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by Joan MacLeod, directed by Martha Henry

CanStage, Bluma Appel Theatre, Toronto

January 5-28, 2006

Between 1869 and 1948 over 100,000 children were transported from Britain to Canada to work on farms.  Some were orphans but some were children of impoverished parents who wished them a better life.  In Canada they became indentured servants and were told nothing about their past.  This subject could form the basis of a powerful drama, but all Joan MacLeod has made of it is a kind of live movie-of-the-week, prosaic, sentimental and uninvolving.

What does hold our interest is the detailed acting of a top-notch cast under Martha Henry’s sensitive direction.  Eric Peterson gives one of his finest performances as the aged Alistair, a former “home child”, who longs for his sister Katie (an over- precious Lara Jean Chorostecki) from whom he was separated as a child in Scotland.  Brenda Robins brings real vitality to his daughter Lorna, who uses her search for Katie as a way of reconnecting with her bitter, uncommunicative father. Tom Rooney as Lorna’s brother, Patricia Hamilton as their aunt and Randy Hughson as a potential love interest for Lorna are all well played but seem to exist solely to pad out the thin plot with domestic comedy.  Unlike John Mighton’s recent Half Life, also concerned with illusions cherished by the aged, MacLeod focusses more on tidying up her story than in exploring its ambiguities.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2006-01-12.

Photo: Eric Peterson as Alastair. ©2006 Guntar Kravis.