While the Portal Players Dramatic Society always aims to provide laughter to the community of Port Alberni, their latest production will be less lighthearted.
Blackbird, a play written by David Harrower, opens at the Capitol Theatre on Friday, April 25. It explores the uneasy reunion between a woman and the man who sexually abused her when she was a child.
After years in prison, Ray (played by Darien Edgeler) has a new identity and has made a new life for himself, thinking that he cannot be found. Una (played by Cydney Pedersen) has thought of nothing else except finding him. Upon seeing a photo of Ray in a magazine, she arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage and raw emotions run high as they recollect what transpired between them 15 years earlier, when she was 12 years old and he was 40.
Directed by Robinson Wilson and produced by Liane Fitzpatrick, the play will be the Portal Players' entry in the 2025 North Island Zone Drama Festival, which takes place in Qualicum Beach this May.
Fitzpatrick warns that the play is for mature audiences only; it contains strong content and language, and deals with the theme of child sexual abuse.
When Fitzpatrick was originally approached with the concept of bringing Blackbird to the stage, she said it was "a hard no." As someone who experienced something similar to Una, Fitzpatrick says she felt "too close" to the subject matter.
"But I also knew firsthand that Una, and myself, would have had an easier life if those around us had been educated," said Fitzpatrick. "Or at the very least had stood still long enough to really look at what was actually happening. Sometimes the only way to help someone is to sit with them and listen."
Fitzpatrick said the content deserved a director who could handle the subject matter with impartiality and sensitivity. Robinson Wilson, she said, was the perfect choice for this "Herculean" endeavour.
"It was his yes that opened the door to my joining the team," she said.
Wilson, a professional theatre consultant, was the adjudicator at last year's North Island Zone Festival in Port Alberni. Wilson said it was a "rewarding and enriching" experience where he got to know the Portal Players team well.
"I was awestruck by the love and dedication that they have to their theatre," he said. "They have a deep love for what they're doing, and a regular audience that helps support them."
Wilson says he was driven to take on Blackbird by a sense of missed opportunity. He was in New York when the show made its Broadway debut several years ago, but he chose not to watch the show.
"I never actually saw it on stage, only read the glowing reviews afterwards," he said. "So it's been this long-simmering hope to be able to be involved in the show somehow."
When he watched the Portal Players' award-winning production of The Pillowman last year, he knew that he had the right group of people to take on the challenge of Blackbird.
"That is an ambitious play," he said. "But when I watched The Pillowman...I saw the quality of their production. I thought, if there's a group that could probably do Blackbird, it's this one."
The Pillowman actors Edgeler and Pedersen (who were the 2023 and 2024 winners of Best Actor in a Male Role at the North Island Zone Festival, respectively) were the perfect choice to play Ray and Una, said Wilson. The script includes pages and pages of "extremely dense" text.
"It demands an enormous amount of mental and emotional prowess to make these sound like real people," said Wilson. "Cydney and Darien have been really aggressive with the work and they've done an amazing job."
The show is complemented by a stark set, designed by Jane Victoria King. It takes place entirely within a harshly-lit, white-walled office break room, with little furnishing.
"There's no place to hide," explained Wilson.
He warns that audiences looking for a neat conclusion might walk away disappointed.
"It does demand a different kind of audience," he said. "Blackbird takes a good, hard, ruthless look at sexual abuse, particularly sexual abuse of minors, and there are a lot of people who have suffered for many years without the opportunity to be recognized as sexual abuse survivors."
Fitzpatrick says that theatre tells stories for many reasons; in the case of Blackbird, the purpose is to create awareness of child sexual abuse. The experience might be uncomfortable and challenging for some, she said, but attendance is still important.
"I guarantee you know someone that has experienced it," said Fitzpatrick. "I guarantee there will be more who will experience it."
"One of the most important things you can do for abuse survivors is to listen and watch," added Wilson. "To say, 'I see you, I hear you, you exist.' I would encourage audiences to give it a shot, even if you have to leave. At the very least, you'll be giving local theatre your support."
Blackbird runs April 25 and 26, May 2, 3, 9 and 10 at the Capitol Theatre. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are available online at www.atthecapitol.org or at the door before showtime.
