Note: This event has been cancelled.
ON STAGE
What: Between Breaths
Where: The Belfry Theatre, 1291 Gladstone Ave.
When: Tuesday, March 17, through Saturday, March 21
Tickets: $29 from 聽or the Belfry Theatre box office (250-385-6815)
Celebrated playwright Robert Chafe is known for work that鈥檚 unapologetically rooted in Newfoundland.
But as his latest play, Between Breaths, makes its way across Canada for several performances, including five dates next week at The Belfry Theatre鈥檚 SPARK Festival, the actor-writer is changing direction.
鈥淏etween Breaths was part of a number of plays that we did over a 10-year period that were unabashedly based in Newfoundland,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he next couple we have lined up have been moving away from that a little bit.鈥�
If reaction to the play he鈥檚 currently writing at a rural Newfoundland cabin matches the acclaim generated by Between Breaths, the Governor General鈥檚 Award winner will continue to be seen as one of the most inventive theatre minds in the country.
He鈥檚 not overthinking his next step, or bowing to pressure. Chafe is happy to let inspiration come to him. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned that sometimes, it鈥檚 conscious and sometimes, it鈥檚 very unconscious, an emotional reaction. Something that you don鈥檛 even figure out for yourself until you get into it and unpack the story.鈥�
That鈥檚 exactly how he came to write about Jon Lien in Between Breaths, which is being produced by St. John鈥檚-based theatre company Artistic Fraud, of which Chafe is also artistic director.
Although he went to school with one of Lien鈥檚 sons, Chafe said the idea of writing a play about the former Memorial University professor and animal-behaviour specialist, who died in 2010, had never crossed his mind. It wasn鈥檛 until he saw a play featuring monologues about Newfoundland, one of which featured the words of Lien, that he considered him ripe for deeper examination.
He began writing Between Breaths, which premi猫red in 2018, knowing little about his subject; Chafe wasn鈥檛 even aware Lien had died years earlier.
鈥淗e was kind of a local celebrity around here, and was someone who would show up on the news at least a couple of times a year. A lot of his advocacy work was quite public, so he was a well-known person. But I didn鈥檛 know anything about his illness or any important facets of the story that would come to be a big part of the play.鈥�
Lien battled dementia in his later years, which Chafe and his longtime collaborator, director Jillian Keiley, use to great narrative effect in Between Breaths. With actor Steve O鈥機onnell in a starring role, the play covers Lien鈥檚 life in reverse.
It鈥檚 a demanding role for O鈥機onnell, who has very little in the way of stage props for help. Chafe wanted a bigger scope for Between Breaths, including a 10-metre whale skeleton with actors on flying harnesses.
鈥淲e ended up striking that entire idea, because it wasn鈥檛 necessary. What you see on stage now is three actors and three musicians with very simple staging, whether it鈥檚 in a boat in the North Atlantic or in someone鈥檚 kitchen.鈥�
Juno Award nominees The聽Once were commissioned to write the score, which is performed in touring versions by musicians Steve Maloney, Brianna Gosse and Kevin Woolridge. The聽music provides an atmospheric framework, but the play largely rests on the shoulders of O鈥機onnell, who excels in the very demanding role.
He makes Lien鈥檚 complicated life come alive during Between Breaths, according to Chafe. 鈥淛on鈥檚 story, I thought was going to be about issues of sustainability and the environment, and certainly those are there through the show. But the play ends up grounding itself in Jon鈥檚 illness and death in a way I never expected it to. What the play is ultimately about is legacy and how we exit this world.
鈥淚 always tell people this play is my wish that when we exit this world, we exit 鈥� at least in our heads 鈥� as the best version of ourselves. The play is a manifestation of that.鈥�
