Longtime Theatre Arts Mainstay Nicholas Jupp’s latest play, Let Me Go, premiered this week at the outfit’s Pond Playhouse in the bucolic Halifax suburb of Jollimore.
Directed by TAG president Angela Butler, Let Me Go is an inspired piece of writing that melds a robbery in a down-and-out part of an East Coast City with an unexpected and decidedly uneasy love story. Think of the 1950 classic Film Noir Heist flick The Asphalt Jungle or 1972’s Robert Redford The Hot Rock, with a little The Way We Were thrown in, and you might get the idea.
Jupp’s five characters are framed by a dive bar in a dodgy part of town. Director Butler gets credit for the burnished wood set design; the TAG set-building crew did a great job constructing a worn-out drinking establishment that serves as the backdrop for planning and executing the heist.
Butler’s direction of Jupp’s writing takes the play down a different path. A more masculine approach would revel in the cat-and-mouse mechanics of how the heist went off. Her method is to deconstruct what went down in post-heist discussions. The result sets up the scaffolding for a longer second act where a possible love story and the eventual fates of the five characters become clear.
Jeff White as Ryan—the characters all go by first names only—masterminds the plan but doesn’t actually take part. His gruff exterior and hair-trigger anger add complexity to the proceedings. He also provides a Robin Hood-like moral centre to the play.
Kate Brooks’ Emily carries the bulk of the necessary emotion in the play. She also must contain the greatest changes, unleashing them in the second act with unexpected power. Jocelyn Covert’s Sonia is the most puzzling character, portrayed as a mish-mash of a motormouthed seductress and recovering addict. She delivers an energetic performance that helps lighten the tone.
Casey Gray and Emma Ross as the sort-of-couple Mike and Ashley play the wild cards, up for anything and everything. Their occasionally loopy interplay helps anchor the narrative in a more immediate kind of realism. They also sprinkle their performances with a wonderful kind of random joy. It’s delightful to witness!
All of the five characters inhabit a world where they have been left behind by the rest of the world; their low-level robberies of other questionable operations make for a weirdly attractive demimonde.
When the heist goes off-course—but not enough to derail the narrative—the play takes quite a turn towards the end of the first act. The second act is a roller-coaster of another kind that reveals an entirely different framing of the character’s activities and just why they may never have been caught in the first place.
With some neat flashes of humour—and some jarring costume choices by costume lead Cathy Mackasey—Let Me Go even dallies a bit with self-consciousness by referring to the heist as akin to putting on a theatre performance, complete with costumes and conflict.
With five fine performances from the actors and brisk direction from Angela Butler, Let Me Go is yet another strong entry in the Theatre Arts Guild’s long—since 1931—and distinguished dramatic history.
Director/Set Design/Sound Design: Angela Butler
Producer: Joshua Law
Writer: Nicholas Jupp
Stage Manager: Esther VanGorder
Assistant Stage Manager: Palma Heming
Sound and Lighting Operator: Bill Barnaby
Costume Lead: Cathy Mackasey
Props: Liana Rizatdinova
Performers: Ryan: Jeff White; Emily: Kate Brooks; Sonia: Jocelyn Covert; Mike: Casey Gray; Ashley: Emma Ross
At TAG’s Pond Playhouse in Halifax, 6 Parkhill Road until October 3, 2026. For tickets: (902) 477-2663 or visit tagtheatre.com
