A daring opening-night performance, honestly told through top-notch direction and a superb cast
Let’s face it, we’ve all asked ourselves, “How’s my life going?”
In today’s precarious political and social climate – where labour issues, class struggles, and yo-yo economies vie for the daily headlines, how do we find our place? How do we “package” our own lives, desires and relationships?
Abe Koogler’s Fulfillment Centre, now at Coal Mine Theatre, thoughtfully examines our human struggles with regret, loneliness, and lost relationships. The production beautifully reveals how our stories intertwine, delivering a sincere message about choice, chance, and the hope for reconciliation.
Four lonely, flawed characters grapple with existence in the New Mexico desert. Down-on-her-luck former folk singer Suzan (Kristen Thomson) is making her way to Maine. With a broken-down car and no money to fix it, she applies for a job at a giant Amazon-esque shipping centre, where she tries to keep up carting boxes at breakneck speed. She’s desperate for a connection and chats up anyone who’ll listen to her ramblings. Her insecure young manager, Alex (Emilio Viera), struggles to assert his authority and stand up for himself. He’s also not connecting with his alky girlfriend Madeleine (Gita Miller) who recently relocated from New York. They both eye a better life in Seattle.
John, a lonely drifter (Evan Buliung), escaping to a local campground to forget about the girlfriend who kicked him out, is looking for solace and a car that’ll finally start. Both Madeleine and Suzan attempt to cure their loneliness through John, but as their separate relationships with him develop, each woman learns the danger of replacing a real bond with a superficial one.
I’m always impressed by how Coal Mine’s small black-box space is creatively adapted for each production. Despite the venue’s diminutive size, every inch is used to maximum effect. Nick Blais’ remarkably simple set —cardboard boxes scattered on the floor and mounted on a grated back wall—beautifully conveys both time and place. The boxes on the back wall symbolize the warehouse and the cupboards in Alex and Madeleine’s apartment, while those on the floor are cleverly rearranged to become a restaurant table and stools, a desk, a campground, and even the interior and exterior of John’s car. The floor itself is divided into quadrants made from flattened boxes secured with black packing tape—an inspired metaphor for how we compartmentalize our own lives.
Blais’s lighting design subtly captures the emotions of key scenes, using sof,t warm and cool tones contrasted with stark whites and floor-level practical effects.
Des’ree Gray’s evocative costume designs fit each character to a tee. John and Suzan’s jeans and jackets are suitable, worn and dusty. Alex is outfitted for mundane warehouse work, while Madeleine is more stylish in casual and eveningwear befitting her cosmopolitan roots.
Thomas Ryder Payne’s sound design often feels too subtle and uneven. The warehouse and nighttime campground effects work well, but the cityscape sounds in Amelia and Madeleine’s New Mexico apartment seem out of place and far too faint. The restaurant scene, meanwhile, desperately needs background ambiance that never arrives. Even the original vocal music by Rosie Dykstra is mixed so quietly that it’s almost unnoticeable.
Director Ted Dykstra has “mined” excellent performances from his outstanding cast. Their story arcs unfold with clarity, and his deliberate, nuanced direction shapes the dynamics between characters through carefully considered blocking and scene work. Every glance, gesture, and breath feels intentional. Even the scene changes flow seamlessly, as the cast moves and carries boxes on and off with a confident, unforced rhythm.
As Suzan, Kristen Thomson steals every scene she’s in. As one of Canada’s most celebrated actors, she’s in fine form. She’s brash and lovably blunt and hits all her serious and comedic notes with equal power. Although she seems aware of her fading sense of purpose, she easily wins us over with a motherly softness under the drifter’s tough exterior.
Emilio Vieira plays Alex as a high-strung, overworked company man, well-meaning but exhausted. He’s plagued by headaches and struggling to keep up his team’s high standards. He tries to decompress at home with Madeleine, but finds tensions boil over there as well. Although he means well, he’s just not assertive enough.
Gita Miller as Madeleine nails the entitled, ambitious, corporate-minded city girl. She’s often abrasive and opinionated, which fractures many of her relationships.
Evan Buliung is exceptional as John, the enigmatic carpenter desperate for solitude. Buliung is known most recently for his work in musical theatre, but here he showcases outstanding dramatic range. His John is a man of few words, often stumbling to get them out, neither fully open nor closed off. A lonely figure who seems to be drifting towards self-destruction.
Powerful, understated performances from a cast of phenomenal artists at the top of their game.
Raw and surprisingly honest, playwright Abe Koogler’s Fulfillment Centre ventures far beyond a recognizable corporate environment—it’s a metaphor for something more deeply human: spirituality, desires, loneliness, connection, and the true meaning of “fulfillment” in modern life.
Runs approximately 100 minutes with no intermission.
The production runs until December 7 at Coal Mine Theatre, 2076 Danforth Ave., Toronto. For tickets email tickets@coalminetheatre.com
Fulfillment Centre by Abe Koogler
Directed by Ted Dykstra
Set and lighting design by Nick Blais
Costume design by Des’ree Gray
Sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne
Performers: Kristen Thomson, Evan Buliung, Gita Miller, Emilio Vieira
