Brockville’s Michael Healey is Coming (Close to) Home
In 1972, Paul Thompson (who at the time was artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille) and a group of actors ventured out of the city to interview farmers in and around Clinton and Blyth, Ontario. They discussed their lives and their careers, while also occasionally aiding in the chores and fieldwork. This resulted in The Farm Show, a play made up of those interviews which has gone on to be a true Canadian classic. Skip ahead to 1999 and Brockville-raised Michael Healey writes The Drawer Boy, a play inspired by The Farm Show, which itself becomes an instant classic, receiving the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Original Play, and the Governor General’s Literary Award in Drama. The play has been produced extensively across Canada, has been translated into multiple languages for theatres across the globe, and in September it is playing at Thousand Islands Playhouse (TIP). In preparation for the coming production, I had the honour of sitting down to chat with Healey to discuss the play and his career.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Drawer Boy draws some of its inspiration from The Farm Show. You originally found that inspiration while acting one summer at the Blyth Festival, correct?
That summer I did three shows, and Miles Potter, who was in the original Farm Show, directed me in one of those shows. Ted Johns was in The Farm Show, he was an actor in one of the other plays in the season. David Fox was there, he was also in that original show. Janet Amos, who was the artistic director of the Blyth Festival at the time, was also in the original Farm Show. So I had all this access to all of these folks, and I found it really incredibly inspiring. They took me around and they introduced me to some of the farmers that they had interviewed for the original Farm Show. So there was all of that inspiration kind of bubbling around that summer, and I was very lucky to have access to all of those guys.
I had written the first act of the Drawer Boy by the end of that acting gig.
You were raised in Brockville, so the show playing at TIP is relatively close to home; have you had many opportunities to bring your work in theatre to your old stomping grounds before?
The Drawer Boy toured to Brockville in the early aughts when there was a little tour built. Occasionally plays of mine make their way back in that direction. I ran the lights for the Brockville Theatre Guild when I was in high school and then ended up acting in plays for the Guild, and it’s really where I got my start so it’s going to be a really thrilling event. I know I’ve heard from people in Brockville — like my old drama teacher from decades ago is going to come and see the show in Gananoque. There’s going to be a contingent from Brockville who are going to show up. I’m bringing the whole family. We’re going to come for opening night on the sixth. [Tom Barnett] is already nervous about it. [Barnett], played the young guy, Miles, in the original production and so it’s full circle with him playing Angus in this production. So for all those reasons, I’m really looking forward to it.
It must be difficult to make time for the trip considering your current work on a new play in Toronto.
Yes, we open in December [at Crow’s Theatre]. It’s based on a book called [Rogers V. Rogers: The Battle for Control of Canada’s Telecom Empire] by Alexandra Posadzki, and it’s about the Rogers family kind of blowing up in public. So her book is an extremely carefully reported blow-by-blow of the events around that. Then my play, much like The Master Plan, is a satire based on her very careful reporting.
You mentioned that you got your start acting in Brockville; of course you are better known for playwriting now, but do you ever write roles with the intention of giving yourself a good part to play?
Not directly. My career as an actor is mostly in the past; taking over for [Peter Fernandez] in The Master Plan last year just reminded me how hard it is to be an actor. I guess the way I’d answer that question is: I kind of play all the parts when I’m writing it. I have to imagine the story from each point of view, improvise dialogue from each perspective, and so in some ways they all kind of sound like me. So I’m kind of over that impulse — the desire to write myself a good part.
You of course are still quite the active playwright, but The Drawer Boy premiered 26 years ago: how do you feel going and seeing productions of older works now that you’re further distanced from the pieces?
It’s a bit like a kid — all of the plays are a bit like children who have to go out and make their way in the world. So there is a degree of detachment from them, you’re right. It’s always amazing to find out how a director and group of actors interpret a piece of work. I always try to leave as much room as possible for them to express themselves and do their work inside a script. I’m better at that now than I was 26 years ago, so my plays have become less prescriptive in terms of the script that you’ll pick up and read.
The Drawer Boy was your first full length play and you’ve done so much since then, so do you ever find yourself watching a production and cringing at some of the old lines, thinking of ways you could have tackled it differently?
Some of them are less successful than others, but really the thing that’s indisputable is: that play works, and I shouldn’t be messing with it. I feel that way to a greater or lesser degree with most of the plays: that in a general way, they work, and because of that I really shouldn’t mess around too much with them. Even if from a very particular and very subjective standpoint I feel like, “Man I could have done that better, it would have been funnier if I had cut this line…” I just can’t do that. They’re children, as I said, and they’re out there making their way in the world, and I have to respect the fact that every piece of art is imperfect.
Did you have any final thoughts you would like to share?
Alan Dilworth is an incredible director, [Stephen Jackman-Torkoff] is an unbelievable actor, Patrick McManus is a tremendous actor and a very, very old friend. I have no doubt that the production in Gananoque is going to be spectacular. It’s going to be a real peak event for me and my family to be there, so we’re really looking forward to it.
Michael Healey spent a decade as an actor before writing his first play. His second play, ‘The Drawer Boy’, was a surprise success and gave him eight years of runway to learn how to write. He needed every minute. Plays from this period include ‘Generous’, ‘Courageous’, ‘Proud’, ‘The Innocent Eye Test’, ‘Plan B’, and ‘Rune Arlidge’. Recent plays include ‘1979’, ‘The Master Plan’, and premiering in December of 2025, ‘Rogers v Rogers’. In all, his plays have won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for best new play six times. He has adapted works by Chekhov, Molnar, and Hecht & MacArthur for Stratford, Shaw, and Soulpepper. He lives in Toronto and still acts occasionally.
‘The Drawer Boy’ is being presented by Thousand Islands Playhouse and will be playing at the Firehall Theatre from September 5 – 28, 2025. More information and Tickets can be found here.
