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Wights, a Crow's Theatre Commission, Canadian Premiere

Now on stage at Crow's Theatre, 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto

Dahlia Katz

Geoffrey Coulter, actor, director, adjudicator, arts educator

"A clever script and novel staging see four loquacious actors diving headfirst into family drama of a Connecticut couple and their friends coming to terms with language and its capacity to hurt people. Set during the 2024 U.S. election run-up, this provocative tale is sometimes confusing, ambiguous and sharply divisive. It’s a racially charged allegory challenging our notions of relationships, society, even our own reality, as it unravels to an ending you’ll never see coming. Really!"

Hat’s off to Toronto’s Crows Theatre for their increasingly eclectic offerings of plays and musicals and for giving up-and-coming artists a chance to showcase their work. This company is, arguably, at the forefront of Toronto’s theatre scene, premiering some of the most compelling (and immensely successful) post-pandemic works. From the stunning 19th-century retelling of Britain’s first Black actor in “Red Velvet” to “Bad Roads,” a shocking tale of the horrors in war-torn Ukraine, to last season’s smash hit, “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,”, something is happening at Crow’s.

It's no surprise, then, that the company celebrates playwright Liz Appel’s professional debut by showcasing her dense four-hander ‘Wights,’ a societal skewering of themes of racism, sexism, relationships and American social and political division – even the play’s title winks at a possible preternatural outcome. Some may feel it strange, shocking, disturbing even. But it is undeniably engaging.

In a suburb of Newhaven, two couples become consumed with semantics, politics and a fear of losing control. It’s the night before English Professor Anita Knight’s job interview to head Yale’s newly formed Centre for Reparative Thought and Justice. Her friends Bing and Celine have come to help her prepare for her presentation. They all seem to lead a happy, ordered life. Husband Danny, a lawyer in the big city, comes home, dishes on his day in court, and questions Anita’s speech as being too racially charged, devaluing her notions of equity, diversity and inclusion. As Danny sits down to dinner, Anita continues to rehearse her presentation, with Bing playing devil’s advocate to her pithy style. Celine is more encouraging.

What ensues is a battle of ideological supremacy, as an unknown future lurks just outside. No one listens to each other, differences are irreconcilable. Everyone’s world begins to crack, and their masks of polite social conversation dissolve closer and closer to the underlying truth and revealing darker core beliefs, making a polite dinner impossible. Bing and Celine rush off leaving an air of unease in their wake.

Appel takes a deep dive into the power of language and how it builds and bursts our connections. Her script never lets up, words and bodies moving at warp speed. Two and a half hours gone in a flash.

A lot is going on in this play as Director Abraham leads us on a surreal and unexpected journey with shocking and ambiguous results! He expertly directs his actors with nuance and intensity in equal measure. Conversations spiral into chaos as fantasies of control begin to slip. He keeps his actors continuously moving around the stage, navigating all sides of a large central kitchen island. The rapid-fire pace of the dialogue seems intentional, this quartet of performers barely coming up for air. This didn’t always work for me; heated arguments between Danny and Anita became loud and often unintelligible. The fact that we sit around the main playing area means the actor’s backs will always be facing some part of the audience. A beat in the conversation, a brief pause to think and change the rhythm would have been a welcome dynamic.

The acting company is all excellent, led by Rachel Leslie as Anita, a no-nonsense academic, mother, and wife, embittered by her father’s betrayal while still wanting to uphold his success as an academic of colour. She is to lead the university’s new enlightened centre for racial reparation. Leslie is thoroughly believable and engaging, indefatigable, smart, and forthright. Her energy never lets up. She is a great actress!

Danny is a soft-hearted lawyer, played with wit, charm and natural stage presence by Ari Cohen. Like Leslie, you can’t take your eyes off Cohen. His performance is effortless, running the gamut from boyish charmer to domineering, frightened husband. He has some of the longest speeches in the show and doesn’t miss a beat or a word. I’d never heard of Mr. Cohen before, but he’s made me his newest fan!

Bing is portrayed by Richard Lee, the alternative thinker who’s bound for a new job in China but hasn’t yet told his pregnant partner, Celine. Lee is bubbly and enthusiastic but shouts too much, another example of how a modulated voice might have added more dimension to his thinking and motivations.

Celine, played by Sochi Fried, has the least amount to say in the show, and that’s okay. She has lovely bits of subtlety in her brief time on stage. Her glances, nods, and reactions are superb. She’s charming and thoroughly invested in her relationships with Bing and Anita. There is no screaming from her, but she has a quieter presence to offset the growing tumult around her.

Set and props designer Joshua Quinlan has created an immersive, wonderfully detailed household in the Crow’s black box space. The audience sits on four sides of an elevated rectangular kitchen island (with a sink of running water), light fixtures, stools, a table and chairs. The kitchen floor and island counter cleverly double as flat video screens and are used throughout for haunting projections and texts. Smaller set pieces at floor level on three sides of the main area, complete the house: the rest of the kitchen, front door and foyer, and living room. An innovative approach that makes us truly feel like invisible observers mired in the action. My only quip is that from my vantage point, due to the rectangular design of the main space, areas like the kitchen table and front door were too distant, and the kitchen island was creating sight line issues. Everyday items, from plates to salt and pepper shakers, microwaves, dish towels, even well-worn chairs and blankets, all made the house look lived-in and inviting.

Ming Wong’s costume design is contemporary and appropriate. Danny’s suit, Anita’s overalls, Bings pullover and Celine’s jeans made these actors seem more like people you’d pass in the street. They’re real. No doubt about the intent.

Imogen Wilson’s lighting design is clever. I wasn’t sure about the suspended fluorescent bulbs above the island combined with traditional incandescent instruments. There was noticeable flickering as the play progressed, which I learned later was intentional. Main coverage over each playing area was excellent; however, there were shadowy faces around the kitchen table.

Thomas Ryder Payne’s nuanced sound design provided an almost imperceptible but consistent drone that increased as conversations devolved. Incidental beeping and clicking electronic sound effects seemed out of place but, again, later revealed how necessary they were to the piece.

Video designer Nathan Bruce cleverly projects images of social media and celebrities, even the occasional blood splatter on the kitchen floor and countertops. The text also tells us where we are and when. It’s a great concept, but the main island's size often obstructed what many images were on the floor beneath.

“Wights” is not what you expect. It’s a stark, satirical, edgy social commentary. It’s transformative, disturbing, mindful and clever. If you love live theatre and like to be challenged, provoked and surprised, you shouldn’t miss this show. Whether you understand its bleak message or not, you’re sure to leave the theatre talking about it…and isn’t that what good theatre should do?


Running time: Running time, two hours and thirty-five minutes with one intermission.

The production runs until February 9 at Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave, Toronto.

For tickets call the Box Office at 647.341.7390 ext. 1010 or email crowstheatre.com.

“Wights” by Liz Appel
Directed by Chris Abraham
Produced by Crow’s
Set by Joshua Quinlan
Costumes by Ming Wong
Lighting designed by Imogen Wilson
Sound design by Thomas Ryder Payne
Video Designs by Nathan Bruce
Props by Samantha Little
Performers: Rachel Leslie, Ari Cohen, Richard Lee and Sochi Fried

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