REVIEW: Interior Design sparkles with zillennial wit
iPhoto caption: Interior Design production still by Jae Yang.
Taylor Swift has written a lot of songs about the somewhat zillennial notion of “ghosting,” in which a romantic partner or friend disappears from a relationship without a word.
But there’s one spectral song in particular I’d like to think has made it onto the playlists of Olivia, Maya, Cecilia, and Sophie, four friends at the centre of Rosa Laborde’s powerfully funny Interior Design, now playing in a succulent world premiere at Tarragon Theatre. In 2010’s “Last Kiss,” Swift wishes the person who abandoned her all the best, without an inch of scorn: “I hope it’s nice where you are,” she sings to no one. “I hope the sun shines, and it’s a beautiful day, but something reminds you that you wish you had stayed.”
Indeed, it’s no fun being ghosted, but in the age of social media and decontextualized therapy-speak, it’s a fairly common occurrence. Interior Design watches its Peloton-using, social media-obsessed heroines from an empathetic vantage point, holding space for these women and their problems. Intermittently, one friend will break free from the pod to let us in on her innermost thoughts in the form of a direct-to-audience monologue.
There’s Sophie (a breathtakingly comic Sara Farb), a life coach in search of new purpose in life, and Maya (Meghan Swaby), a conflict-averse marketing professional. Cecilia (Anita Majumdar) is the life of the party, a skincare addict who’s unafraid to use a heavy filter when posting selfies on Instagram. And finally, there’s Olivia (Rong Fu), a deeply burnt-out journalist whose pervasive negativity has finally pushed her friends to stage an intervention.
Under a less confident director, Interior Design might crumble into a vortex of tropes and riffings on girlhood, but Kat Sandler takes Laborde’s invitation to dig deep and runs with it, moving the text forward at a breakneck, exhilarating pace. When Olivia decides to decorate Sophie’s new condo, she leans into her impish side by furnishing it with glittery wallpaper and garish macrame plant holders — Sandler and set designer Shannon Lea Doyle have a field day as the apartment evolves into a mishmash of rainbows and sequins.
And when Interior Design gets serious — when one of the women disconnects from the group chat, never to be seen again — Laborde and Sandler handle that, too, with grace. A worse version of this play would preoccupy its second half with winning the departed friend back; here, the friends simply accept the loss, crushing though it is, and honour the friendship despite its spiky ending. That’s just how things go sometimes.
Farb, Fu, Swaby, and Majumdar are inspired casting, each representing an all-too-real component of growing older as a woman. Farb captures Sophie’s divorced ennui with dry, biting humour, and seems aware that Sophie is the butt of the joke more often than not. Farb sometimes seems to laugh at Sophie — and fair enough, her life coach antics are a lot — and yet Farb still furnishes the character with depth.
Fu’s Olivia, too, is deeply felt and lovingly acted. When we discover a recent source of Olivia’s stress, it’s shocking, but not surprising, thanks to Fu’s ability to play subtext without telegraphing the end of the play too soon. Swaby similarly captures Maya’s professional (and romantic) stagnation without casting judgment on her; when Maya feels her life fall apart around her, we feel it too. Majumdar has the hardest job to do — Cecilia’s the character most rooted in stereotype — but with huge, expressive eyes and a controlled wielding of anxious freneticism, she builds an arc for Cecilia that makes the end of the play feel like a warm hug.
As a heavily rhinestoned chick flick for the stage, Interior Design might not be for everyone. But Sandler and Laborde are exactly the Canadian theatre artists you want to be sculpting a play like this, a project that, in places, almost feels like an adaptation of 2019’s Someone Great thanks to its layered, tender portraits of young professional women. Interior Design, too, feels like a positive shift for Tarragon, a well-produced, well-written new play that recalls pre-pandemic years of frequent Hannah Moscovitch and Sandler premieres. Grab something sparkly, load up some Swift on your Spotify queue, and head to Tarragon before Interior Design closes — and, of course, bring your best girlfriend.
Interior Design runs at Tarragon Theatre until November 10. 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: Karen Hines as Pochsy. Photos by Gary Mulcahey.
REVIEW: VideoCabaret’s Pochsy IV is bizarre, vicious, and hilarious
I can confidently say that you don’t have to have a 30-year-plus background with Karen Hines’ clown character Pochsy to quickly understand her mix of oddball conviction, sly wordplay, and bland narcissism.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Chelsey Stuyt.
REVIEW: Ins Choi debuts impassioned new solo musical at Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre
Faith is the message at Son of a Preacherman’s core. Faith in your beliefs, faith in your passions, faith in your calling, and, most of all — faith in yourself.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: How does the American musical Waitress land in today’s Canada? It’s complicated
The Theatre Aquarius and Grand Theatre co-production is fascinating for its attempt to harness the pleasures of the Broadway musical form, while casting an awkward-stepping jaundiced eye at fantasies of American identity.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Public Display of Affection simultaneously holds your hand and breaks your heart
Like a disco ball shimmering to a Donna Summer hit, playwright-performer Jonathan Wilson illuminates and refracts detailed memories about absent friends whose names, struggles, and lives have otherwise vanished, while walking through modern streets where a little gay hand-holding in Starbucks goes completely unnoticed.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Theatre Aquarius’ Fully Committed playfully satirizes the world of fine dining
The play’s back-and-forth premise makes for an excellent showcase of Gavin Crawford’s substantial comedic chops.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Damon McLean.
REVIEW: Riot King’s Red examines Rothko’s uncompromising legacy
While Red cannot unseal the legacy of its paintings, this iteration conjures an immense compassion for the arts workers who try.
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