Two sides of a sister
Sara Farb’s play R-E-B-E-C-C-A is about the actor-writer’s disabled younger sibling and the one who might have been
When actor-writer Sara Farb was 6, she eagerly awaited the birth of her baby sister, Rebecca.
“I spent days imagining what she would be like, the games we’d play, the fun we’d have together,” says the vivacious Farb backstage at Theatre Passe Muraille where her play about her sister, R-E-B-E-C-C-A, starts performances on Thursday.
But Rebecca was born seven weeks early and as the months went by, it became clear she was severely developmentally challenged with autistic tendencies.
“To this day, we don’t really know if the fact she was premature was the cause of her developmental problems or if they were already there inside. All I know is that it changed everything for us,” says Farb.
“Her eyes were jiggly at 6 months, Then at 14 months, she started seizures; they were constant. At first they weren’t that dramatic but, as she got older, she would make terrible noises deep in her throat before they started and afterwards she would just crawl around on the floor, dragging her legs behind her.
“It was a nightmare.”
Farb makes it very clear, however, that Rebecca has brought far more sunshine than shadow into her existence.
“She’s someone who has always been a constant source of joy to me. I think because her childhood lasted so long — well, she’s never really left it in some ways — she’s been so delightful.
“But I can never forget that although she’s gone through puberty and is now 21, her age range always stays at about 3 and she needs 24hour supervision.”
The idea to write about her sister came from Farb’s mother.
Farb, 27, had started working with the Paprika Festival for young authors at the Tarragon Theatre.
When the time came to write her first play, her mother said, “Why don’t you write something about your sister? She’s so fascinating.” Farb’s knee-jerk reaction was, “Shut up, mom.”
But Farb is a woman for whom still waters run deep.
In recent years she’s played Jessica in The Merchant of Venice and Cordelia in King Lear at the Stratford Festival. Next season, she’s tackling the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank at the festival.
She thought about what her mother had said and began to write. “My very first play ever was about Rebecca and although I’ve written many others since then, this has been a seven-year journey I’ve been on with this script.
“Initially, it was a meditation on what Rebecca could say if she could speak but still had all the rest of her disability.
“It was also a bit of a soap box, but I was 20 and there were things I wanted to say. I wanted to write about our perception of people with disabilities and how they were usually so wrong. I also had filled the play with a whole assortment of Rebeccas, but my director, Richard Greenblatt, wisely convinced me to cut it down to two.”
Those are the characters now in R-E-B-E-C-C-A: May Rebecca, the actual person born prematurely, and July Rebecca, Farb’s idea of what she might have been had she come into the world on schedule.
July Rebecca is pure fantasy, but Farb says, “May Rebecca is about as close as you can get to verbatim without being verbatim.”
And that’s the major reason she won’t allow her sister to attend the show.
“No, she won’t see it!” she explodes, adding more gently, “She can’t. There are many elements that are so close to her life she would find it exciting, but she also can’t stand it if anyone imitates her in any way.”
Farb says the play is “not pedantic, it’s not didactic, but I think people will walk away learning something.” And what has Farb learned? “You can’t be afraid of saying anything. I am so glad Rebecca is around. She’s demanded selflessness from everybody and she brings out the best in everybody.” R-E-B-E-C-C-A runs at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace from Thursday until March 1. Go to passemuraille.ca, or call 416-504-7529 for information.