tells Juicy that Rev was the one who arranged for Pap to be murdered in prison. Pap expects Juicy to revenge the murder. Juicy has other ideas. Expectations are one of the themes of the play.

The Production. The whole physical design of the backyard of this family home is eye-popping. Andre du Toit’s lighting is blazing bright suggesting it’s an eye-squinting sunny day. Brandon Kleiman’s has designed the colourful backyard with the modest back of the house. The balloons that are suspended over the green grass are almost neon in colour. There is a large table that will accommodate the family and friends for the dinner that will celebrate Tedra’s (Raven Dauda) and Rev’s (David Alan Anderson) marriage. A monster bar-b-q is off to the left of that. Rev will do the cooking on that machine.

Costume designer, Ming Wong, has dressed almost everybody in casual colourful clothes for this ‘happy’ occasion. Tedra, an exuberant performance by Raven Dauda, is dressed provocatively. This is a woman that is sexually charged and raring to go on her second marriage. David Alan Anderson as Rev is equally as game. The tactile, seductive body language is clear. Tedra and Rev were getting it on while Pap was in prison. David Alan Anderson as Rev is imposing, confident, intimidating and take charge.  Together Tedra and Rev give new meaning to the word ‘selfish’. They intend to pay for their celebrations and the renovations of the bathroom (Rev hates that it’s all pink), by using the money meant for Juicy’s tuition.

While playwright James Ijames has used Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a framework for Fat Ham, Ijames’ play goes in its own direction. Rather than being a play about seeking revenge by a brooding man, Fat Ham is a play about people hiding their true selves to conform to the expectations of others. In their more private moments various characters quietly confess their inner hopes to those they trust.  

Juicy, beautifully played by Peter Fernandes, is still the play’s center. He is the one in mourning—dressed in black: long black baggy shorts, black t-shirt and black shirt. He blows up balloons as a duty. He stands off from the action, observing the others. When the ghost of his father appears to him Juicy is not cowed by the command to seek revenge. He tells his father he is/was not a nice man. Pap didn’t treat Juicy well; always denigrating him for being ‘soft.’ So Juicy is faced with two dilemmas: to revenge his father’s murder and to reveal his true self.

Other characters struggle under the yoke of expectations. It’s expected that Opal (Virgilia Griffith), Juicy’s childhood friend, will be demure, dress in dresses and naturally marry Juicy. In reality Opal likes wearing pants and practicing martial arts. Virgilia Griffith plays Opal with a gentle sadness and a muscularity when kicking and punching her way through a martial arts routine. Larry (Tawiah M’Carthy) is Opal’s brother. He is in the military and looks strapping in his form-fitting uniform. He is the ideal, dutiful son, the pride of his mother. And he too has secrets. Tawiah M’Carthy observes the goings on with a contained grace and a hint of distain for the raucous activity. Some characters are allowed to flaunt their sensuality and behaviour while others have to keep parts of themselves a secret. With his sensitive, careful direction, Philip Akin gradually peels off the layers hiding in the characters and the play. Akin realizes the obvious humour but balances it with the more somber aspects of the characters. And there is danger lurking too, so the audience is often caught off balance.

Comment. Playwright James Ijames has created a bracing, inventive play that uses Hamlet as a framework, but is not affixed to it. He uses stereotypes that are bold; language that is irreverent and particular and humour that makes one laugh out loud. The play is both familiar and startling. Do you need to know the play Hamlet to appreciate Fat Ham? Not really, but knowing Hamlet adds a layer of knowledge that deepens the pleasure of Fat Ham.

A Canadian Stage Production

Plays until March 16, 2025.

Running time: 100 minutes (no intermission)

www.canadianstage.com

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Was live and in person at the Alumnae Theatre, Toronto, Ont. Produced  by Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions.  Closed Feb. 9^th.

Originally co-created by Cassel Miles and Charles Robertson.

Originally written by Charles Robertson.

Directed by Jim Garrard.

Starring Cassel Miles.

NOTE: Alas, time again got away from me. But I’m writing a comment long after the show closed at the Alumnae Theatre, because the story is important and I think the play should have another chance at production, but with a considerable re-write.

