THE BEST BROTHERS by Daniel MacIvor, directed by Dean Gabourie, with John Beale and MacIvor. Presented by the Tarragon (30 Bridgman). Previews through Tuesday (September 24), opens Wednesday (September 25) and runs to October 27, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Saturday-Sunday 2:30 pm from September 22. $21-$53. 416-531-1827. See listing.
A dog may be a man’s (or a woman’s) best friend, but you can’t prove that to the siblings in Daniel MacIvor’s The Best Brothers.
There’s always been a tension between gay real-estate agent Kyle and his straight architect sib, Hamilton, but things escalate when their mother, Bunny, dies in a bizarre accident at a Gay Pride Parade. Not only do they have to deal with their bereavement, they also have to decide who’s going to take her beloved canine.
“The men are the odd couple, so different that they strike comic sparks off each other,” says John Beale, who plays Kyle to the playwright’s Hamilton. “Kyle is open and easygoing, connected to his heart, someone who allows troublesome things simply to roll off.
“In contrast, Hamilton struggles against feeling anything that originates in that organ. The fact that Kyle doesn’t fixate on things drives his super-controlling brother crazy. Of course, that rigidity backfires on him.”
On the surface, says Beale, the play is about their mother’s sudden death.
“But beneath that, it’s about going into oneself and letting go of previously held opinions and emotions. Grieving is only part of the process.”
The season opener at the Tarragon, The Best Brothers had a successful 2012 run at Stratford, with the same cast and returning director Dean Gabourie.
The Toronto production marks award-winning Nova Scotian Beale’s local debut.
“Daniel saw me as the tightly wound Reverend John Hale in The Crucible and thought I’d do well as Hamilton,” he says. “But when we workshopped the script at Stratford, dramaturg Iris Turcott convinced him he was miscast as Kyle, a role he wrote for himself. At that point, the actors switched parts.
“After all,” smiles Beale, “Daniel does ‘tightly wound’ so well.”
The play is a two-hander, though we also meet Bunny, played alternately by her two sons as they break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience.
“At first I thought she was one character we both impersonated, but later I realized that each brother presents his own version of Bunny. We stopped trying to match each other’s performance but still fed off the other’s creation.
“Hamilton and Kyle both have different experiences with this wealthy, elite woman, who becomes both disconnected and distracted when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Hamilton is caught up with her in a needy way, wanting more love from her than she could give, but Kyle can let her go more easily.”
The audience is well aware from the start that these two men lead totally separate lives, but now they’re brought into the same room to organize a funeral, write an obituary and reply to condolence notes.
“What grounds the play’s humour is the death, which is always sitting in the background. You can laugh, but every once in a while you have to remember why these very different relatives have come together.
“The result is a production that never gets too light. It’s rather like having a helium balloon in one hand,” Beale says, floating his right arm up to the ceiling while the left plunges toward the floor, “and an anvil in the other.”
Interview Clips
Returning to the script a year later:
Bunny’s journey:
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
