I and You not just a story about teens
I and You is much more than just a story about teenagers
I AND YOU When: Until April 29 Where: Globe Theatre Kelli Fox isn’t concerned about presenting a relatively new production, I and You, on Globe Theatre’s main stage.
Fox is at the helm as the director of the production that was written by Lauren Gunderson in 2013. Named as the winner of the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award in 2014, I and You has become a favourite of theatre companies, both professional and amateur, throughout North America in a very short period of time.
Despite these positive attributes, was Fox apprehensive about taking on such a new script?
“Absolutely not,” said Fox. “When I first came out to start my residency as an artistic associate in the summer of 2016, we were all given scripts to read that were being presented as the proposed 2017-18 season. I had a little pile of scripts at home and one day I was going through them and I picked this one up and started to read. I was engaged right away because the characters are interesting and engaging and it’s funny. After a while, I started to think, ‘This is really sweet,’ and you could see a love story developing and then I thought, ‘This script just feels better than this. This isn’t the whole story. There’s something else here.’
“I no sooner thought that when a turn happened in the story. All I can tell you is I just blubbered on the couch for 20 minutes.”
It’s that plot twist, which is guarded closely to avoid spoiling the surprise for audiences, that separates I and You from average dramatic presentations.
“In hindsight, when you look at how the story was built, you go, ‘Oh yes, it was all there, just in what wasn’t being shown to me yet, until the playwright wanted to reveal it.’ It’s very powerful,” said Fox.
The production, which runs through April 29, focuses on Caroline and Anthony, two high school students brought together through circumstances neither control. Caroline is homebound with a severe illness and Anthony is dispatched to her home to assist her with a homework assignment.
They are totally different people and while they struggle to move their assignment forward, they also realize there’s a deeper meaning to their connection.
I and You follows the musical Us on the Globe Theatre main stage schedule and although both productions focus on teenagers, Fox believes the differences between the productions provide enough separation for audiences.
“They’re wildly different plays and stories,” explained Fox. “One of the things that really attracted me to the script were these teenagers — they definitely sound like teenagers, those conversations, the things that come out of their mouths are very much teenage concerns, teenage obsessions but they’re also the version of teenagers that, for the large part, are young adults.
“They are smart teenagers. The questions they ask each other and the conversations that they force on each are huge and fascinating. They are the big questions that haunt you when you’re 17.”
Jenna Berenbaum (as Caroline) and Ngabo Nabea (as Anthony) are making their Globe Theatre debuts in the production and Fox feels quite fortunate to have them on board.
“They say 90 per cent of successful directing is casting and oh boy, have I got the cast on this one. They ’re the perfect pair,” said Fox. “You would never know that they only met each just a few weeks ago. They feel like old friends already. They’ve got terrific chemistry. They’re just gorgeous together.”
There aren’t any other actors in the production — everything with the play begins and ends with Berenbaum and Nabea and the characters they play.
“It’s all about them, all about the story they tell and getting engaged in their struggle,” said Fox. “I think people will be surprised by this piece. There’s no intermission, it’s an hour and a half straight through, but it moves like lightning.”
The production is also limited to one setting — Caroline’s bedroom — which could provide challenges when it comes to the staging. Yet Fox feels the one setting is reflective of the play itself.
“It’s an interesting thing. I’ve had a chance to do a lot with this stage, after a few passes at it, and this feels, at the same time, like the least and the most when it comes to staging.
“Just like the play itself, everything this is deceptively simple yet always operating on more than one level,” Fox said.
Joining Fox on the creative team are Laura Gardner (set and costume designer); Itai Erdal (lighting designer); Gilles Zolty (sound designer); Rebecca Donison (assistant director); Liz Campbell (stage manager); and, Jeneva Moxon (assistant stage manager).