ON THE INSIDE by Michelle Thoms (s&m productions). At Tarragon Mainspace. July 9 at 3 pm, July 10 at 1 pm, July 12 at 8:45 pm, July 13 at 6:15 pm, July 14 at 11:15 pm, July 16 at 8 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN
Michelle Thomss earnest play is so dedicated to teaching its audience about injustice in the Canadian prison system that it often forgets to be dramatic. Thoms bases her central character Tracey (Kelechi Ofoha in a raw, emotional performance) on the real case of Ashley Smith (1988-2007), who due to a minor conviction spent nearly three years in solitary confinement before she committed suicide.
The United Nations classifies more than 15 days in solitary as torture. We learn such facts about Smith and about prisons because Thoms has them projected between scenes on an onstage screen.
The pity is that these facts themselves are often more effective in making Thomss points than Thomss schematic play. Though the show is focused on Tracey, Thoms also illustrates that the system harms prison workers as well as prisoners. The plays best scenes are those between Tracey and her nurse (a sympathetic Marnie Wohl-Bennett) who struggles in vain to remain detached.
Here Thoms most fully treats the characters as complex psychological beings rather than instructive examples.