Josiah Henson (June 15, 1789 – May 5, 1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born into slavery, in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1830.

Josiah Henson had an incredible life. He was born a slave; suffered terrible abuse; was initially separated from his mother when he was young when she was bought by Issac Riley. Through a circuitous route Josiah’s mother’s convinced Issac Riley to also buy Josiah so the mother and young son were not separated, as long as the young son would work in the fields.

He did and proved to be good worker, an astute administrator, and rose to oversea Issac Riley’s farms. When Issac Riley had financial problems, he asked Josiah to take 18 slaves to Riley’s brother’s farm in Kentucky. Josiah and the other slaves walked the 700 miles from Maryland to Kentucky. Josiah was made aware that he could buy his freedom. He saved his money, but his owner was a creep and duped him. Then Josiah took matters into his own hands.

Cassel Miles is the co-creator of Josiah with Charles Robertson. Cassel Miles is also the co-producer with his partner Sandy McFadden; and Cassel Mile is also the star of this one person show. Cassel Miles has been fascinated with Josiah Henson’s story for years and this is his first opportunity to bring this important story to the stage.

I’ve been lucky to have seen a lot of Cassel Miles work as an actor. He was a fastidious, proud yet humble Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy for Drayton entertainment; a dignified Richard Pierpoint in the wonderful show Spaciousness at Fort York; an erudite, arrogant art expert in Bakersfield Mist in Kingston, and an engaging performer in Darktown Strutter’s Ball at Theatre Orangeville, that chronicled the involvement and artistry of Black performers in musicals/vaudeville/theatre etc.  Cassel Miles imbues his characters with an elegance, a courtliness and a gentle pride. This is especially true of Josiah Henson.

I was grateful to hear the story of such a fascinating character, but the play by Charles Robertson and the production need strengthening and tightening. At almost two hours with an intermission, Josiah seems slight. There are enactments of conversations that do not reveal anything or move the story along, making the piece seem padded. There is an intermission that stops any momentum. It should be cut. I feel the piece needs a re-write and with another playwright. Playwright Leslie McCurdy is more attuned to Black stories as she has shown in Darktown Strutter’s Ball and Things My Fore-sisters Saw. She knows how to tell an important story with efficiency, economy and emotional power.

In the play Josiah Henson was given tremendous responsibility when still a slave by Issac Riley, because Josiah was trustworthy and responsible. Issac Riley trusted Josiah Henson to take 18 slaves from Maryland to Kentucky. And Josiah did and didn’t escape. He delivered the slaves and then returned to the farm in Maryland when he continued being a slave.

The text has to clarify exactly what that means. We have a vision of a slave as confined, perhaps shackled, certainly mistreated. That does not seem to be the case with Josiah. The audience has to know what being a slave means to Josiah. Why didn’t he escape? The audience has to know. When Josiah learned he could buy his freedom, he was enlivened and was eager to buy freedom. Again, because of Josiah’s particular situation, we have to know what he thinks he is buying. Josiah’s idea of freedom is not clear. The last scene of the play is tremendously moving, but the whole play has to earn that scene and it doesn’t in this form.

Director Jim Garrard keeps the action moving on that bare set, with Cassel Miles gracefully navigating the stage suggesting the passage of time and distance. There is the frequent sound of a whip cracking the air. Early in the play when we hear that whip tear into a person, Cassel Miles as Josiah cringes and bows in pain as he is the victim of such abuse. We often hear that cracking sound later in the play without the character cringing. Why the change? True the character has a lot of latitude to move freely on that farm it seems, then why are we hearing the crack of a whip as often as we do, if it’s not applied to Josiah?

As Josiah moves around the space, Cassel Miles adds a tap-dancing movement to the jaunty walk. I thought that was wonderfully creating (one of Cassel Miles’s talents is that he is a dancer as well as an actor).

Very often Josiah wears a malleable hat or takes it off and puts it in his pocket. Other times he takes a large soft square of material out of his other pocket, folds it in various configurations to represent a deed, or an important paper, or a neckerchief or all manner of things. That square was also going into and out of his pocket. Both actions are too fussy. Cut both the hat and the square of material. Or just keep the hat on Josiah’s head throughout. Otherwise it’s endless business and distracts from the story.

Josiah Hanson’s story is inspirational, moving, unusual it seems and a study in tenacity. It is worthy of the strongest play and production to tell it. I hope the play is re-written and remounted in a stronger version. I would look forward to that.

Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions presented.

Production closed Feb. 9, 2025.

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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

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Live and in person at the Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ont. A Nightwood Theatre Production in association with The Howland Company.  Playing until March 8, 2025.

www.factorytheate.ca

Written and performed by Rachel Cairns

Directed by Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster

Production, Lighting and Projection Design by Julia Howman

Sound and composition by Cossette “Ettie” Pin

A deeply personal one-person show,  with a minutely rigorous exploration of the many issues surrounding the choice of actor Rachel Cairns to have an abortion, when she finds she’s pregnant, and is not emotionally or financially ready to be a parent.  

NOTE: I first saw this production at the Tarragon Theatre Extra-Space in 2023 when The Howland Company produced it. At the time when I reviewed it, I was struck by all the prodigious research writer-performer, Rachel Cairns did for the show. She had a sense of humour and what I thought was a disarming quality to draw the audience in. I thought positively about the production and considered the deep-thinking Rachel Cairns invested in the show.

Now, in 2025, the show is being remounted with Nightwood Theatre Company in association with The Howland Company. And in the second viewing, my observations and assessment of the show are not as accommodating. What changed? Well, the world for one. And so did I.

The Story. In 2019, just before Christmas, actor Rachel Cairns learned she was pregnant. She was careful but the IUD device she wore slipped and that compromised her protection. She wanted a baby eventually but not now. Her reasons were many: not the right time; she didn’t make enough money as an actor to bring a child into the world; what kind of a world would that be; what about the issues of climate change, etc. Her boyfriend of five years did not voice a strong opinion. It was her choice. Cairns was in Toronto when she got the news. She was going to Vancouver to see her mother over Christmas and needed to arrange the abortion to be done immediately in Vancouver.

The Production. The set (no credit-no programme to check) is a raised platform with a screen hanging down at the back, onto which will be projections (no credit there either) of facts, figures, graphs etc.  What follows is Cairns doing copious Google searches about the various questions about giving birth, abortions, etc. that bothered her. At times the bombardment of facts, figures, graphs and computer screen information projected on the screen, felt like information overload. The statistics of the number of women who have abortions; how some women can’t afford to raise a child; how some ethnicities do not have the choice.  Is that the point of Cairns and Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, her director, to put the audience right in the middle of Cairns’ fact-laden experience? Rather than forcing the audience to deal with all this information, perhaps a re-think on why they need to know all this information at all? It was important to Cairns, but being bombarded with all this information, alienates an audience.

In Vancouver, Cairns went to the doctor’s office with her mother as support. Cairns wondered why the room had to be so small and claustrophobic. She wondered why the pills she was given that would start the abortion process were so expensive. She wondered why she had to answer so many questions. She was upset that not once did her boyfriend call to see how she was or how the process was going.

I note in this second viewing how judgmental Cairns was about so many things and how so many things were questioned. Cairns was given some pills that would begin the abortion process. Cairns’ mother said that in fact she, Cairns, would go into labour because of the pills. We learn later in the show why her mother would know such details. True to the information Cairns doubles over in pain at the cramps (her word). Cramps are one thing—labour pains are something else. I wonder why Cairns doesn’t use the more accurate descriptor?

While Cairns began her solo show by focusing on the personal, she then broadened the scope of her observations by noting how lucky she was to have health-care and the means to make the decision while others: Indigenous women, disadvantaged women; women from other countries not as prosperous as Canada, do not have that advantage.

