PEI Pay-What-You- Can Theatre Festival opened with a bang with 7 Stories at The Guild in Charlottetown. The festival is co-founded by Rosie Shaw and Adam Brazier, and aims to create accessible theatre experiences for all Islanders in winter seasons. From last night’s attendance of 7 Stories by Canadian playwright Morris Panych, it is indeed clear that Islanders are ready to brave the weather and begin once again to stir from our long winter slumbers.
Seven large windows and a brick backdrop create our setting and it is here we first meet our protagonist, known only as The Man (Mark Fraser). The Man, a well-dressed businessman, has climbed up onto the seventh story of a building, panicked and nervous, in a desperate attempt to end his own life by throwing himself off the ledge. The only problem is that the overhang is busily peppered with the stories of its colourful inhabitants, who are too self-involved to notice the man, each one setting him up as an uninvited conversationalist in the other side of their own complicated story.
From lawyer Rodney and free-spirited Charlotte (Adam Brazier / Melissa Kramer) who are the firsts to interact with the troubled man, the themes in 7 Stories are varied and complex, leading the audience into a number of existential questions. While each new character brings with him (or her) their sparkling personality, personal confessions are not far behind. Even the more serious notes of suicide and religion are addressed in droll fashion. “Death is not the least bit interesting,” admits one of the characters.
Each actor is worth noting, but standouts include producer Rosie Shaw, who plays party girl Jennifer and centenarian Lillian in pyjamas, whose dementia and mindless calm seem to resonate with the man. Punctuated in comedic bursts by playboy Percy (Adam Brazier) and interior design fail, Joan (Becca Griffin), the audience roared from beginning to end.
Director Donnie MacPhee has put together an amazing show with seamless blends of characters, makeup and costumes. In the glow of slowly shifting lights, 7 Stories asks every member of the audience, is life worth living? While we all must suffer through the dullness of our own quotidian mash, it is well worth contemplating the values that each character brings forward, from chance to identity, truth, friendship, and the movement of time. A life’s journey is combined with the fissure of disappointment and suspension of belief —and the results are profoundly moving.
I encourage everyone to go see this production. With hilarious uncertainty, 7 Stories dabbles in exuberance by finding life on every path, and delving into the meaning of existence more and more as we go on from the cheeky psychiatrist to the wandering souls of the party-goers, and eventually turning to a telling monologue by the man himself.
It is lovely to see what these players have put together, and furthermore, that they have done it in an attempt to make PEI theatre accessible to all. You can support community theatre by seeing 7 Stories Thursday, March 7th through Saturday, March 9th at the Guild in Charlottetown, or by checking out the play reading, Mustard on Sunday, March 10th at the Haviland Club.