Thought For Food Productions in Association with Crow’s Theatre and Guild Festival Theatre: The Veil. Starring Byron Abalos; Written by Keith Barker and Thomas Morgan Jones, Directed by Helen Juvonen; World Premiere. Crow’s Theatre (Studio Theatre), September 19, 2025. Continues until October 12; tickets here.
Classic storytelling is at the heart of The Veil, the story of a hapless (and overly ambitious) young lawyer that arrives just in time to prep you for the spooky season next month.
The Veil is a world premiere, a play developed by writers Keith Barker, a Governor General’s Literary Award nominee, and Thomas Morgan Jones, who is the Artistic Director of the National Theatre School of Canada, through In Conversations With Classics Workshop, an initiative of Guild Festival Theatre. It takes its inspiration from the classical canon of English language horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson.
The premise is this: a high-powered lawyer inherits a curse, one that he of course underestimates at first. The Veil is a concept, a kind of spiritual barrier between us and forces that lurk just beyond us with evil intent.
Who created these malevolent forces?
Why, we all do, of course.
The Production
In the opening of the play, the lawyer, who remains nameless, tells the audience that it’s important that they believe him. It’s a kind of meta statement, in that, it’s true of the story he’s telling just as it is of his performance in the play.
In a solo piece, naturally, star Byron Abalos — director for Good Morning, Viet Mom; actor in The Man from Toronto (2022), The Boys (2019) and What We Do in the Shadows (2019), among others — is the lynchpin, together with a refined sense of pacing that builds the story in subtle changes and progressions.
Byron is given a spare stage with only a table, a couple of props, and a box of salt. The opening consists of him arranging the items, including creating a ring of salt that encircles the table, and which he never steps out of.
It also begins with his banter, peppered here and there with humour, at least in the first half or so. The story of a box, a curse, and a promotion becomes more and more involved. As it does, his demeanor and even appearance changes. Abalos begins in a standard lawyer-ish suit, gradually shedding the jacket, finally loosening the tie as he descends into a dishevelled state. He’s entirely convincing in the role of a kind of every man caught up in a supernatural crisis.
In the background, sound designer Ashley Naomi adds atmosphere subtly — so subtly that it creeps up on you. There is traffic that speeds by on Carlaw, after all, was it that, or…? The genius is its underlying ambiguity. What are you hearing?
Abalos’ story has an interesting rhythm as it unfolds, a naturalistic one that occasionally trails off without finishing the sentence. His performance amplifies the sense of uncertainty — is it a significant detail that he’s trying to hide or obfuscate? Sometimes it is, sometime it isn’t. Sometimes, his story adds up, and sometimes, it doesn’t quite.
The tale ramps up to its ending, which offers a twist, and audience participation (if you dare!)
Final Thoughts
From its unusual opening (a surprise I won’t spoil) through its gradual build of tension, The Veil succeeds at drawing the audience into the flow of the story.
At a couple of points towards the end of the play, I could have sworn I caught the scent of cinnamon. Cinnamon is mentioned briefly in the story. Is it part of the show? I wondered. Incense? Somebody’s tea? Chewing gum..?
The Veil created an atmosphere charged with possibility, one that kept the audience guessing.
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