Live documentary drama delves into a fraudster’s tale
A total of $110 million was taken from investors and companies who believed their money was being invested into a planned winery expansion to South Africa and South America. The truth was the monies were being used by the accused for personal purposes. The then-63-year-old notary public was ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution. Her sentence was six years.
The tale to date has been turned into a new-work play by Theatre Conspiracy artistic director Tim Carlson, with Playwright sT heat re Centre’ s Kathleen Flaherty. Victim Impact features actor Nimet Kanji as Rashida Samji with Jenn Griffin, Risha Nanda, Allan Morgan and Munish Sharma all in multiple roles. Jiv Parasram directs.
Here are five things to know about the show:
1.
It is a live documentary
The piece is described as a live documentary investigating the various aspects of the case as they unfolded and taking into account the impact the fraud had on those who were drawn into the civil and criminal trials. Writer Carlson said two things attracted him to the story.
“My father in his waning years was taken in by a Fort M cM ur ray real estate scam that devolved into a Ponzi scheme, although he wasn’t quite as badly taken,” said Carlson. “And I looked at cases from across the country, and there were plenty to run with that were full of characters, but this was in the courts and that meant I could do original research around it. What stood out was that these people had some real status as professionals and weren’t the usual fast-talking sharks.”
2. Multimedia assets
Besides the talents of visuals designer Milton Lim and sound designer David Mesiha on the theatrical performance of the project, the show includes a podcast series titled Victim Impact: The Fraudcast. Each episode delves into an aspect of the case, from following the money trail to the legal games of hide and seek.
3.
A whole lot of lies
Carlson said his research suggests over 3,500 deals were done with 200-plus people to come up with the final figure of $110 million. “That’s a whole lot of lies, and what I found in the original transcripts of securities commis-
PREVIEW
Victim Impact
When: June 8-17, various times
Where: The Historic Theatre at the Cultch Tickets and info: From $10, at tickets.thecultch.com sion hearings is that you just could never believe anything she (Samji) said, even when the net was closing in around her,” he said.
4. Documentary theatre
The last few shows that Theatre Conspiracy has done come from a documentary point of view. Carlson said that you have to take an interesting story and dissect it to find the theatrical elements that can come alive on stage. Samji’s story was a gold mine as it had “elements of mystery in chasing down the convoluted money trail, part procedural court drama and a fascinating psychological profile in the protagonist.”
5.
Truth is better than fiction
Yes, Victim Impact is a work of fiction, but only about 15 per cent of the content is docudrama. Carlson took three years to research the show, including attending three court hearings and interviewing a stack of victims and other players. He admits this could result in some pretty dry and confusing number-crunching, but how impossible the scams seem and how spectacularly difficult it was to catch her makes for some great drama. “And it also makes for some pretty comedic moments, albeit dark ones,” said Carlson.