REVIEW: Dana H. is an explosion of theatrical form and craft
iPhoto caption: Photo by John Lauener.
“Lip sync for your life!” has reached a whole new level of meaning in the gorgeous production of Dana H. currently playing in the Factory Theatre mainspace, a presentation by Crow’s Theatre of a production created by the Goodman Theatre, Center Theatre Group, and Vineyard Theatre. (Try saying that five times fast!)
Written by star American playwright Lucas Hnath (who has another Toronto premiere in the pipeline this spring), Dana H. follows the harrowing true story of his mother’s abduction by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a troubled, dangerous man referred to as Jim in the play. In a flourish of stagecraft unparalleled by any other in recent memory, the story of Dana H. is told entirely by Dana Higginbotham herself – the woman onstage, an unnervingly precise Jordan Baker, lip-syncs along with the recording of an interview between Higginbotham and interviewer Steve Cosson, never once speaking out loud in her own voice.
It’s a chilling theatrical device, the dramaturgy of which could inform 100 theses about the aesthetics of verbatim theatre. A genre often weighed down by discourse on authorial ownership, verbatim theatre, a subgenre of documentary theatre, seeks to re-contextualize found material such as interviews and legal proceedings into a cohesive theatrical experience, often re-distributing a real person’s words and experiences to an actor on a stage. My Name Is Rachel Corrie and The Laramie Project are some of the most famous instances of the genre, and both have been the subjects of controversy for their portrayals of real-life political discourses.
Dana H. re-appropriates Higginbotham’s story to a new physical canvas, and oh, what a canvas Baker is, every mannerism and facial twitch perfectly calibrated to the easygoing drawl floating through the speakers of the theatre. The preservation of Higginbotham’s story in her own voice is beyond effective, and ensures she maintains a striking amount of agency over how the story is told, from its muddy timeline (Higginbotham was held captive over several months) to its sputters and coughs.
Director Les Waters takes every risk of Hnath’s audacious proposal in stride, daring to nudge the very edges of what theatre is and could be. Baker spends most of the 75-minute run time sitting in a chair centre stage, alone, meaning even her tiniest movements are imbued with meaning and significance – a shift in weight from one hip to the other here, a thumb through a crumpled manuscript there. While Waters along with set designer Andrew Boyce have imagined the theatrical world of Dana H. as a deliciously seedy motel room, Waters barely gives Baker (or, by extension, the theatricalized version of Higginbotham) the opportunity to explore it. Baker doesn’t interact with the physical memory of Higginbotham’s captivity – she exists in front of it as a narrator, rather than becoming entangled with it as a pawn.
Dana H. begs to be experienced live – I fear giving away too much here. The play is a masterclass in unreliable narration, sure, but it’s also a stunning case study of what happens when unreliable narrators are treated with empathy and compassion by the writers who share their stories with the world. Hnath himself is intertwined with Higginbotham’s abduction: he was a freshman in college when it happened, totally removed from his mother’s captivity in Florida and the Carolinas. In construction of the play, Hnath paints his mother with strokes of grace letting her muddle forward in her memories in all their messiness. No, she doesn’t remember exactly how those months played out; yes, to an extent, she does blame herself. But regardless, someone should have done something to save her. Even unreliable narrators are worthy of justice.
Dana H. is a gift of a production, realized gorgeously by Waters’ design team and produced with the characteristic aplomb of Crow’s Theatre. If you enjoy true crime, intriguing design, or theatre of the highest possible degree, this one’s for you – it’s a doozy.
Dana H runs at Factory Theatre until April 7. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission‘s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission‘s partnership model here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. 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: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Outside the March’s Performance Review is claustrophobic for all the right reasons
It’s up close and personal, with lots of eye contact and sometimes only inches of distance between playwright-performer Rosamund Small and the audience.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Against a bloody backdrop, Trident Moon pays homage to the power of resilience
Playing at Crow’s Theatre and set during the 1947 partition of India, the intense fictionalized drama offers a graceful depiction of several women’s high-stakes struggle to resist.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Olya Glotka.
REVIEW: At Factory Theatre, Kelly Clipperton’s new solo show transforms memory lane into a catwalk
Supported by Naomi Campbell’s glamorously grounded direction, which glides over the keys of sharply contrasting emotional scales, Clipperton paints a quippy, unapologetic, nostalgically referential portrait.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: In Canadian Stage’s Fat Ham, revenge is a dish best served smoked
Fat Ham is self-aware of its nature as an adaptation, twisting the audience’s familiarity with both Hamlet and Blackness to disrupt their assumptions of who these characters are as people.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Kyle Purcell.
REVIEW: How Shakespeare BASH’d transformed The Merchant of Venice into a tense, layered tragedy
Julia Nish-Lapidus’ recently closed production sensitively explored the issues raised in Mark Leiren-Young’s Playing Shylock without purporting to offer any answers.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Secret to Good Tea balances poetry and humour at London’s Grand Theatre
This co-production with National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre offers deeply personal insights into under-acknowledged aspects of Canada’s colonial past and present.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
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.
Comments