{"id":117918,"date":"2025-09-26T15:18:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T19:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=117918"},"modified":"2025-09-26T15:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T19:24:03","slug":"interview-director-jordan-laffrenier-talks-slave-play-canadian-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/09\/26\/interview-director-jordan-laffrenier-talks-slave-play-canadian-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Director Jordan Laffrenier Talks About The Slave Play At Canadian Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Promotional
Promotional image for the Canadian Stage production of Slave Play (Photo courtesy of Canadian Stage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Slave Play by American writer Jeremy O Harris shocked many audience members on its off-Broadway debut in 2018. Interracial relationships are always a charged topic, and Harris\u2019s play pushes the envelope when it comes to nudity, and not just sexual content, but content that will undeniably provoke many sensibilities.<\/p>\n

The nature of the story and what exactly it examines unfolds over a three act structure, where the highly charged opening gives way to discussion, and what may not be resolution exactly, but an ending.<\/p>\n

Harris offers no easy answer \u2014 no answers at all \u2014 to the question of how to heal from the rippling effects of global slavery as they resonate in today\u2019s world. When Black and white partners fall in love, the shadow of that past, the social consequences, can\u2019t simply be denied.<\/p>\n

According to the playwright, who wrote the work while still a grad student, that complex history is a background.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the plays I\u2019ve written so far have been stories in and around love,\u201d said Jeremy O. Harris in an interview<\/a>. \u201cSlave Play [is] about the impossibility of loving blind of history and also about how to navigate the fact of power in the context of the stories that are written upon us because of things we cannot control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexuality offers a graphic illustration of those hidden dynamics. But, it\u2019s not a gloomy message. As in life, pain can be transformational.<\/p>\n

LV spoke to director Jordan Laffrenier about the play, and the Canadian Stage production, the Canadian premiere of the work.<\/p>\n

\"Director
Director & associate artistic director of Canadian Stage Jordan Laffrenier (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jordan Laffrenier<\/h2>\n

Award-winning director Jordan Laffrenier is also known as a dramaturg, producer, and educator. Jordan is currently the associate artistic director of Canadian Stage and Prime Mover Theatre Company. Formerly, he was artistic producer of Theatre Sheridan.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Intermission magazine<\/a>, he describes how his white grandfather and Black grandmother experienced everyday racism in their hometown of Hamilton, Ontario.<\/p>\n

He consulted a psychoanalyst and therapist on the script, and the nature of generational trauma.<\/p>\n

Jordan Laffrenier: The Interview<\/h3>\n

\u201cI think that the show is absolutely provocative, and part of what’s provocative about it is, it’s getting at a kind of truth that is really trying to uncover the truth of the secrets we try to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slave Play made its Broadway debut in 2019. Jordan saw both the NY and more recent London productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt that, in both audiences, they were incredibly moved by the piece. They laughed so much,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think, both audiences were challenged by the piece,\u201d Laffrenier adds, \u201ca lot of the piece is about the legacy of slavery and how that continues in the present day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he points out, the UK has its own role in the history of slavery. \u201cIn both the UK and Canada, that history is largely ignored,\u201d Jordan says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in a Canadian audience, we don’t learn about it.\u201d It\u2019s also a tie-in to the themes of the play. \u201cI think that’s what the play is trying to get at, a bit. Slavery is present. It’s here, even for a Canadian audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris\u2019s play revolves around basic issues that aren\u2019t exclusive to interracial relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play is really about relationships, and every relationship comes with things that are tangled. How do we untangle them?\u201d Laffrenier asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps more interestingly, how do we listen to ourselves within a relationship? How do we transform ourselves and change ourselves to be in the relationship we’re in? How do we access the fullness of our identity? It becomes even more charged in an interracial relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more than the usual quota of compromise seems to be a part of those romantic partnerships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this play, these characters are losing a part of their identity within this relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the course of the play, they regain it.<\/p>\n