One-woman play about bullying focuses on ‘the bystander effect’
The 1997 murder of Vancouver Island teenager Reena Virk by members of her peer group shocked many Canadians. But today, what’s shocking is how much more prevalent the problem of bullying has become, due to the anonymity of the Internet.
Inspired by Virk’s murder, the play The Shape of a Girl looks at bullying — in a pre-social-media age, and from the perspective of a bystander.
“I think the situation of being a bystander in bullying situations is even more prevalent now,” director Shelby Bushell said. “Then, something like the Reena Virk murder, if you saw it happen, it was in your face, and you had to make a choice. Now, it’s a lot easier to be anonymous, and to let something like that happen.”
First performed in 2002, The Shape of a Girl features 15-yearold Braidie, who is fascinated by the Virk case unfolding on TV. As she recounts (to her unseen brother) the bullying she has seen within her own friend group from childhood through to adolescence, she wonders if she and her friends are that different from the victim and her killers.
Lindsay Curl stars as Braidie in the one-woman play.
“One-person shows are such a joy to direct,” Bushell said. “You get to go in there with the actor in a way you don’t with a multiperson cast, about what the story means and how to bring that out with just one person.”
Curl says she has been fortunate, in that she hasn’t been the subject of bullying herself.
“But I remember leaving my first high school because of that because I couldn’t stand the clique-ness of it,” the 23-year-old said. “Looking back, I realize how lucky I was to not be a target of bullying.”
The actor came by The Shape of a Girl six years ago, while a student at the University of Victoria and studying under the play’s author, Joan MacLeod.
“When I first read the play, I was just so eager to present it to high school students, as a theatre-for-young-audience play,” she said.
“Although that is still very much true, I see now how it also relates to people who are out of high school, because it touches on the bystander effect, and how many of us will see something that we think is wrong but look down and say nothing.”
The play’s theme of when to act in the face of injustice is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago.
“The way we deal with abusive situations, the way we sometimes are confronted with the choice of acting or not acting, the idea of being a bystander in those situations is something I think a lot of people can relate to,” Bushell said.
Adding to the relevance of The Shape of a Girl is the Virk case, and how it has stayed in the news. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Kelly Ellard, one of Virk’s convicted killers and a new mom, will be allowed to leave prison for doctor’s appointments and parenting programs.
“And of course Warren (Glowatski), the male who was involved in the murder, has been released on parole,” Curl said. “It makes you realize that these are real human beings who did this, that they aren’t just characters.”
While the Virk case might seem like an anomaly, the bullying that led to the murder is still present, in myriad forms.
“I would hope that people would leave thinking about the power that words can have, and the long-lasting damages that bullying can cause,” Curl said. “And how doing nothing can contribute to the problem, how doing nothing can contribute to the circle of violence.”