The best theatre is the kind that doesn’t give you the answers. David Harrower’s Blackbird, performed as part of the Dramatic Works Series at this year's Fringe Festival, is a production based on a true story exploring the relationship of a Una and Ray, 15 years after their emotional and sexual relationship when she was just 12 and he was 40.
“It’s difficult to classify Blackbird in a specific genre,” said director Tanya Mathivanan, a recent graduate from UBC’s theatre program. “It’s a cross between a kitchen sink drama and a thriller, but it’s also a psychological piece because it really delves into these two characters.”
The 90-minute play was written in 2005 for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and will challenge audiences by tackling a complex, multifaceted story that is completely socially relevant. Taking place in real time with just the power of the script to drive the plot and emotions of the audience and characters, the raw humanity at the core of the disturbing subject sets Blackbird apart by acknowledging the shades of grey that sometimes exist between the black and the white.
“The script is just a dialogue between the two of them,” said Mathivanan on the small scale of production. “The dialogue is so well written that you get so much character development within this dialogue and you’re so carried away with it that you just get sucked into this really intense and disturbing scene.”
Blackbird will be performed in the Cultural Lab at the Cultch. A small space, Mathivanan is using minimal props and scenery to highlight the claustrophobic nature of the room and script.
“It’s so small, it gives you that sense of claustrophobia, they can’t leave that room,” said Mathivanan.
The play is intense: not only are the characters of Una and Ray -- portrayed by Jessie nominee Stephanie Izsak and Francis Boyle -- the only two roles in the dialogue, but the script is based on a true story.
“I think one thing that’s really important about this play that sets it apart from a lot of others is that it doesn’t condemn [the act] but doesn’t condone it either,” said Mathivanan on the difficult, brutal subject matter of Blackbird. “There’s no sense that this was the right thing to do, obviously it was wrong, but it brings up so many issues.”
Topically, the play deals with victim blaming, victim shaming and the question of how Ray should pay for his actions.
“Una’s problem is that she still has feelings for Ray, but she’s been told for 15 years that he abused her, that she’s a victim,” said Mathivanan. “At the same time it doesn’t invalidate the fact that she was in love with him, so now she’s just split between these two different people and she can’t reconcile the two.”
Harrower pulls no punches with this script, setting the facts out for the audience to draw their own conclusions. Unconventional and intense, Blackbird is sure to be a highlight of the Fringe.
Described by Mathivanan as a “terrible, horrible, tragic love story,” Blackbird has six performances throughout the Vancouver Fringe Festival and tickets can be bought online now.