Storefront Fringe – Suspicious Activity
In Tabia Lau’s new Pride and Prejudice-inspired play, there are two possible endings. And after seeing it once, you’re going to want to watch it again—not just because you’ll want to know what the other ending was, but also because of the witty script, incredible chemistry between actors, and characters that you immediately root for.
Suspicious Activity has an all female cast—playwright Tabia Lau shines as Jess (a patrol officer based loosely on Mr. Darcy), accompanied by Lauren Maykut, Leah Sutton, and Crissy Voinov. Lau says she knew all of the performers before casting them, and you can tell—the four actors play off each other beautifully.
The opening scene perfectly sets the stage for the rest of the show—Jess and Mary meet when Jess notices Mary sitting a little too close to the edge of a bridge—suspicious activity, as Jess calls it. Their conversation is awkward, but their chemistry is clear pretty much immediately. In a beautiful moment, the two dance together, silently, before going their separate ways.
While Suspicious Activity is being marketed as an LGBT-adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, one of my favourite things about it was that it featured gay characters whose identity didn’t centre entirely around their orientation. All the women are full, complicated, and human—they worry about their jobs, their friendships, and whether or not they are leaving a positive mark on society.
Lau hopes to keep developing Suspicious Activity after the Fringe. Although the format of the Fringe is well-suited to premiering new work, I did find myself wishing that the play was longer. At only 45 minutes, it felt like the action was moving a little too quickly, and I would have loved to see the relationships between the women grow more gradually over time. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Lau and for the further development of this piece in the future. In the meantime, I highly recommend you check out Suspicious Activity in Venue 1. You don’t want to miss this one!