That said, Cairns notes an evening she and her boyfriend had when they went out with a Pakistani couple who were friends of her boyfriend. Cairns didn’t seem to check her privilege at the door. The couple had children. Cairns, taking on the voice of the Pakistani wife, calmly yet pointedly explained how culture and societal dictates present an entirely different situation for women. They don’t have a choice about having children; are under the thumb of their husbands, or might be abused. The speech was chilling because Cairns wasn’t aware of this inequity in this case.

Cairns explored the question of when life begins by having a kind of imagined debate with an on-line guru on abortion. It was extended, thought-provoking and even had the guru question Cairns about why she gave this person so much credence. The opening-night audience was roaring with laughter. I was aware of how stony-faced I was this time.

Again, what’s changed from the first viewing to this one? We have a huge neighbour to the south of us in which it’s illegal for any woman, it seems, to have an abortion. If a doctor in the States gives a woman an abortion, the doctor can go to jail if found out.

I saw a play in London, Eng. in August called The Years by Annie Ernaux. She is one of Frances’s most celebrated writers and won the Nobel Prize in 2022. The Years is a chronicle of a woman’s life (Ernaux) through the years, as played by five actresses of different ages; from her sexual awakening as a teenager, to marrying, having children, divorce etc. In one of those years she has an abortion. She is given pills and three days later she is crippled with labour pains. She is writhing and there is blood. The actress playing the one with the abortion stands up at the end of the scene, covered in blood, and the other actresses wash dry her off, almost like a ceremony. The scene is stunning. People faint.

I’m not comparing The Years and Hypothetical Baby, but The Years and any other play I’ve seen is at the back of my memory, hauled up for consideration. That’s the nature of experience and memory. This second viewing of Hypothetical Baby,  more than a year after I saw it the first time, left me underwhelmed. I can appreciate that Rachel Cairns and her director Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster chose to have Cairns race through the facts, figures and personal musings. I just don’t know why you would do that, unless to overwhelm the audience. This leaves few chances to let the play, the performer and the audience to breathe.

And Hypothetical Baby also made me think of Universal Child Care also produced a year or so ago by Nightwood Theatre Company, a show of facts, figures and statistics on child care around the globe. While both shows have a personal aspect to them, both shows seem more like lectures, perhaps even hectoring lectures, than theatrical endeavors.

Rachel Cairns is an accomplished Indie actress. Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster is also a gifted director who have done good work before. Rachel Cairns’s abortion has obviously been a huge point in her life. She has been working on Hypothetical Baby for five years….she keeps on adding statistics etc. it seems. What she doesn’t seem to have worked on is a viable ending to her show. Time to find that ending and move on.

Comment: There was no program. We could take a picture of the QR Code and that would get us to a digital program. I don’t bring my cell phone because we have to turn it off, so why bring it. I would like the company (who ever is producing) to provide a program. It can be one sheet of paper with the pertinent information. It can be a link somewhere on the website to the digital program (nothing was available like that). I was told by the theatre “we’re saving the planet.” HUH? Not providing a program saves the planet? Have you seen the state of the world lately? Providing a program will not doom us. It will inform your audience. Get a donor to underwrite the cost of the program. Thank you.

A Nightwood Theatre production in association with The Howland Company

Playing until March 8, 2025

Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

www.factorytheate.ca

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Live and in person at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Playing until March 8, 2025.

www.royalmtc.ca

Written by Paula Vogel

Directed by Kelly Thornton

Choreographer, Rachel Cooper

Set by Scott Penner

Costumes by Joseph Abetria

Lighting by Hugh Conacher

Sound by Justyn Stadnyk

Score and original music by Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva

Cast: Josh Bellan

Mariam Bernstein

Andrew Cecan

Amy Lee

Katherine Matlashewski

Dov Mickelson

Alex Poch-Goldin

Musicians: Shiloh Hiebert

Myron Schultz

Orit Shimoni

A beautiful, sensitive production of a bold play about art, resilience and passionate love.

The Story.  Indecent by Paula Vogel was first produced in 2015, opened Off-Broadway in 2016 followed by a Broadway run in 2017. It’s a play within a play.

