THE ROAD TO PARADISE by Jonathan Garfinkel and Christopher Morris, directed by Morris, with Beau Dixon, Christine Horne, Andrew Lawrie, Cheri Maracle, Samiya Mumtaz, Parwin Mushtael and Sanjay Talwar. Presented by Human Cargo and Crow’s Theatre at Buddies in Bad Times (12 Alexander). Previews Saturday (November 14) and Sunday (November 15) at 8 pm, opens Tuesday (November 17) and runs to November 28, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee November 22 at 2:30 pm. $20-$37. 416-975-8555, buddiesinbadtimes.com.
These days there’s no such thing as a local war. No matter where battles are fought, they affect ordinary people and military forces around the globe.
The Road To Paradise, written by Jonathan Garfinkel and director Christopher Morris, is a three-part story looking at a child suicide bomber in Pakistan, a pair of Canadian soldiers and their wives in Petawawa, and an Afghan woman and her son who emigrate to Toronto following a family tragedy.
The writers tie the tales together, characters crossing over from one narrative to the other.
“I knew I had to handle the Afghan war in some fashion but didn’t want to tell a soldier’s story,” recalls Morris, whose previous work with his company, Human Cargo, was the eloquent drama Night, which toured internationally. “Then, in 2007, I heard a CBC interview with a Canadian woman whose husband was fighting in Afghanistan, and I got a sense of how the war affected women and children.
“I didn’t want the script to be a one-sided story, simply a rah-rah patriotic piece, so I also decided to explore the other side of the conflict by speaking to Afghan national army troops and including the Taliban viewpoint.”
From there, he said, it was “a wild and wonderful journey” that he took with playwright and poet Garfinkel (House Of Many Tongues), who teaches creative writing at the National Theatre School.
The two spent several years visiting Pakistan, Afghanistan and CFB Petawawa, the locations for Paradise’s action, meeting with people and hearing their experiences.
“The emotional intensity has been incredible in terms of being allowed into those lives and stories, bearing witness to trauma,” notes Garfinkel. “What do you do in the face of so much suffering? At the same time, so many people have been generous with us, despite their tales of darkness and violence. I look at war and the world differently now.”
After an earlier version of the show, called Dust, played at Calgary’s Alberta Theatre Projects in 2013, the writers decided to revise the script and add characters who were only hinted at previously.
“Now all the people we meet think they are going to a better place, all believe they’ll achieve happiness, whatever road they’re on,” says Morris, also an actor who performed in Oedipus and The Diary Of Anne Frank at Stratford this past summer. “I see them on a quest, trying to get somewhere.
“And economics is another theme of the play, with characters having a financial incentive for their actions. The mother of the child suicide bomber, for instance, is offered money by the Taliban for the loss of her son, and Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan receive tax-free danger pay on top of their salary. Most of the people we spoke to love being soldiers, but there is that extra perk.”
The casting for the production is as important for Garfinkel and Morris as the script itself. The actors include Canadian performers as well as Pakistan’s Samiya Mumtaz and Afghanistan’s Parwin Mushtael.
“Christopher and I were visitors to the places where the play is set,” smiles Garfinkel. “Because we’re not from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, working with people from those countries gives the play more substance and weight.”
“What’s great is that everyone in the company plays three different cultures all the actors speak Dari, an Afghan language, in the show’s third section,” adds Morris.
“There’s been an exciting cross-pollination in the rehearsal room for everyone we all get a chance to rub off on each other.”
jonkap@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto
