Despite Close Quarters, ‘Family Container’ Cannot Be Contained
Terra (Jarena Lee) has fallen on hard times. Her case worker, Liz (Sierra Zawacki), is asking her to leave her current home at a women’s abuse shelter to make room for new tenants. Meanwhile, her abusive ex (Jonathan Campbell) has just been released from prison, she is meeting with a problematic potential landlord (Matthew Davis), and she is single-handedly raising her five children—Mya (Yashia Allen), James (Iffy Maduabuchi), Anaella (Reese Heisterkamp), Marcus (Michelle Nyamekye), and Sophia (Shanique Peart)—with a sixth baby on the way.
After a workshop reading last year, Seymour A. Irons’ Family Container is playing once again at the Tett Centre. It’s the final show in Theatre Kingston’s season, presented in cooperation with See More Wake Up, Irons’ theatre company. The space is tight—with two seating banks that feel entirely consumed by the production’s set, the action seems to scoop around you as an audience member. Set in the shelter, I could start to feel the claustrophobia and agitation that might be induced by a life spent with no respite from your family. As both director and playwright, Irons handles the tight space really well. The entire family is almost constantly on stage. Although this occasionally created some sight issues, the performers constantly bumping into each other while bickering really ups the stakes.
The family’s relationship is very believable—despite constant quarrel, there is always a love and respect for each other. This is never more evident than in interactions between Lee and Allen. Being the eldest child of a single parent, Mya helps take care of the other children and her own mother throughout the show. But as a teenager, Mya also makes some awful decisions and can be generally mean to her family. Allen captures this balance well, and Lee perfectly displays the frustration and stress of dealing with a teen while also doing a magnificent job of showing she cares as a mother.
A second relationship that plays out very well is that of Marcus and Sophia. Nyamekye and Peart have a great handle of byplay, always staying in character when not actively participating in the primary action. They chase each other around or fight over a toy, then burst back into the scene carrying the side action into the primary conflict. Nyamekye frequently got laughs for their innocent and childlike deliveries of lines involving some mature language.
Alongside the family’s squabbles are a plethora of larger issues which the play addresses in glances. On a few occasions, Terra is faced with microaggressions from authority figures in her life. The extent of the interaction is usually just Lee giving a knowing look somewhere into the audience, it receives a few chuckles, and then is not addressed again. This approach does not offer in-depth insight or commentary on any issue in particular, but instead works great for introducing the reality of these microaggressions to the audience.
Family Container portrays a household dealing with a list of struggles long enough to fill this review and more. It can be overwhelming just to keep track of what the family is dealing with at any given moment. But at its heart is a beautiful picture of people who are working through difficult times, where you never lose faith that they’ll get through it together.
Theatre Kingston‘s production of ‘Family Container’ in cooperation with See More Wake Up plays until April 6, 2025 at the Tett Centre. Find more information here.
This review has been co-produced with the Kingston-Whig Standard.
