Urban isolation, immigrant’s story at heart of play
In The Ones We Leave Behind, a new play making its premiere at the Cultch, an investigator tries to locate the next of kin for an elderly woman who has died without any family or friends to claim her.
The situation is not as rare as one would think, or hope, playwright Loretta Seto found when doing research. “I think it’s a symptom of our society that, even though we’re connected in many ways, we’re often lacking that face-to-face, closer connection with people that was more common before,” Seto said.
The idea for the play grew out of a news story about an older man who had died, but whose body went undiscovered “for about three years,” Seto said.
“The only reason he finally was discovered was that a debt collector or someone had come by. I was struck by the sadness of this event. And it got me thinking about how this could happen, where somebody was so isolated that they could go missing for three years without anyone noticing. It also got me thinking about the people who knew this person at some point in his life, and what happened to those people.”
The investigator, Abby Chung, is with the Public Guardian and Trustee, the provincial office usually tasked with the responsibility of administering an estate when family and friends can’t be found. Abby has her own demons to confront, including the truth about the father who walked out on her and her mother years ago. Abby is also looking after her elderly mother.
“It was important to have a female lead in the piece,” Seto said.
“My background is Chinese-Canadian, so it felt natural to make my character from that background as well. You write what maybe you’re familiar with. Abby is not me, but she is somebody easy for me to access as a character.”
Abby is played by Agnes Tong, whose recent credits include Michel Tremblay’s Les Belles-soeurs and Catherine Léger’s I Lost My Husband, both at Gateway Theatre, and King Charles the III for the Arts Club.
“She’s quite perplexed that someone could go for so long with having no one looking for her or coming by to visit,” said Tong. “It opens up this exploration around human connection.”
The actor says that she can relate to the character. “I am so grateful to Loretta, who’s written such a gorgeous, multi-layered piece, and shared an immigrant story, and a Chinese immigrant story.
“The relationship between Abby and her mother is like a mirror of my relationship with my mother, who is an immigrant to Canada, and the language barrier, the cultural barrier, and a generational gap within that. There are quite a lot of differences for each of us to navigate.”
The Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre presentation also features Brahm Taylor, James Yi, Josh Drebit, and Alannah Ong. John Cooper is directing. The play is Seto’s third, following 2016’s Dirty Old Woman and a one-woman show, Why Wait?, for the 2011 Vancouver Fringe Festival.
The setting of The Ones We Leave Behind is not specified, although “locations and things are mentioned that would give a hint to the fact that it is Vancouver,” Seto said.
“That said, I think that this piece could translate to any urban location, where people tend to live alone. Even though we’re surrounded by all these people, we don’t necessarily have strong connections.”