Indecent is about Polish-Jewish writer, Sholem Asch’s 1906 play, God of Vengeance.  Sholem Asch wrote the play in Yiddish when he was 21. Paula Vogel focuses on the trials and tribulations God of Vengeance had from its first reading to productions in Europe, finally a production in New York, first Off-Broadway and then on Broadway, and the scandal from a charge of obscenity brought against the cast and the producer.

Asch wanted to write a play about Jews that did not put them on a pedestal or make them all seem like heroes. He wanted to depict them as flawed but also human. 

The story of God of Vengeance was challenging to the attitudes of the times.  A pious Jewish man lives with his wife and daughter, but he runs a brothel in the basement. He needs money to buy a Torah and he gets the money from the brothel.

He forbids his daughter Rivkele from having anything to do with the brothel or the women who work there. But Rivkele is fascinated with what goes on there and in particular a prostitute named Manke. Over time Rivkele and Manke fall in love and have a passionate relationship.

As for the play within a play–playwright Paula Vogel imagines Sholem Asch’s first reading of the play at a local literary Jewish salon and the reaction is almost all negative. The participants are appalled by the lesbian story-line; or think this perpetuates antisemitic stereotypes. Asch is told to burn his manuscript by the irate participants. Only Lemml a tailor, likes the play. He says the play changed his life. Lemml then becomes the stage manager, he is so connected to the play.

What follows is that Asch does not burn his manuscript. The play (in Yiddish) is produced all over Europe to great acclaim with Lemml being the stage manager. And then they take the play, in Yiddish, to New York, first Off-Broadway, then in an English translation to Broadway where the problems began.

The Production. Kelly Thornton has directed the production with sensitivity, care and detail.  The production of Indecent is simply designed by Scott Penner, with a few chairs and some tables across the stage.

The cast of 10–seven actors and three musicians—stand across the stage dressed in heavy coats, dig their hands in their pockets and then on cue, take the hands out of the pockets and drop sand/ash onto the floor. The cast sway slightly in unison as the sand/ash drops from their hands. It is such a subtle, elegant bit of business.   

The sand/ash could be representative of so many things for the audience, but the main reference line is ”from ashes they rise.” A beautiful metaphor for the resilience of the Jewish people through the first half of the 20^th century.

Projections help clarify and simplify the story.  Projections in English translate Yiddish lyrics to songs sung in the show.

When characters are performing in the play, God of Vengeance, the acting style is broad and over expressed, as might have been the style in 1906 etc. When characters are not performing in God of Vengeance, but are characters in Paula Vogel’s play, Indecent,  the acting is detailed, layered, subtle and nuanced. I love how director Kelly Thornton made that distinction of acting styles between God of Vengeance and Indecent which is referencing it. Also impressive is how Kelly Thornton’s melding of the three wonderful musicians and cast of actors in her staging, so that musician and actor are woven together, each serving the other. The music enhances the dialogue and the dialogue follows naturally from the music.

The Jewish New York producer for God of Vengeance was afraid of reactions to some scenes, specifically the scene when Rivkele (Katherine Matlashewski) and Manke (Amy Lee) are joyfully, lovingly dancing in the rain. The scene was cut because of its sexual nature. This outraged the two actresses who were playing those characters. Both Katherine Matlashewski as Rivkele and Amy Lee as Manke bring so much variation to their roles. Katherine Matlashewski as Rivkele is pious to her father but curious and shy to the women in the basement. But Rivkele is smitten by Manke, and here Katherine Matlashewski becomes bolder, yielding to the more sexually experienced and alluring Manke, beautifully played by Amy Lee.

The police arrested the cast and producer anyway on the charge of obscenity because of the play’s content. They were found guilty and the play closed. Sholem Asch (Josh Bellan) was asked to testify on behalf of his play and cast but refused. He had been to Europe and saw the results of pogroms and that sent him into a deep depression and he could not rouse himself to defend his cast and play. Perhaps most important, is that Sholem Asch was embarrassed by his lack of fluency in English. His abilities were halting at best.

