BOWMANVILLE — A Bowmanville factory will double as the temporary home of a production of a British playwright’s dystopian play about propaganda-induced paranoia this month.
Servi-Sure, 2020 W. Rascher Ave., normally specializes in titanium rack design and fabrication. But for a few days in March, it will also serve as the stage for a new production of Caryl Churchill’s surreal play, “Far Away.”
The limited, six-show run opens 7:30 p.m. March 21. Tickets are free, but a donation of $15-$20 per ticket is suggested to cover the cost of the production. Go to this website to get tickets.
The 45-minute play tells the story of Joan (Olivia Lindsay), a factory worker with the mundane job of making hats for prisoners of war to wear during government-sanctioned parades before they’re killed by mass execution.
“People call it a dystopian play, which, technically, it is. Although the sort of genre tropes of dystopia don’t really match the play very well,” said director Spencer Huffman. “It’s a play from Caryl Churchill — who is considered one of the best living playwrights — that I’ve loved for a long time. It’s very poetic and dreamlike.”
The majority of scenes happen at Joan’s factory job, where the banality of evil is observed with a combination of dark humor and eerie atmosphere. The world has fallen so far into totalitarianism that characters ponder whether a swarm of flies or a grassy field are an ally or enemy in a never-ending, but unspecified, war.
Huffman is an ensemble member at Bramble Theater and has wanted to stage a production of Churchill’s play in an industrial setting instead of a traditional playhouse for years. He was in the process of scouting places to rent when an opportunity presented itself in Bowmanville for his dream to come true.
“This is like a classic theater-in-Chicago story. I was sitting at lunch and talking about this play with someone and how I’d really like to produce it when I was introduced to a ‘friend of a friend’ who owns a titanium parts factory in Bowmanville,” Huffman said.
That friend of a friend was Servi-Sure owner and theater lover Chris Angus, who offered Huffman the use of his space at no cost, Huffman said.
“The factory was amazing, full of gears and coils and hulking machines that looked both brand new and ancient. There were weird metal shapes hanging from the walls and ceiling and pipes snaking up and down throughout the space,” Huffman said. “It was like walking through a metal forest. It was a surreal set designer’s dream — and already built.”
An addition boon for the production is the building has space off the factory floor with showers that could serve as a perfect backstage dressing room, Huffman said.
Huffman was only halfway through his pitch when Angus, a lifelong Chicagoan and arts fan with an appreciation for unusual ventures, agreed to the idea of the factory hosting the production for two weekends in March, Huffman said.
“I was impressed with Spencer’s vision and what he wanted to do, and I loved the idea of the factory being a part of it,” Angus said. “We’ve always been supportive of nearby businesses and programs, and this seemed like a new and fun way of being a good neighbor. I also thought our employees would get a kick out of it. It will be nice to have a different kind of drama in the company.”
Rehearsals began in February. While the cast is quite small, some of the factory’s employees may be invited “onstage” as part of the ensemble to add interactivity to the production, Huffman said.
“We’ve already spoken … with our design team about how, in this case because of the venue, really the show starts as soon as you walk into this factory instead of when the lights go down,” Huffman said.
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