BIRTH by Tom Arthur Davis (Pandemic Theatre). At Campbell House Museum (160 Queen West). Runs to October 18 at 7:30 pm. $25. Uniiverse.com/pandemictheatre. See listing. Rating: NNN
What value does life have when the spectres of death and aging can be vanquished, at least for the privileged?
That’s the question, explored from several angles, in Tom Arthur Davis’s involving three-part drama, Birth.
In a futuristic society, those at the top of the financial and social hierarchy are able to live forever, which causes problems on a crowded planet with dwindling resources. Having children simply isn’t allowed, unless you’re part of the elite. A revolutionary group won’t follow the rules, setting up a series of hidden warehouse nurseries in which mostly anonymous children are raised.
Davis follows this background tale through a series of related plays, two of which involve linked plots braided together in the same setting. In the first, successful, well-off and long-lived journalist Greg (Jesse Nerenberg) and his wife Louise (Tennille Read) decide what to do when Greg is told about the location of one of the warehouses, which might hold a child (Glyn Bowerman and Steven Bush) important to them both. Literally sharing the same space as the arguing power duo are a captive, Johanna (Pamela Mala Sinha) and her interrogator, William (playwright Davis).
In the second script, which has some surprising plot twists, revolutionaries Ramona (Eve Wylden) and Andrew (Davis) make anxious plans while a politician (Marcel Dragonieri) and his aide (Justin Miller, whose nuanced work is a standout in an evening of strong performances) search for a missing child whose favourite music is Peter And The Wolf.
As we move back and forth between the stories, emotions mount and stakes become higher, with Davis cleverly weaving and teasing out the individual stories. If there’s a problem with the writing, it’s the background set-up it takes a while to sort out the pieces of the puzzle, and even when you do some parts are unclear. Sometimes, too, characters are more sketched than developed.
But the cast and directors – Sarah Kitz helms the first, Jivesh Parasram the second – shape the tensions well, especially in the intimate spaces of Campbell House, which has become a key site-specific venue for indie companies. The first play, set in the house’s ballroom, gives us a sense of the world inhabited by the upper classes, while the second, which focuses on those in the shadows, takes place in the claustrophobic basement kitchen.
Cameron Davis’s fine lighting adds extra drama to the tales and helps sort out whose story we’re following at any one moment.
The third play, shortest of all, is one you can watch online after leaving the theatre. Involving a character we’ve heard about but not met until now, it features Astrid Van Wieren in an intentionally jumpy series of scenes that speaks directly to the paranoia inherent in this world. Co-directed by David and Parasram – the latter also edited the piece – it brings Birth to a properly unsettling conclusion.
