SEEDS by Annabel Soutar (Crow’s Theatre). At the Young Centre for the Performing Arts (55 Mill). To Mar 10. $15-$35. 416-866-8666. See Continuing. Rating: NNN
Through a novel combination of investigative journalism and theatre, Seeds brings to life the complex web of legal, scientific and ethical debates surrounding the highly publicized dust-up between Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser (Eric Peterson) and chemical/biotech corporation Monsanto.
In 1997, Monsanto claimed that its patented genetically modified canola plants had been illegally grown on Schmeiser’s land. He denied pirating the seeds and suggested that his crop had been contaminated by GM seeds blown from neighbouring farms. He became a prominent advocate of farmers’ rights and a critic of the corporate ownership of life.
The play introduces the plethora of stakeholders from the ensuing legal drama. Monsanto lawyers, Schmeiser and his wife, biotech lobbyists, scientists, academics, citizens rights groups and others all get involved in the controversy and have a different take on what happened and who is responsible.
Liisa Repo-Martell portrays playwright Annabel Soutar in interviews with these people, and all the dialogue is taken from her recordings or from court transcripts. Stutters, stammers and flubbed lines make the dialogue very realistic, but this sometimes clashes with director Chris Abraham’s symbolic blocking.
The set – a jumble of desks and computers representing an amalgam of lab and legal spaces, with video projections depicting Schmeiser’s farm – lacks focus, and at nearly three hours the show feels much too long. An awkward audience interview at the beginning could be cut, along with a few extraneous scenes.
But Soutar shows how messy and far-reaching controversies in Big Science have become, and how the restructuring of age-old relationships by new biotechnologies is being enforced and resisted. She wisely avoids heaping all the criticism on Monsanto, questioning Schmeiser’s motives and story as well.
