SEAMS

Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (16 Ryerson)

Aug 10 at 9:45 pm, Aug 11 at 9:30 pm, Aug 12 at 7 pm, Aug 14 at 9:30 pm, Aug 16 at 4:15 pm. 1-888-328-8384, summerworks.ca.

Rating: NNNN

Polly Phokeev’s richly textured play about life in a Moscow theatre costume shop in 1939 looks at friendship, politics, love, lies, competition, informants and desire.

Our guide is Old Frosya (Clare Coulter, a haunting presence throughout), the lone survivor of six workers decades after the main storyline concludes, who shows us episodes from her earlier days and asks us to think about the times as well as the people she presents to us.

In the hands of director Mikaela Davies and a talented cast, we come to know the idiosyncrasies and secrets of each character and care about them all, especially when the narrative’s various relationships go sour. The staging is also fine, making use of the two levels of Theatre Passe Muraille.

The writing could use a bit of tightening here and there, but even so, Seams is one of the most rewarding shows at SummerWorks.