A supernatural look at Canadian identity
Even This Old Town Was a Forest
1/2 (out of 4) Written and directed by Aurora Stewart de Pena. Until Oct. 23 at The Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen St. W. TheatreCentre.org or 416-538-0988.
As we will be reminded over and over again during the next 14 months, Canada is turning 150 years old in 2017. Of course, it’s only the Confederation with an upcoming birthday — the land later named Canada, and the people who lived on it, have been around much longer.
While the arts community in Toronto gears up for a year of celebration, it makes sense that one of the city’s pluckiest indie companies, Birdtown and Swanville, is kicking off the conversation in tongue-incheek fashion (without any of the Canada 150 grant money, either).
The new play from director and writer Aurora Stewart de Pena, Even This Old Town Was a Forest takes place in1735, mostly in locations now known to be the Toronto Islands and the Beach.
It follows the story of a First Nations girl abandoned by her family. Abequa (Cara Gee) meets a group of travellers from England, who have come to the New World after the death of Mary (Naomi Skwarna) and Becky’s (Donna Maloney) father.
Mary is newly married to an obtuse pig farmer, William (Jon Blair), but hates the match and seeks a more fulfilling relationship with religion. Becky, the elder sister, is married to a passionate poet Jonathan (Norman Yeung), and the two couples journey to Canada to join Jonathan’s brother, a priest who has already established a base.
But upon finding his skeleton, Mary, Becky, William and Jonathan join forces with Abequa (whose attraction to Mary goes beyond mere survival) as the oncoming winter threatens their lives.
But it isn’t only natural forces that these characters have to contend with — Even This Old Town was a Forest has a distinctly mythical and supernatural atmosphere, giving weight to both historical account and legend in its story.
First of all, it legitimizes the fringe idea that woolly mammoths existed at this time. It also features the character of a mysterious nun, played by William Ellis, credited enigmatically in the program as “The Monster.” With one of the more flamboyant costumes by designer Vanessa Fischer, dressed all in white with a pointy cornette that more resembles devil horns, it’s clear from the onset that this nun is a Trickster.
Design is at the core of Birdtown and Swanville’s work. There are a total of eight designers listed in the credits, but possibly the most successful element is the poster design, which draws inspiration from 1970s paperback covers (mirroring the prologue-chapters-epilogue structure of the script). And while each element has strengths of its own — Kristina McNamee’s lighting in a storm scene, Sofia Bohdanowicz’s video projections, Andrew Zuckerman’s ominous sound — the way they come together is unsatisfying, leaving the Theatre Centre Incubator space feeling largely empty.
Stewart de Pena’s writing, however, feels full and rich with an especially sharp grasp of humour. Lines like “Lovely things fall out of Jonathan’s mouth like baby teeth,” spoken with wonder by Maloney, combine the romance of this past era with the company’s unique twisted personality. Ellis, too, is delightfully deadpan as he answers Mary’s question “What is it like being a nun?” with a nonchalant “It’s good,” barely looking up as he does it. Gee and Skwarna are two more highlights, presenting two strong and flawed women from opposite sides of the earth who connect over a shared respect for non-human things. But the whole cast gels in a pleasing and exciting way which keeps the script from waning, even though it could use tightening.
Even This Old Town Was a Forest is ambitious in its symbolism, its imagery, and its attempts to conjure a folk tale with contemporary relevance and a sense of humour that’s fresh.
But with a five-year development period, there may be too many ideas at play.
Nevertheless, this is an interesting starting point for a year’s worth of Canada150 festivities, and the reflection on the Canadian identity that comes with them.