New play deals with complex issues while asking provocative questions.
Play deals with complexities of human emotions in darkly comic way
A decade is a long time to wait for a new play from a playwright who is considered one of Canada’s most prolific and most popular.
But that’s exactly how long it took for George F. Walker — who was named a member of the Order of Canada in the interim — to write and release a new work for the stage. The 2010 play And So It Goes tells the story of a middle-class couple whose lives are impacted by the recession and their daughter’s schizophrenia.
Downstage artistic producer Simon Mallett says he has long been a fan of George G. Walker’s writing so he jumped at the chance to stage And So It Goes in Calgary where it will make its western Canadian premiere.
“He writes some provocative work and asks a lot of provocative questions but does it in a darkly comic way that’s very engaging and draws you in” Mallett explains.
In 2006 Downstage produced another Walker work Heaven which was the last play Walker wrote before taking a 10-year hiatus from theatre. The production was controversial because of its afterlife theme and CanStage where the play premiered moved the show from its main stage to a secondary playing space because of the controversy.
During his break from theatre Walker was writing for film and television including the CBC series This Is Wonderland . But Mallett says Walker hasn’t lost his theatrical touch which always referenced the film genre .
“His writing has always been quite filmic in nature and that’s definitely been maintained in this work which is a nice thing for the Motel space. The scenes are quite intimate and still as they would be in film” Mallett explains adding that what sets Walker’s work apart is his ability to find a biting sense of humour.
Mallett says the new piece “is very much a play of our time” but that Walker didn’t sit down and write for the sake of writing.
“He didn’t set out just to write a play. Suddenly there was something to write a play about when looking at the state of the world and the sickness that’s ailing it” Mallett explains.
“I was struck by its resonance with the scene in Calgary. A lot of people are experiencing what these characters are experiencing after the economic downfall.”
And So It Goes tells the story of Ned (David LeReaney) and Gwen (Karen Johnson-Diamond) and their schizophrenic daughter Karen (Georgina Beaty). Because of the recession Ned loses his job as a financial analyst becomes a pastry chef and eventually transforms into a street-side prophet. That in itself is an example of the somewhat absurd and tongue-in-cheek sensibility with which Walker colours the show. As Gwen swirls along with Ned in his downward spiral she conjures up the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut (Joel Cochrane) to seek his counsel and “begins to take solace in his unorthodox therapy.”
The play’s title actually references a phrase Vonnegut used more than 100 times in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five in conjunction with death and dying. The phrase also reflects what Mallett says is one of the play’s central themes: how people deal with loss and how they go about moving on from where they were to something new.
“Having a house and a car seems important when you are inside your life. But how do you continue to go on and find a sustained level of contentment and happiness if those things are lost?” Mallett asks.
“What do you have to lose to gain clarity about what’s important?”
Mallett says Karen’s schizophrenia fits into the play’s overall theme because it asks questions about where people place their priorities and serves as a metaphor for how Walker sees the world and the “illness” affecting it.
One of the main challenges Mallet has faced in directing And So It Goes has been to “hold on to the bizarre and funny qualities in the script while still remaining connected to the human truth of the characters.”
“We can ask provocative questions in a lot of different ways. Sometimes we can make people laugh and sometimes we can make them cry” Mallett says.
However it’s done so long as the play “provokes thought sparks dialogue and leaves a lasting impression” then Downstage has accomplished what it has set out to do.
