SISTERS: EMOTIONALLY POWERFUL
by Victoria Farolan
SISTERS
by Wendy Lill
co-directed by Donna Spencer & Glen Cairns
Firehall Arts Centre
Now Playing until November 15th
Tickets: 689-0926
This painfully tragic drama about a nun suspected of burning down her convent-run
Native residential school in rural Nova Scotia in the late 1960s was so
emotionally powerful and beautifully executed that I had tears in my eyes
when the lights came down.
I was brought up in a convent school run by nuns in the Philippines during
the same period, and I had almost identical flashbacks as I watched this
rivetting drama unfold. I remember types like the severe Mother Agnes who
was portrayed superbly by Elizabeth McLaughlin; or the compassionate Sister
Gabriel played tastefully by Patricia Idlette; and the main character of
the play Sister Mary, with Cheri Maracle as the young Mary, a 17-year old
farm girl, and as the older Sister Mary, Marie Clements, who gives an admiringly
powerful and intense performance for this difficult role.
The directorial approach to Sister Mary's flashbacks was excellently executed.
As she spoke to Stein, the cynical and sardonic lawyer well-played and cast
to the T for Patrick Keating, at first, I couldn't tell what was happening:
what the groaning sounds were in the background interspersed with children
singing, why two scenes were taking place at the same time--but then, as
the drama unfolded, I realized what was happening. What precision, what timing
and cuing and naturally hard work, the directors and the actors put into
this mise-en-scene!
Congratulations to the cast, (special mention to Ben Odberg as Louis who
played his role convincingly as a sincere farm boy in love with the young
Mary)and especially to the Production staff-- to Ted Roberts for his lighting
design with the reflection of Christ crucified through that beautifully coloured
stained glass reflection (I thought I was actually inside a Catholic Church!),
and to John Mills-Cockell for his creativity in the play's sound
design.