As Sholem Asch, Josh Bellan was buoyant when showing his play God of Vengeance to his wife. He was also confident in his resolve to keep the faith about the play, and not to put Jews on a pedestal. He stared down the men who first heard the play who wanted him to forget the play. Later, Josh Bellan as Sholem Asch, was bent by the weight of the mean world he was living in. Explaining why he did not defend the cast because of his halting English, was heartbreaking.

As Lemml, Alex Poch-Goldin, was a simple tailor who discovered the joys of theatre when he heard God of Vengeance being read. When Alex Poch-Goldin as Lemml says his life was changed by that play, the declaration was earnest and compelling. The joy and exuberance of Alex Poch-Goldin as Lemml pulsed all through the performance. And when Lemml announced he was going home to Poland because he was sick of having people in America make fun of his accent, it was full of disappointment and was heartfelt.   

The cast is a cohesive, strong unit. Individually each actor is committed, nuanced, full of fierce conviction and brought the emotion of this bracing play to every second of the production.

Comment. Indecent certainly brings up all manner of questions regarding anti-semitism. I love the play and the ‘landmines’ all through it. These are tricky times, with the obvious rise of anti-semitism. Paula Vogel certainly addresses that when she has a character challenge Sholem Asch when he says he does not want to put the Jewish people on a pedestal and depict them as heroes. The character says that anti-semites will have another reason to pillory the Jews because of the play. Vogel makes one look cold-eyed at such a suggestion. How does one stare down anti-semitism? Does one try not to make waves, as Sholem Asch was told not to do?

Does one stir the waters as Sholem Asch did in God of Vengeance in which he wrote about a Jew as a brothel owner, lesbianism and love in many guises? How can anyone even begin to analyze and consider racism in any form? I love that Paula Vogel gets us to think about these thorny, challenging, difficult questions. At its heart, Indecent is a bracing, thoughtful multi-layered play so worth our attention.

(In a further note, on the world coming full circle. American actor, Morris Carnovsky was in the New York production of God of Vengeance playing a rabbi. Carnovsky would also be one of the founding actors of the Group Theatre, a hugely influential acting company in New York. In his later life Morris Carnovsky gave master classes in acting in Connecticut. One young actor who took classes with Carnovsky was Alex Poch-Goldin, who is now playing in Indecent, which references God of Vengeance.)

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

Playing until March 8, 2025.

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (no intermission)

www.rmtc.ca

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I’m interviewing Rena Polley, the Artistic Director of The Chekhov Collective and director of the reading of A Doctor’s Visit, by Chekhov, on Sat. March 1 at 9 am CRITICS CIRCLE, CIUT.fm 89.5

The show is playing at Video Cabaret on 10 Busy Street until March 2, www.videocab.com

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Live and in person at the Theatre Center, Toronto, Ont. Produced by Shakespeare BASH’d. Playing until February 23, 2025.

www.shakespearebashd.com

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Julia Nish-Lapidus

Sound by Matt Nish-Labidus

Lighting by Sruthi Suresan

Cast: Ori Black

Sofia Contal

Brittany Kay

Alon Nashman

Jesse Nerenberg

Adriano Reis

Asher Rose

Cameron Scott

Hallie Selin

Carson Somanlall

James Wallis

Arielle Zamora

A smart production with some interesting discoveries. I do have a few quibbles, but still a worthy production, and a wonderful performance from Alon Nashman as Shylock.

The Production. Director Julia Nish-Lapidus carries on the Shakespeare BASHd tradition of producing, smart, bracing, unfussy productions that put all their energies into producing Shakespeare’s plays in a clear way that reflects our modern world.

Initially this production of The Merchant of Venice is centered around the Shabbat ceremony. Various Jews gather around the table, kibbitzing. The ceremonial challah is in the center of the table. One person puts a thick, opened tome on the table.  The assembled await the arrival of the head of the table—Shylock. He arrives and is welcoming to all. He wears a head covering and a shirt with the tzitzit hanging down from the shirt. The candles are lit for Shabbat.  Prayers are said with care and respect. Someone misquotes the line from The Merchant of Venice: “All that glitters is not gold.” The correct quote is found in the tome and read: “All that glisters is not gold.” This is very telling since money factors so heavily in the play for so many people.

