j. Kelly NestruckThe Globe and Mail
The Watershed, Annabel Soutar's acclaimed documentary play about the politics of science during the Stephen Harper decade, will kick off a national tour at Toronto's Tarragon Theatre in September.
A critical hit at the PANAMANIA festival last summer, director Chris Abraham's production will then head to Montreal's Centaur Theatre in November – and is expected to tour to several other Canadian cities afterwards. Co-producers Porte Parole and Crow's Theatre will announce those stops as contracts are confirmed.
Soutar's verbatim play – based on interviews conducted while on a Winnebago trip across the country with her family – received four stars from The Globe and Mail at its premiere. Critic Martin Morrow called it a "solid piece of reporting … [that] keeps our attention with splashes of satire, a steady stream of domestic comedy and a playful sprinkling of meta-theatrical jokes."
The Watershed will be the first show in Tarragon's 2016-2017 season – which was announced in its entirety on Thursday.
Two Canadian plays that have already made waves in Alberta are also on the bill.
The Circle, Geoffrey Simon Brown's comic drama about six teenagers and an out-of-control garage party in Calgary, will make its Toronto debut in a production directed by Peter Pasyk in October.
Then Sequence, doctor and playwright Arun Lakra's science thriller and a winner of the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play in 2013, will do the same in a production directed by Andrea Donaldson in January.
The rest of the Tarragon Theatre season in brief:
– The Realistic Joneses: Tarragon artistic director Richard Rose will tackle the Toronto premiere of this quirky Broadway play by American Will Eno in November.
– Infinity: Director Ross Manson's production of Hannah Moscovitch's play about "love, sex and math" will return for a victory lap in January.
– Peace River Country: Rose is also directing this new play by Maria Milisavljevic (Abyss), inspired by the true story of the late Albertan eco-activist/terrorist Weibo Ludwig.
– The Millennial Malcontent: Erin Shields's new play is described as "a raucous exploration of the social posing, sexual frankness and the emotional minefield of the millennial generation." Peter Hinton, one of North America's top directors, will bring it to the stage in March.
– Midsummer (a play with songs): This hit play by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre gets its English-language Toronto premiere to conclude the season. The director is yet to be announced.
Editor's note: The Tarragon production of The Realistic Joneses will be a Toronto premiere. Incorrect information appeared in the original version of this article.
J. Kelly Nestruck