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Culture Stage

SummerWorks review: This Is How We Got Here

THIS IS HOW WE GOT HERE by Keith Barker. Factory Theatre Mainspace. Aug 7 at 3:15 pm, Aug 8 at 10:15 pm, Aug 12 at 9:15 pm, Aug 14 at 7:45 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN


After a small-town teenager commits suicide, his parents, aunt and uncle deal with their grief in various ways.

Keith Barker’s script has a warm heart, and there’s some tension in the way the narrative unfolds and the characters reveal their secrets. And certainly the theme of teen suicide is an urgent one. But the script is too thin not enough is suggested about the boy’s life to hold our interest, and Barker and director Eli Ham never establish a consistent tone.

Still, the performers, especially by Deborah Drakeford and Martin Julien as the aunt and uncle, are watchable, and Deanna Choi’s sound design and compositions provide moments of lightness, especially in evoking a symbolic fox.

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