Festival Players’ “The Drawer Boy” explores loss and reconciliation in a location all too familiar to its audiences
From TIP producing Ken Cameron’s Harvest, to Festival Players producing Michael Healy’s The Drawer Boy, there exists a trend in rural Canadian theatre of matching the type of theatre produced to the place in which it’s being produced, and the people for which it’s being produced. Both myself and audience members alike very much enjoy this trend, as it is a means of connecting to a theatre’s audience on a very intimate level. This play, alley-staged in The Studio Theatre, tells the story of Miles (Marcel Stewart), an actor, that stays on a farm in rural Ontario to learn about the practice from farmers and friends – Morgan (Benedict Campbell) and Angus (John Dolan) – for a theatrical piece in his collective’s upcoming performance. While staying there, however, he inadvertently assists in uncovering the truth about Morgan and Angus’s shared reality on the farm.
A play that truly embodies the expression, “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story”, The Drawer Boy is a touching tale about how to cope with unexpected catastrophes that permanently change the course of one’s life. When Morgan and Angus were young, a freak accident happened to Angus that caused him to lose his memory, changing his life forever. Now, Angus is the shell of the man he once was, which was beautifully portrayed by Dolan’s vulnerable and truthful performance. Morgan, though, undergoes the most dramatic shift in character once the truth of the events is revealed. It becomes increasingly clear that Morgan has a genuine love for his friend, and will do anything to protect him, both from external dangers and his own past. Miles, the thespian that initially invades their home, ends up becoming a friend that is welcome at their house because of the help he provided in the primary conflict of the play. The Drawer Boy suggests that perhaps theatre does have the power to heal because of its demand for vulnerability and truth, which was the only thing preventing Morgan and Angus from having a harmonious friendship with one another.
On the wall adjacent to the audience was a beautiful and intricate chalk drawing of a vast rural Ontario landscape. The winding hills, clouds, trees and hills coupled with the simple but effective lighting made it easy for us to get lost with the actors in the vastness of the space to which they were looking. Besides this feature, the entirety of the play’s action took place in a kitchenette equipped with a round table and 3 chairs. The kitchenette itself was an impressive contraption in its abilities to both store a smoke machine and provide running water. The cherry on top, though, was the musician George Meanwell who complimented the scene transitions with a few bars of sweet folk music, which further situated the audience in the culture in which this story is unfolding.
Awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language drama, The Drawer Boy is an exploration of how people cope with trauma and irretrievable loss, all against the backdrop of a rural farm in a post-WW2 Canada. Festival Players of Prince Edward County will be playing The Drawer Boy until August 18. Click here for information on show times and ticketing.