Montreal’s Tableau d’Hote Theatre has been an integral part of the English theatre community, presenting Montreal premieres of newer works including “Blackout: The Concordia Computer Riots” and a bilingual version of “Encore” in 2019. The company wraps up the 2019 year with Jesse Stong’s Winter’s Daughter, a dramatic and dark play based on the secret family history of local celebrity barber Gino Chiarella.
Winter’s Daughter is set in Southern Italy in 1921, in the aftermath of World War One where a couple copes with tremendous trauma and loss while wrestling with how to care for a Jewish child suddenly abandoned in their care. Stong’s writing is intriguing, with details that are omitted earlier in the show, leaving the audience hanging on to every word, immersed in the story, searching for details and resolution within the dialogue between characters.
Featuring a small cast of four (3 adults and 1 child), including Michaela Di Cesare (award-winning writer of Successions, Centaur Theatre), Ryan Bommarito (Indecent, Segal Centre), and Amir Sám Nakhjavani (Shakespare’s Sonnets, Infinitheatre) – Winter’s Daughter is an emotional piece, that explores types of conflict within a family, coping with stress, grieving and different ways of coping with life-changing situations.
Winter’s Daughter opens with a Jewish peddler who comes to stay with Maria and Giuseppe over the Christmas holidays. During their stay, his daughter Rina and Rosie (Maria and Giuseppe’s daughter) develops a strong friendship very quickly. With the interests of both girls on her mind (while also pleading to Giuseppe simultaneously and persuading the peddler to leave Rina with them), Maria hopes he will leave Rina at the farm with her and Giuseppe while he conducts business on the road. When a sudden unexpected tragedy occurs (leaving audiences hanging for an explanation for the following few scenes), both Giuseppe and Maria come to terms with new problems, obstacles and challenges with their relationship, the peddler’s daughter and coming to terms with life changes beyond their control.
In this dramatic and somewhat darker play, there are a few lighter moments with the introduction of Giacomo, a friend of Giuseppe’s, who often only adds to the challenges when trying to mean well. Di Cesare, Nakhjavani and Bommarito do well portraying their emotional and challenging roles, conveying a family and friend who are all very much affected by WWI yet still demonstrate love for each other, and learning how to come to terms with different uncontrollable changes to their family and lives.
The show does show subtle hints of the decades leading up to the holocaust, with reference to Jews going into hiding, disappearing and never being heard from again. The show also gives a feeling of how delicate life is, and how lives, families and more can change in an instant, without any warning. The talented Di Cesare, in a motherly role – displays a wide range of emotions to the point of denial when urging her child’s father (Nakhjavani) to accept a visiting Jewish peddler’s child into their family so he can venture on and sell goods while running his business. Di Cesare’s acting ranges from tender motherly love, shifting through varying degrees of grief and anger throughout different points and conflicts throughout the show.
The production, similar to Encore, featured projections throughout the entire show. Although most of the show’s projections complemented the acting quite well, there were brief moments where the projections seemed to be detracting from the performance, from an audience point of view. The sound design by Rob Denton was a positive addition to the production. The set was well done for the small and flexible Segal Studio, covering the space around the stage with foliage and earth, to give the scene a very “rural” feel.
An impressive part of back story behind this production, is Tableau d’Hote’s perseverance and dedication to the company’s mandate and ensuring this production did happen as part of this season. Artistic Director Mathieu Murphy-Perron has taken on the challenge of moving forward to produce this work without funding from the Canadian government. This means that Tableau d’Hote has been taking it onto themselves to still produce the work using alternate methods of funding (you can click here to support their crowdfunding campaign). The Italian-Canadian Community Federation (ICCF) has also come forward in supporting Tableau d’Hote’s fundraising initiatives in reaching their goal for this production.
Winter’s Daughter runs at the Segal Centre until December 8. For tickets and more information, check out www.segalcentre.org
