The final play of Straydog Theatre Co.'s festival, Into the West, opened at Tir-na-nOg theatre on Wednesday, July 20.
The Dreamer Examines His Pillow with Hamish Allan-Headley, and Jack Headley is centred around the responsibility of love and its call to honesty. During the run of Into the West Festival, our local and visiting actors have made us laugh and cry and have pulled the curtain back just an inch or two more than usual day to day life permits, allowing us to look at ourselves slightly more critically.
The Dreamer Examines His Pillow takes that curtain and gives it a good yank, pulling it as far back as the viewer can withstand. On a stark and naked set with an intense and weighted script, this trio of actors offers the audience an opportunity to examine the concepts of love, marriage, commitment, art and the survival of intimacy against all odds.
"Do I really know what's going on in my life? Or am I just a complete molecule," asks Donna, the woman connected and intertwined with dreamer, schemer and wanna be artist Tommy.
Allan-Headley plays Tommy with convincing disdain, fear, reluctance and odd glimpses of reverence for what he recognizes to be true romantic fusion. Scarlett Thiele, originally from New Orleans, is equally convincing as a frightened, discarded, yet emotionally intelligent woman who knows more about the state of being in love than she herself is aware of. Jack Headley as Donna's father is heartbreaking as he shines a floodlight over his own emotional and romantic past. He is a truth-teller and a comic. A fine balance.
The Dreamer Examines His Pillow is a piece of theatre requiring careful listening and a willingness to take stock of how we mange, sustain and create love in our lives. There is a definite King Lear similarity. A father grows up alienating his wife and daughter but is able to reconcile those relationships. A young man grows away from his love and his family but in this play, he finds his way back.
It is definitely not for young children. Perhaps the criteria for seeing the play are that you must have been in and out of love and then back in again at least twice.
Written by playwright John Patrick Shanley, author of the screenplay for the film Moonstruck and the play Doubt: A Parable which Shanley went on to direct as a film starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is an intricate, detailed and demanding piece of theatre. It takes the audience to some uncomfortable places where self-examination is mandatory and squirming is encouraged.
Straydog Theatre created a first annual festival of diverse and exciting theatre. Bowen Island would be wise to keep these stray dogs on a long leash, making sure they come around again next year to offer and receive more theatrical treats.
The play runs July 22, 23 and 24 and again on July 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31. All shows are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.00 at Phoenix.
