A Change of Pace

For this entry, I am digressing from my purpose of discussing books to discuss the theatre for a moment. Since it's my blog, I figure I can talk about whatever I want to talk about. Who's going to stop me? Last night, Sean and I went to a play at the Luminato festival. Now, I'm not a big theatre going. It's too expensive, and I hate being crowded into a seat that's too small, so I don't usually go. We went last night because the director and creator of the piece is an acquaintance of ours. Erika Batdorf is a talented writer, performer, and director who also happens to be a Baha'i in Toronto. How could we not go and support her? So, we went.

The play is "One Pure Longing: Tahireh's Search" and it was an hour long performance about finding one's voice. I was just blown away. Now, as I said earlier, I'm not a big theatre goer, and I'm certainly no expert on drama or dramaturgy or anything like that, but I thought this piece was just amazing. It was in no way a linear drama, and there was almost no plot. This made it difficult for me to get into immediately, but before too long I was just completely engrossed.

The play opened with breathing. Just breathing. This went on for so long it was almost painful. The anticipation just built and built and built until someone finally spoke. Well, chanted in Farsi would be more accurate. Many of the words in the play were those of Tahireh, a 19th century Persian poet and early Babi. She unveiled publicly and was eventually killed for it. Her story is that of a woman struggling to find her voice at a time when oppressed peoples all around the world were also struggling to find their voices. "One Pure Longing" is an expression of those people.

The cast was phenomenal. My personal favourite was Meegwun Fairbrother, an Ojibwe actor. He was just amazing. He certainly found his voice. There was African dancing, Farsi chanting, Ojibwe singing and English speaking. What a mix. It all came together beautifully.

I wish the play was on for longer, but hopefully it will come back soon.