by Dorianne Emmerton
Even Darkness is Made of Light (Not My Pig, Not My Farm Productions) is a one woman play about suicide. This sounds like my own personal theatre festival hell. Instead, this show was like a little bit of heaven.
Edwidge Jean-Pierre is a force of nature. It’s impossible not to pay her your full attention when she’s onstage playing Carrie, or any of the number of characters who interact with her. Besides Carrie she also plays Carrie’s love interest Carlos, her psychiatrist, her geography teacher, her sister and her school friends.
The love of Carrie’s life – the Edward to her Bella, as she describes it, letting us know right away this is a character in her early teens – has died falling off a cliff. This is a catalyst for Carrie’s teen angst to reach critical mass.
The best moment, for me and my warped sense of humour, is a musical montage of the various ways to commit suicide, all done in mime. It was hilarious and Edwige’s physical ability with mime is extraordinary.
There’s not a single prop or set piece in the show and Carrie does some unusual things, small little things people do that don’t lend themselves well to mime, but each one was picture perfect. It’s a good thing there was no scenery because she would have chewed it up.
This wasn’t farce or anything though: the comedy led the audience to a place where we could be touched. Ultimately it was poignant, and the ending did not cheat the play, as can happen all too often when dealing with an intensely emotional subject like suicide.
The sound design was also excellent. They used contemporary music of the indie rock flavour – which all happened to be songs I love. Each segment of song was perfectly chosen to hit the note of the scene.
I don’t usually recommend spending much time around fourteen year olds, but Carrie is a character well worth spending an hour with
Details
– Even Darkness is Made of Light as part of Summerworks, at The Theatre Centre
60 min
| August 5th | 7:30 PM |
| August 7th | 5:00 PM |
| August 8th | 10:00 PM |
| August 11th | 5:00 PM |
| August 13th | 10:00 PM |
| August 15th | 2:30 PM |
– All individual Summerworks tickets are $10 at the door (cash only)
Advance tickets are $11 ($10+$1 convenience fee)
Tickets can be purchased:
-Online at artsboxoffice.ca
-by Phone at 416.504.7529
– in person at the Arts Box Office (located at Theatre Passe Muraille 16 Ryerson Avenue, One block North East of Bathurst & Queen)
– Several money-saving passes are available if you plan to see multiple shows