David Yee and Chris Thornborrow’s cicadas is an edge-of-the-seat tale that grabs attention from the top of the show and never lets go.
This opening-night Toronto ‘eco-thriller’ premiere is cleverly stylish, sly and often unnerving. Theatrically crafted moments of dialogue and music have been blended together from the ground up in the play’s development. The process works magically. Four musicians inspire the text, and the text inspires the music, creating creepy, goose-pimply moments. Some in the audience lurched forward in their seats, eyes riveted to the stage.
cicadas is also unapologetically Torontonian.
And it’s also a hell of a lot of fun. I’m going to do my best not to give away any spoilers in this timely story that examines the ecology of the future, which seems so closely tied to our present.
Set in 2032 in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods, Trim (Ryan Hollywood) and Janie (Monica Dottor) are drawn to a home with a murky past. Their real estate agent (Ellora Patnaik, who plays several roles) is not entirely forthcoming about the history behind the house. Janie is expecting.
The couple agrees to purchase the house despite its nebulousness. Troubles ensue: a flood with no leak, an ominous voice and cicada bugs are only three issues seeping up through the old floorboards of the house. There’s also a strange, luminous painting that might unlock the secrets behind the house.
Stage Manager Tamara Protic has her work cut out for her to ensure the timing of a thriller comes off exactly. No corners can be cut to create that looming sense of doom hovering in the air.
Her backstage team is duly prepped and ready to go.
Set Designer Jawon Kang creates suggestive focal points in a house draped in fine linen as the audience enters the theatre. Kang selects realistic-looking costumes that people might wear in eight years. One creation catches the eye, and it will be obvious when that happens. Michelle Ramsay’s shadowy lighting bathes the stage in a solidly eerie atmosphere, underscoring the mounting suspense. John Gzowski’s sound design is razor-sharp in its precision in this thriller, where all cues must land like a threat.
Nina-Lee Aquino’s assured direction keeps the play’s pace moving along fluidly. Yes, there’s laughter throughout as the play unfolds; however, I found it more uncomfortable than enjoyable. An apparent truth unfolds, challenging the audience to consider things they may never have been asked to consider before.
Ellora Patniak plays several roles throughout, and she’s terrific in all of them. Patniak provides much of the focus for laughter as a spaced-out doula (wait until you hear her name). She also plays Janie’s mother, Adeline, a mathematics instructor who becomes an important part of understanding what’s going on in the house and the lives of Janie and Trim. There were gasps in the opening-night audience when the truth came out.
Monica Dottor and Ryan Hollyman deliver genuine work as a couple expecting the arrival of their first child. They’re a believable real-life couple. Janie wants the house, and Trim is uncertain if they can afford it. Nevertheless, as life unfolds after the purchase, things go awry, and the couple’s lives take unexpected directions they never saw coming. Dottor and Hollyman have another responsibility in making this live thriller as believable as possible. They have to help build suspense. What I will say, without spoiling anything, is be prepared for shrieks and screams that are unexpected.
There is one moment when the two move appropriately in time to the music. That moment is great fun to watch because it helps build suspense as they move towards the basement door. Kudos to Dottor, who’s listed in the programme as Movement Designer.
In their Creators’ Programme Note, David Yee and Chris Thornborrow wrote about how cicadas began as a grand experiment commissioned by Ottawa’s National Arts Centre and Orchestra.
Presenting and making theatre is often grand and experimental, with results worth it or going back to re-work.
cicadas is a grand experiment that works.
Recommended to see it.
Running time: approximately two hours and 20 minutes with one intermission/interval.
The production runs to May 24 at Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto. For tickets: tarragontheatre.com or call (416) 531-1827
TARRAGON THEATRE, NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE and fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company present
The Toronto premiere of
cicadas created by Chris Thornborrow and David Yee
Director: Nina Lee Aquino
Sound Designer: John Gzowski
Movement Director: Monica Dottor
Set and Costume Designer: Jawon Kang
Lighting Designer: Michelle Ramsay
Stage Manager: Tamara Protic
Musicians: Amahl Arulanandam, Marc Blouin, Nathan Petitpas, Wesley Shen
Performers: Monica Dottor, Ryan Hollyman, Ellora Patnaik
