Advertisement

Culture Stage

Just won’t stop

STOPHEART by Amy Lee Lavoie, directed by Ron Jenkins, with Amitai Marmorstein, Martin Julien, Elizabeth Saunders, Vivien Endicott-Douglas and Garret C. Smith. Presented by Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst). Opens tonight (Thursday, May 9) and runs to May 26, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2 pm. $32-$42. 416-504-9971. See listing.


Probably the last place you’d expect to find a Romeo And Juliet balcony scene is in South Porcupine, Ontario.

Playwright Amy Lee Lavoie, born in that small Timmins suburb, sets her latest script there. Stopheart focuses on Elian Fink, a teenage outsider unsure of his emotional desires or how to deal with his peculiar parents, who see themselves as if they were living in a Hollywood movie.

It’s not his best friend, July, who so fascinates Elian that he launches into Shakespeare’s famous balcony scene. Instead, the object of his affection is her brother, Bear, recently released from jail and standing on July’s fire escape.

“When we meet Elian, he’s in the grip of numbness,” says Lavoie, a graduate of the National Theatre School. “At the start of the play he’s bored and sluggish, but when he sees Bear he discovers beauty and makes a choice about his life.

“July is in love with him but somehow knows it won’t work out he loves her as a friend but nothing more. At some level, she needs him to be gay so that she feels the rejection less. The result is an unbalanced triangle, with Elian not sure of who he is but convinced that he has to follow beauty no matter where it leads him.”

Elian and July are both aware that they’re outcasts in this isolated community – something the playwright understands. Lavoie grew up in the mining town, daughter of the local police chief in a close-knit Italian family. She had no exposure to theatre until she went on a school trip to Stratford and fell in love with live performance.

“While Elian isn’t sure how to deal with his feelings but knows he has to pursue urges to which he can’t put words, July escapes through social media and has an insane relationship with chat rooms. She’s a little chubby, a puberty train wreck abandoned by her horrible mother. Luckily, she’s embraced by the Fink family.”

Unlike the teens, Elian’s parents, Goldie and Cricket, have discovered their own version of happiness. Poor but deeply in love, they look at life as if they were living, as Lavoie puts it, “in a Paramount picture.”

“They escape through movie-like scenarios he becomes a John Wayne figure, though he’s so gentle in reality, while she’s caught up with Gone With The Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara. Goldie, born with a hole in her heart, tries to prepare her family for her death by practising her funeral with them.”

Stopheart’s darkly comic tone is one that the playwright has cultivated in previous works such as SummerWorks hits Rabbit Rabbit and Me Happy, the latter co-written with Matthew Mackenzie.

“There’s always a vein of humour in my writing that can frighten people,” admits Lavoie. “But to strip comedy out of life, even in its darkest moments, is wrong. This play treads the line between the darkness and the light and turns on a dime from one to the other.

“I hope audiences feel the permission to laugh if they want, as well as to respond to the emotions of the play. The laughter never makes fun of the characters or what they’re going through, but is connected to their emotions.

“It’s a balance,” she says. “The ball’s always hanging in the air.”

Interview Clips

Writing Stopheart as a graduation piece for The National Theatre School:

Download associated audio clip.

Factory Theatre as a home base:

Download associated audio clip.

jonkap@nowtoronto.com

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted