{"id":124652,"date":"2026-05-28T14:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=124652"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:49:20","slug":"scrutiny-george-f-walkers-world-fire-people-society-leaves-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/05\/28\/scrutiny-george-f-walkers-world-fire-people-society-leaves-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | George F. Walker\u2019s World On Fire: The People Society Leaves Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Graphic
Graphic for George F. Walker\u2019s play World On Fire (Courtesy of World On Fire Theatre Collective)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

World on Fire Theatre Collective: World On Fire written and directed by George F. Walker<\/strong><\/em>
\nwith Alex Clay (Dr. Emilio), Elizabeth Friesen (Jules), David Huband (David), Marline Yan (Annie), Anne van Leeuwen (Casey), and Chris Peterson (Marius), with set design by Madeleine Rosenberg, Daniel Rosenberg, Nicholas Friesen. May 28, 2026, The Assembly Theatre. Continues until June 7, 2026; tickets here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAll my life, people have been trying to forget about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong characters light up iconic Canadian playwright George F. Walke<\/strong>r\u2019s latest work, titled World On Fire. The title is also the name of the new theatre collective that\u2019s been formed to showcase Walker\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

The story revolves around Jules (Elizabeth Friesen<\/strong>), a harried social worker at the end of her rope, and a collection of her clients, including Annie (Marline Yan<\/strong>), the kid who\u2019s been on the streets since she was 13, Casey (Anne van Leeuwen<\/strong>), a jittery, troubled homeless woman who yells at people about social justice at the entrance of a shopping mall, David (David Huband<\/strong>), the suicidal adult child of Holocaust survivors, and Marius (Chris Peterson<\/strong>), who\u2019s afraid of everything.<\/p>\n

The fate and the backstory of the group of society\u2019s cast offs is fleshed out over the course of the play, at least in part, leaving to the inevitable conclusion: there are no easy solutions \u2014 and perhaps no solutions at all \u2014 to any of it.<\/p>\n

\"The
The cast of George F. Walker\u2019s play World On Fire (Courtesy of World On Fire Theatre Collective)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Strength In Characters<\/h3>\n

Strong characters, and characterizations, carry the message of the play. Casey is by turns belligerent, delusional, and tearfully repentant as she reluctantly interacts with Jules and the three other clients. Her story, what is revealed, is horrific \u2014 homelessness, a miscarriage, and more. Some details, including the original reason she ended up on the street, are left uncertain, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks.<\/p>\n

Casey began as a married mother. Then, the marriage fell apart, leaving her to juggle multiple jobs, and leaving her vulnerable to homelessness. Her children are taken away, and she simply breaks under the strain.<\/p>\n

Anne van Leeuwen<\/strong> plays her as jittery, seldom still, with a facade of smiles that can instantly veer to overwrought emotion. She\u2019s the one that Jules feels especially close to, and the story of her childhood trauma makes her brittle vulnerability understandable. She\u2019s fixed on social justice as a kind of framework for the life she\u2019s been left with.<\/p>\n

Marius is the more inscrutable of the four. He\u2019s got the resources to live a better life, but his pervasive fears leave him crippled and stymied at every turn. It\u2019s easy to understand Jules\u2019 flashes of impatience with him and her other clients. Why can\u2019t he simply see the world for what it is?<\/p>\n

All three actors play the emotions of their client\/characters raw and unfiltered, entirely convincing in their portrayal of people on the edge who can\u2019t find their way back.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Friesen<\/strong>\u2019s Jules is a multidimensional character, driven by a basic impulse to do good, and help, but also human enough to be impatient, question the purpose of their talks, and, in the end, to become exhausted by the experience. It\u2019s a performance delivered with subtlety and nuance that convey the burned out human underneath the professional facade.<\/p>\n

Exceptions<\/h3>\n

David Huband<\/strong>\u2019s David, as the character is written, is somewhat less convincing. The survivors of the Nazi death camps and their children carry a burden of trauma that can manifest in many different ways, but as it happens, suicide is not often one of them, according to research that\u2019s been done. It\u2019s an extreme reaction, and the character of David does not carry the weight with that kind of intensity.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s more of a cranky, irritable old man, given to joking about his situation. He reacts with the same kind of irritation when he meets Annie, for example. While Jules\u2019 other clients wear their emotions vividly on their sleeves, David doesn\u2019t demonstrate that same kind of visceral feeling. It\u2019s not to say that different people might display their emotions in a different manner; David\u2019s anguish doesn\u2019t come across as part of the present moment of the story.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a detail about the timing of events that seems incongruent. Jules mentions David inheriting family property from his parents as if it had occurred recently, however, even if his parents were children during WWII, the pivotal event in his past that is mentioned throughout the story must necessarily have taken place decades ago.<\/p>\n

Alex Clay<\/strong>\u2019s Dr. Emilio is something of an antagonist in the story, and while some of his actions and observations \u2014 such as questioning whether Jules\u2019 role is really to speak for her clients \u2014 have a ring of truth, at other moments he\u2019s almost a farcical character.<\/p>\n

There is humour sprinkled throughout the play; where it works best is more when it reveals truth with a skewed lens, as opposed to one-liners.<\/p>\n

Play Structure<\/h3>\n

In many instances, Jules and Annie speak directly to the audience. It works in the case of Jules, where the audience serves as a sort of sympathetic ear she can bounce her thoughts against.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s less successful in the case of Annie, who stops to berate the audience at a couple of points in the play. The audience here serves as a stand in for the public in general, who are, after years of living with troubled homeless people on their streets in real time, already numb to the effect. In Annie\u2019s eyes, it may well be a case of individual responsibility, but the reality is that the roots of it are institutional and societal, an aspect that\u2019s not touched upon in the play at all.<\/p>\n

Set and Design<\/h3>\n

The set design by Madeleine Rosenberg<\/strong>, Daniel Rosenberg<\/strong>, and Nicholas Friesen<\/strong> is both simple and effective. Two chairs and two benches serve as both hospital meeting rooms and Jules\u2019 office. Graphic designs on the back wall depict a both the stresses and uncertainties of the characters.<\/p>\n

Snippets of old school alt rock blast during scene transitions to help set the mood.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s another strength of Walker\u2019s script that most of the characters are portrayed as multifaceted and complex. Their situation might evoke empathy, but their behaviour often isn\u2019t so easy to sympathize with. Jules\u2019 clients bicker between themselves, and it reveals the truth \u2014 being a victim doesn\u2019t necessarily make a person more sympathetic to other victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a social worker specializing in people who don\u2019t want any help.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you do with people who keep making bad choices? Who won\u2019t acknowledge what is clearly the reality of their situation? Or who\u2019ve suffered a psychotic break?<\/p>\n

The story underscores the reality of Jules\u2019 job \u2014 simply caring clearly isn\u2019t enough. It\u2019s an intractable problem in a society that keeps leaving larger and larger swaths behind.<\/p>\n

Despite its less successful moments, World On Fire\u2019s script and strong acting deliver the message clearly.<\/p>\n

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Despite its less successful moments, George F. Walker’s World On Fire delivers a message about what’s happening in a society that leaves more and more people behind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":124655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42533,42442,52,62,63],"tags":[40060,40035],"yst_prominent_words":[15983],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2026-05-28T144417.381.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-wqw","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124652"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124657,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124652\/revisions\/124657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124652"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=124652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}