Du 29 janvier au 24 février 2008

Half Life

Texte de John Mighton
Mise en scène de Daniel Brooks
Avec Carolyn Hetherington, Eric Peterson

This production will present Centaur audiences with the award-winning play of one of Canada’s most successful playwrights, John Mighton, directed by one of Canada’s most recognized directors, Daniel Brooks, along with a stellar cast, including Centaur audience favourite, Carolyn Hetherington, and the star of CTV’s Corner Gas, Eric Peterson.

This elegantly constructed play is a gentle and humourous exploration of how vital and filled with yearning people are as they get older and how indifferently we relate to them. Mathematician and playwright, John Mighton, is fascinated with patterns and quasi-patterns our lives throw up. Clara is in a wheelchair and her memory is failing but sometimes what she says has its own beauty. Patrick, a new admission to the old peoples’ home, also has gaps in his memories but he’s cagey about his codebreaking past and is a bit of an escapeologist. Clara and Patrick are attracted to each other; the rest is history.

A Necessary Angel Company Production

Théâtre Centaur
453, St-François-Xavier
Box office : 514-288-3161

 

review by Geneviève Germain

Witnessing our own parents aging over the years is not always easy, as we soon find we might be the ones ending up having to care for them.  Roles are then reversed: who’s the adult in the relationship? In his 2005 award-winning play, author John Mighton explores part of this issue by staging an elderly love between memory-losing Clara and co-resident Patrick, in a nursing home. Their respective children Donald and Anna have to figure out how to handle this newborn love. Being adults, shouldn’t they be allowed to love and have physical contact as they wish? But then there comes the issue of Clara’s confused mind: although genuinely loving Patrick, she associates him with a Patrick she has known during the war. Perhaps their story is true, but can or should they live it freely?

Director Daniel Brooks decided to illustrate this story in a somewhat rational setting. Already the stage being filled with very few articles and furniture, set up against a black floor and background, gives a very cold and calculated feeling. Seemingly following Donald’s state of mind, Donald being a scientist that studies artificial intelligence, every scene is carefully punctuated by a coordinated and synchronized moving of actors and accessories. Fortunately, this choice enables the actors to truly shine with honest and believable emotions. We sense the mixed feelings Anna and Donald have about their parents being in love, Anna falling on the more compassionate side whereas Donald holds onto his protective role towards his mother.

The production’s stars are without any doubt Carolyn Hetherington (Burnt Piano, Copenhagen) and Eric Peterson (Corner Gas) as Clara and Patrick, the first one being incredibly touching with her loving good-natured ways contrasting with Patrick’s wise but grumpy nature. They manage to make us believe that their love is true, against all odds.

What is beautiful about John Mighton’s story is that it explores a question that might be more and more frequent in the years to come, without giving a definite answer to how it should be. It also shows the possibility that even though one’s mind may be lost in time, with memories fading away, there still resides an inner-self that can feel and live emotionally.

Necessary Angel’s production of Half Life rings true and brings together a great cast of actors, using very subtle humor that lightens up the atmosphere without taking over the serious matter that is at play. A heartwarming but question-filled story.

09-02-2008