After that, the table is cleared except for the challah and the production of Shakespeare’s play begins.

Director Julia Nish-Lapidus directs with care and imagination. In the mask scene, when Lorenzo and his buddies went marauding through the streets of Venice wearing masks so they would not be recognized, the group grabbed at the challah on the table, tearing off pieces of it. Brilliant. It gave a sense of desecration—grabbing at a symbol of a holy Jewish ceremony, Shabbat.

When Shylock is decreed to live his life as a Christian, there is a gasp, as if the person didn’t know the play or what happens to Shylock. Love that gasp. A character knocks Shylock’s head covering off. Shylock is on his knees and then covers his head with his hand as a small gesture. He tries to assume some dignity.

Many actors in the production are accomplished and leading them is Alon Nashman as Shylock. He’s splendid. Shylock has to be careful in his dealing with Antonio, the merchant. So Shylock calmly weighs the conditions of what is being asked of him, initially by Bassanio, and then Antonio. When Antonio gets impatient with Shylock’s reviewing of the conditions, Shylock then reminds Antonio, calmly, of his bad treatment of him, because he is a Jew. Alon Nashman does not yell or lose his temper. He carefully reminds Antonio of his antisemitic behaviour. This is a refreshing change from other productions—Nashman is tempered, thoughtful and pointed.

Jesse Nerenberg as Antonio is confident, arrogant and composed. He brings Antonio’s arrogance to the role in clear sight. His desperation in the court when it looks like he has to forfeit his life, is gripping. As Bassanio, Cameron Laurie is stylish, courtly and charming. It’s easy to see why Portia would remember him.  

Hallie Seline as Portia also has the arrogance of a rich, pampered woman. And she is racist towards all the suitors. She is judgmental as well. While Seline is a fine actress, I found that she raced through her disparaging remarks towards all her suitors, except Bassanio, as if she (Portia) had practiced the speech. Hallie Seline would have been more successful in the speeches if she had paced their delivery with more purpose and nuance. The audience has to hear these speeches as well as get a sense of Portia’s sarcasm. When Portia was playing the young lawyer, Portia held the folded bond in her hand and didn’t peruse it frantically looking for the loophole in the bond (….”Not one drop of Christian blood”). I think this was a wasted opportunity. The audience has to see the quiet desperation of the searching and then see her find the loophole—Shylock actually gave her the clue.

I found Sofia Contal as Launcelot Gobbo so quick in the delivery and so full of over-played business and inflection, that the humour just dribbled away. Trust the words, don’t play the humour.    

Comment. Julia Nish-Lapidus’ production reveals so much about the play:

The Merchant of Venice is not antisemitic. It’s about antisemitism.

The play is about hatred and racism toward anybody who looks and acts different from the Venetians. Note Portia’s description of some of her suitors.

Shylock has few jobs open to him at the time of the play, money-lender being one. (tinker and tailor being the other two). Money is not the thing that drives him. Money drives Bassanio because he’s squandered so much of it. He doesn’t work for it. He borrows it from friends and then can’t pay it back. When describing Portia to Antonio, Bassanio mentions Portia’s money first (‘….she is richly left’) and then  mentions….”and she is fair.” )

When Jessica runs off with Lorenzo and takes Shylock’s money and jewels, Shylock says, “My daughter. My ducats.” His daughter is more important than the money. Quite a contrast from the greedy Bassanio.

Everybody loses in the play, but they don’t know it yet.  Jessica knows she’s made a mistake that only gets reinforced, by the way she is directed: being ostracized immediately, not being welcome readily by Portia, Antonio etc. and realizing what had to have happened to Shylock to make him give Lorenzo and her his money. Bassanio will blow through Portia’s money very quickly. Antonio will loose Bassanio, the love of his life. Shylock is the biggest loser, obviously.

It’s a play about antisemitism, racism, greed and meanness. It should be done somewhere in the world, every single day.

Shakespeare BASH’d presents:

Plays until Feb. 23, 2025.

Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes (1 Intermission)

www.shakespearebashd.com

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