the children (might die?) at Centaur Theatre
An anxious mood is set immediately as you walk into the Centaur theatre’s auditorium, as it is unexpectedly filled with smoke. You then are unnerved to find out that the play is set after a catastrophic nuclear accident at a power plant. So at first it seems the story is about the fallout of the people and scientists who live nearby with “radiation hanging in the air like filthy glitter”. However, the conversation goes on to explore relationships, aging and “what have we bequeathed the younger generations?”.
Well-known actress Fiona Reid (Rose) liked the play because, “Lucy Kirkwood’s writing is a departure from those plays about ‘people of a certain age’ who are declining”. It is “funny and sexy” as it dissects the relationship among “three friends who are very much alive” who “inhabit a world full of humor and wit”. She doesn’t believe that they are past their sell-by date. The “play is about going forward”. Reid, playing Rose, does an admirable, funny, even sexy, believable job. She (along with Hazel and Robin) used to work at the nuclear site, and after 38 years has dropped by seemingly unexpectedly, “just to catch up”.
We don’t realize that scientists suffer over the jobs they have to do or may have done which affects the world safety. Nuclear scientists who built the plant feel they are responsible for what happens. Young scientists may even be risking their lives to save others. Laurie Paton as Hazel and Geordie Johnson as Robin relate easily to each other like long-married people, as they wrangle with this conundrum while trying to live in their present contaminated state – you can’t eat anything, even something as simple as a salad, without testing the soil for radiation.
Maria Popoff, the stage manager, told us about her job, and it sounded alot like conducting an orchestra. She is calling light and sound cues, making sure water comes out when it is supposed to, props are where they should be, and that actors are in the right place at the right time. The director’s job is finished on opening night, and then it is up to the stage manager to pick up the baton for the rest of the run. Popoff’s position requires a lot of psychology to get along with people (anticipating actor’s needs), as well as keeping track of a myriad of details. They must keep a tight rein on the show throughout the run.
Director Eda Holmes remarked on the plays’ themes of aging and the world we leave behind, “in life, time only moves one way” and then goes on to puts out the question, “What are we willing to give up for the next generation?”.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that Robin’s nickname for Hazel is “Haze”, which is what suffocates you after a nuclear explosion at a power plant.
Location 453 St-Francois-Xavier
corner: Notre-Dame
Tel: 514-288-3161
Dates: til Nov 25
www.centaurtheatre.com
Metro: Place d’Armes