REVIEW: Spit at Here for Now Theatre Company
There’s lots you can find out about a person through their saliva. Their parentage, their physical attributes, their allergies. Their lore. And, with some context, their trauma.
Spit by Noelle Brown starts with a single vial of the stuff, and what follows is a painful reckoning on both personal and national levels. Alannah (Fiona Mongillo) wants to find her birth mother. Nicole (Siobhan O’Malley) and Jessica (Seána O’Hanlon) are reeling from the death of their own. A horrible family secret lingers in the Irish air, heavy and sad.
Somewhere in contemporary Ireland these three women come to terms with the atrocities inflicted upon young, pregnant women by the Catholic Church, learning together the ramifications of Irish mother and baby homes. Unwed Irish women were forced to carry babies to term and then often had those babies taken from them, whisked away to adoptive families or group homes. Alannah becomes a mouthpiece for an evident wealth of research by Brown — in her voice we learn over 100,000 women went through these homes, and records of their time spent there were often destroyed or otherwise tampered with. It’s a grim history of abuse and unchecked power: the echoes of Canadian residential schools peal loudly.
The trio of women navigating Brown’s text onstage are uniformly strong. Mongillo’s Alannah is just right, curious and sad, and O’Malley and O’Hanlon are a completely believable pair of bickering sisters. Seana McKenna’s direction (she’s directed quite a bit in addition to her expansive acting career) is nicely understated, using the spare Falstaff Family Centre classroom space efficiently and highlighting the talents of set and costume designer Bonnie Deakin and lighting and sound designer Stephen Degenstein. Two couches and a podium more than suggest Jessica and Nicole’s shabby apartment, and lighting effectively punctuates moments of high drama.
The structure of Brown’s text brings an appreciated straightforwardness to the history at hand. It’s a simple, sad story of three sisters wading through a trough of Irish shame (it’s worth pointing out all three actors’ Irish accents are very strong). I certainly didn’t know about the sprawling legacy of Irish mother and baby homes prior to this show, and have to imagine some others didn’t either. Though the script is peppered with a few more numerical statistics than I’d prefer — at times they feel just a touch inorganic — the story never feels inaccessible to a Canadian audience or playing space.
Stratford’s Here for Now has put on some damn good work this summer (artistic director Mongillo in particular has shone in both Girls & Boys and Spit), and it’s worth checking the troupe out if you find yourself with an evening to spare at a certain Shakespeare festival. The work, spare though it may be, is rigorous, challenging, and of extremely high calibre. Spit, in all its familial drama, is an excellent introduction to a history which painfully mirrors Canada’s: it’s strong, strong work.
Spit ran at Here for Now theatre company in Stratford, ON. You can check out the rest of their season here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the New York Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photographed productions from L to R, top to bottom, with the photographer in brackets: seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Dahlia Katz), Big Stuff (Dahlia Katz), De Profundis (Dahlia Katz), Goblin:Macbeth (Jae Yang), Salesman in China (David Hou), Dana H. (John Lauener), Earworm (Dahlia Katz), Age Is a Feeling (Dahlia Katz), Honey I’m Home (Eden Graham).
Our favourite theatre productions of 2024, in Toronto and beyond
End-of-year lists are personal. When it comes to theatre, the question isn’t really what shows you liked most, but which ones left the strongest imprint, continuing to pinball around in your mind and heart even after the set is gone and the cast no longer recalls their lines.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Danelle Jane Tran.
REVIEW: Yes, Holiday! An Improvised Musical really is different every night
Putting aside its opening number and a single proper noun, every word of Bad Dog Theatre’s Dora Award-nominated Holiday! An Improvised Musical has the potential to change from performance to performance.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Canadian Stage revives the Ross Petty panto with pop songs, puns, and a pinch of Ozdust
Making a case for the panto’s return, The Wizard of Oz is full of local references and charm, and perhaps even some surprise guests to fill audiences with hometown pride.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Marie-Andree Lemire.
REVIEW: Titaníque loves Céline Dion with all its heart
Content quibbles aside, Titaníque’s inarguable accomplishment is musical: What an amazing showcase for a Canadian cast’s vocal chops and capacity to deliver character through song.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Ben Laird.
REVIEW: Twelve Days brings Christmas joy to lunchtime in Calgary
Watching Twelve Days is reminiscent of opening up the door to a chocolate advent calendar: yes, you know what you’re gonna get, but heck if you don’t enjoy every second of it.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
iPhoto caption: Madame Minister production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Madame Minister is a star vehicle for actor Laura Condlln
Laura Condlln and Cyrus Lane offer performances that are worth the drive to Barrie — the two have terrific chemistry and timing.
iPhoto caption: Production still courtesy of The Bee's Knees.
REVIEW: The Bee’s Knees falls short of its timely premise
The Bee’s Knees might evolve into a stronger project down the line, but at present, the play and production feel swept away by the spangled allure of the 1920s setting.
iPhoto caption: J. Kelly Nestruck headshot courtesy of The Globe and Mail.
An exit interview with Globe and Mail theatre critic J. Kelly Nestruck
J. Kelly Nestruck has left the building. (Or at least the aisle seat.)
iPhoto caption: Photo of Annemieke Wade courtesy of TAPA.
TAPA appoints Annemieke Wade as new executive director
Wade steps into the position with an extensive background in theatre, with past roles including executive director of Roseneath Theatre and Theatre Direct and company manager of Tarragon Theatre.
iPhoto caption: Beowulf in Afghanistan graphic courtesy of GCTC.
Beowulf in Afghanistan to make world premiere at GCTC
As part of its 50th anniversary season, Ottawa’s Great Canadian Theatre Company will program the world premiere of Laurie Fyffe’s Beowulf in Afghanistan, in a production directed by Company of Fools artistic director Kate Smith.
Comments