Tarragon Theatre/Light, written by Rosa Laborde, directed by Jackie Maxwell, Tarragon Mainspace, Mar. 8 to 13 (in-person). Mar. 15 to 27 (streaming). Tickets available here.
There is something so very, very satisfying about watching the work of a master director, which Jackie Maxwell is.
To the admiration of all, Maxwell executed her craft as the longstanding former artistic director of the Shaw Festival, and the way she seamlessly moves her squad of actors around the stage is quite breathtaking. Scenes come and go, but the exits and entrances are so organic that nothing jars or rattles the action. In other words, nothing structural distracts us from the play.
I will get to the world premiere of Rosa Laborde’s new play Light shortly, but allow me to digress a bit further. The Tarragon Theatre has at last opened its doors after two years, and this production of Light represents everything that this important independent company stands for.
Over the years, we have come to think of the Tarragon as a class act, and Light does not disappoint in terms of theatrical values. They include the above-mentioned masterful direction of a play of substance. An A-list cast. Spot-on brilliant set and costumes by Michael Gianfrancesco. Bonnie Beecher’s stunning lighting. A subtle but evocative sound score by Deanna H. Choi. In other words, the Tarragon is back, and this production unfolds as it should.
Which brings us to Chilean-Canadian playwright Laborde and Light. Anyone who saw Laborde’s breakout 2006 play Léo at the Tarragon knew immediately that she is a gifted playwright who is not afraid to take on big subjects. Léo looked at the 1973 coup that overthrew the left-wing regime of Salvador Allende through the eyes of three young people. This disturbing play was not for the faint of heart.
Light may not be on the same unsettling level as some of Laborde’s other works, but it still addresses huge issues. The action is set in an ashram somewhere in the Rockies that was founded by Michael (Hardee T. Lineham) on the principles of meditation and freeing oneself from the past. With Michael slipping into dementia due to a tumour, the running of the ashram is in the hands of Theo (Maurice Dean Wint) and his partner Mukti (Linda Kash), who lead the meditation sessions. The couple has a very bright teenage daughter, Beni (Shakura Dickson).
Then there are the so-called followers. The lead character in the play is Willow (Sara Farb), a journalist who has clearly come to sow the seeds of dissent, and we do, later in the play, discover the secret that has motivated her intense negativity.
Valentina (Maria del Mar) is an Argentinean woman who arrives at the ashram at the same time as Willow, and whose life is in a complete mess. She, for a while at least, becomes Willow’s sister in rebellion. The very pregnant Angie (Christine Horne) is a poorly educated if utterly optimistic young woman who absolutely believes in the ashram. Similarly, Jesse (Philip Riccio), a former journalist, has also found peace there as the resident gardener.
Thus, Laborde has set up the protagonists to represent different sides of the issue. There are those who believe in the enlightenment that the ashram can bring, and those who don’t. To say that Willow is a destructive force is an understatement, and her very vocal doubts cause serious damage in certain people’s belief systems. In fact, Farb does such a good job in portraying her downbeat character that she really started to get to me, to the point where I just wanted to shake her silly.
En route, Laborde touches on the difficulties of connections and relationships, the need for communication, and the drive to belong, how to move forward from the burdens of our past, and the question of self-identity, which includes accepting our weaknesses as well as the truth of our own stories, not to mention parental responsibility.
By the time the play is over, all the characters have been exposed in some way, and life for several of them has been turned upside down. The Tarragon’s promotion for Light calls the play a “self-reflective comedy” but that delineation is certainly open to debate.
Light is a flawed but absorbing play. I’m not sure about the ending, which seems a bit contrived, and there may be too long a time until we learn important secrets. Also, some relationships feel gerrymandered together.
On the other hand, Laborde has been very courageous in her structure. For example, the meditation sessions appear throughout, and we hear, via voice over, what all the people are thinking — those who want enlightenment, those who are wavering, and specifically Willow, who thinks it’s bunkum. These voice overs shed light on the live action. Laborde also manages to slip in some sly humour, which is most welcome.
Where the play excels, however, is in the sharpness of Laborde’s character writing. We know these people. We can relate to them, and there is not one weak link in the cast, the stand-out being Horne’s flibbertigibbet Angie.
The play’s timing, as the Tarragon points out, is spot-on. We’ve just come through a roughly two-year period of isolation, so a play that looks, in microcosm, at connections and communication, is just the challenge we need to ask ourselves serious questions about who we are, and how do we relate to each other.
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