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Culture Stage

Blood will out

TAINTED by Kat Lanteigne, directed by Vikki Anderson, with Alex Furber, Claire Calnan, Gord Rand, Maria Vacratsis, Owen Mason, P.J. Prudat and Richard Greenblatt. Presented by GromKat and Moyo Theatre at the Aki Studio Theatre in the Daniels Spectrum (585 Dundas East). Opens tonight (Thursday, September 26) and runs to October 12, Tuesday-Sunday 8 pm, matinee Saturday 2 pm. $27-$42. 1-800-204-0855, gromkat.com.


Beginning in the early 1980s, thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through transfusions of tainted blood and blood products. Lots of people died due to this mismanagement of the blood supply, and Kat Lanteigne’s new play tries to keep their stories, and the lessons learned from the resulting Krever Inquiry, alive.

A family drama about three hemophiliac brothers who all contract HIV and hepatitis C from blood-clotting protein factor VIII, the story is a composite Lanteigne built up from years of research. This included interviews with infected people and their families, lawyers, politicians, hemophilia nurses and doctors, all of whom became involved in the complex struggle to receive recognition and compensation during the 80s and 90s.

“It’s not a verbatim play, but every single line is inspired by a true story I heard during those interviews,” explains Lanteigne over the phone.

“One of the characters is a lawyer who starts fighting for the truth and pushing for the Krever Inquiry, and he’s married to a hemophilia nurse,” says the playwright. “Through those two characters, we’re able to get at the legal and clinical aspects of the story without its being clunky. The technical details have to stay within the emotional context of the play.”

In crafting the story, Lanteigne says she chose to show rather than tell the complex biomedical details.

“The play opens with a young hemophiliac giving himself an infusion of factor VIII. He’s putting a substance made from the blood of thousands of donors into his vein a few times a week. It’s a scary and powerful image that explains a lot.”

Because blood products like factor VIII were shipped all over the world, similar tainted blood scandals unfolded, with differing results.

“This wasn’t unique to Canada,” she says. “All of the countries that imported blood from the States had scandals the difference is that Canada took much longer to react when we had the information. In France they put health officials in jail for making bad decisions.”

Lanteigne explains that the government’s recalcitrance was partly due to the social stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.

“Homophobia, especially in the early days, shaped people’s attitudes to HIV/AIDS, and even though doctors knew that a virus doesn’t discriminate, it was labelled a gay disease. Once the government realized that they had made all of these terrible choices, they tried to cover it up, because to acknowledge the truth made them liable. Since then, they’ve paid out over $5 billion in compensation.”

Lanteigne says what’s impressed her the most talking to affected families is their ability to forgive.

“I remember sitting in the apartment of a woman who had to bury two sons, both hemophiliacs who died of AIDS, and being struck by her having come to a place of peace and gentleness, and believing in her government and humanity again.

“I learned that denial never serves anyone, and to deny truth always does harm. The only way to find any kind of forgiveness is through love.”

stage@nowtoronto.com | @jordanbimm

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