Theatre Kingston — under the direction of award-winning director Kathryn MacKay — brings a slice of Canadian drama to the Baby Grand Theatre.
The dramatic thriller Butcher by Nicolas Billon promises much mystery.
MacKay sets up the story nicely.
“An old man has been deposited in a police station and he’s wearing a Santa Claus hat and he doesn’t speak English. He has around his neck a butchers hook with a business card attached that says arrest me.”
While investigating this man’s identity, it’s discovered he is somehow connected to a genocide that took place over 22 years ago in a land called Lavinia — a fictional nation created by the playwright.
Not all is as it seems in this intense tale. Unseen forces, modelled after Greek mythological spirits called “Furies,” do their best to impact the characters and the outcome of the investigation. This is depicted on stage with an ominous change in pace, light and colour.
“As the play progresses, you see more and more of that happening,” MacKay says.
A unique language was created specifically for this play by two linguists at the University of Toronto. Veteran actor Greg Wanless speaks nothing but the made-up Lavinian on stage. He found the vernacular quite challenging.
“It was very difficult. I learned the play in English and then translated it into Lavinian,” Wanless says. “If I’m saying, ‘What are you doing here?’ in Lavinian, it’s ‘Stalla vichy vocha?’ I can make sense of it. I can ask you, ‘Stalla vichy vocha?’ and the audience gets the sense of ‘What are you doing here?”‘
Kingston native Jacob James loves a good excuse to come home. Living in New York now with his son, James jumped at the opportunity to return to the Limestone City for this production.
“It’s an especially well-written piece,” he says. “It’s very sophisticated in the storytelling in terms of how secrets are revealed and when. This is not theatre that pacifies you. This is theatre that engages you.”
Butcher runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 11 at the Baby Grand Theatre.