New Stages Theatre Company has maintained its reputation of bringing high-quality professional theatre to Peterborough by staging Toronto playwright Jordi Mand’s critically acclaimed drama Between the Sheets at the Market Hall.
Directed by Randy Read and starring Linda Kash and Megan Murphy, Between the Sheets made its debut in 2012 at the Nightwood Theatre in Toronto.
A one-act drama about the power struggle between two women fatally linked by a common juggernaut that has crashed through their lives, the play deals with a series of subjects and emotions all too real to the audience — including regret, anger, betrayal, lust, despair, love, belonging and revenge.
But Between the Sheets doesn’t depict an improbable scenario like most dramas. It’s a situation all too familiar in a setting as normal as a grade three classroom, during the most awkward and devastating parent-teacher interview of all time.
Linda Kash plays Marion, a working mother of an eight-year-old boy. Driven, bold and explosive, Marion is a mama bear scorned. Megan Murphy plays Teresa, a dedicated third grade teacher who is passionate, caring and beautiful, but is looking for meaning in both her career and her life. However, when Teresa makes a bad judgement call, her actions affect the future of Marion’s family. As Marion confronts Teresa about what she has done, the tangled web that connects these two women begins to unfold — with the needs of a child they both care for caught in the crossfire. When this interview is over, nothing will be the same in the lives of these two women again.
Explosive and abrasive, the tension between the two characters begins the moment that Marion walks into the classroom and explodes in a conflict so real and so powerful that at times it has the ability to knock the wind right out of the audience. However, the play is not just a drama — it’s also a character study of two smart and professional women who show their weakness when it comes to subjects of love, family and desire.
The audience’s sympathies sway back and forth between the two characters. Is Marion a bully and a neglectful mother, or is she a woman trying desperately to preserve the future of her family? Is Teresa a warm and compassionate teacher, or is she damaged, naïve and careless? Just as in real life, all conflicts are the result of two opposing forces, and emotions begin to merge into various shades of grey as it is revealed that both women have made mistakes, and perhaps neither of them is solely to blame for the dilemma they now face. But is it too late for either of them to preserve their future? Has the damage already been done? These are the uneasy questions whose answers both the characters and the audience are left looking for.
The powerful interplay between Kash and Murphy is beyond anything seen this season on a Peterborough stage. Their words hit so hard that the audience often stops breathing. These are not just two incredible actresses who have memorized a wordy and emotional script. It’s clear that both performers have taken the time to search the souls of their characters, and possibly could be bringing their own real-life conflicts to the surface to create such hard-hitting performances.
The drama on the stage is almost too real, and an uneasy tension grows between the players and the audience — who eventually become like voyeurs watching something they are not meant to see. As the battle sways between the two women, the audience feels compassion for both characters. You may find yourself becoming so engaged in the conflict that you’ll almost want to enter the play yourself to defend or comfort the characters. Making the play even more claustrophobic is the elaborate set, built up to the edge of the seating area, that almost drops the audience right into the play. A brightly colored classroom (designed by Ian Burns) creates a sense of modern innocence, juxtaposing the dark and fiery drama that erupts before the audience’s eyes.
But what really connects the audience to the play is the fact that the drama is not so fantastic that it couldn’t happen in our own lives or community. These are the real-life battles in our community that don’t make headlines. Teresa could be any child’s teacher; Marion could be a woman who works in the same office as any member of the audience. They could be our friends, our sisters, our neighbours. Kash and Murphy play their characters so realistically that we can both connect and emphasize with them and, possibly, remember when we found ourselves in a similar situation.
Between the Sheets is a powerful and modern story about two women at war with no chance of a victorious outcome. Professional theatre of this caliber is a rare treat in Peterborough. Director Randy Read has brought together an incredible combination of talent in a highly recommended night of theatre. This is theatre at its very finest.
Between the Sheets runs April 4th to 6th and 10th to 12th at Market Hall. Visit www.newstages.ca for more details.
