Mortified

At Studio 58 until December 2, 2018
Tickets from $17.50 (Talkback Tuesdays: $12.50) at ticketstonight.ca or 604-684-2787 

Posted November 18, 2018

The saddest note of all is struck in Mortified when almost fourteen-year-old Girl realizes that the guy she’s sitting with on the soiled mattress is going to have sex with her no matter how much she objects. So she submits because, “I didn’t want my first time to be a rape.” Parents and grandparents of girls will feel their hearts break at that moment. I know mine did.

The #MeToo movement and the appalling miscarriage of justice in the Ford/Kavanaugh case make Amy Rutherford’s play disturbingly and overwhelmingly relevant. In the play, twenty-five years have passed since what happened on that mattress. Girl (Emily Jane King) is now Woman (Lindsey Angell), still haunted, still stalled because of what was, all those years ago, rape. (Under Canadian law, a person under the age of sixteen cannot consent to sex with a person five years or more older, and sex without consent is classified as rape.) In Rutherford’s play, Young Ty (Isaac Mazur) is in his twenties, a drug dealer expecting to pimp Girl out. She has just been miserably uprooted from the west coast to Ottawa: a new school, nasty classmates, puberty and a new challenge – synchronized swimming with a bunch of girls who have been doing it for years. There’s so much coming down on her that when Young Ty – so cool and older – shows an interest in her, she’s happy and excited.

When Woman bumps into all-grown-up Ty (Ian Butcher) years later, she asks him to meet her for coffee. But when they get together, she realizes he still has power over her despite the fact that he’s a slob – stuffing his face while they sit in the café – and barely able to express himself. When she challenges him about the past, he has little recollection of what went on between them. Certainly, he is not going to apologize and she is not going to get closure.

Anita Rochon masterfully directs this world premiere, presented by Studio 58 and Touchstone Theatre. It’s a fantastic play for these students, close enough in age to relate perfectly with the characters: the vulnerability, insecurity, lack of confidence – all of what highschool is about for a lot of kids. There are at least two dozen performers – including seven ‘Synchro Swimmers’, all outfitted by Carmen Alatorre in teal lamée swimsuits. There are times when lines are spoken like a chorus and, choreographed by Amber Funk Barton, when the whole cast moves as one body. Choreographed highlight is a synchronized swimming routine with nose-plugged swimmers, toes pointing, diving, twirling, swirling and smiling, always smiling.

Pam Johnson’s one-set-fits-all is a dingy old institutional swimming pool: stained white walls, blue lines, floor drains and round, pool perimeter lights. Projection designer Jordan Lloyd Watkins washes the set with shimmering water in the pool scenes. There are so many creatively staged scenes including Girl’s bedroom: a handful of performers, all clutching stuffies, carry out a pretty coverlet, tuck it up under Girl’s chin and then crouch around her like so many teddy bears and assorted animals. Scene after scene is imaginatively, efficiently staged.

Mortified is bewildering to start with but it gradually becomes clear: Woman is Girl, all grown up and these two interact, talk to each other and argue. Ty is Young Ty (droopy pants, slouchy walk) as an adult. Girl has a Mom (Ella Storey) and a Dad (Nolan McConnell-Fidyk), two decent parents who love their daughter but short of tying her up her, cannot keep her out of harm’s way. There’s even a trip to Cuba to distract her.

Also taking a little time to figure out is Coach Cindy (Jessie Liang) who appears on a diving board over the pool in a body-fitting, shiny black tracksuit, spike heels, bright red lipstick and lots of blue eye makeup. She functions as a hard-driving coach (“If it doesn’t hurt you’re not doing it”) but also like the serpent in the Garden of Eden – a temptress encouraging Girl to do what feels good.

Girl and Woman are of course, at the heart of this story. King is innocent, hesitant and fragile. As Girl, she’s trying desperately to fit in and attempting, at the same time, to understand her nascent sexuality. King’s performance – poised between childhood (remember all those stuffies) and womanhood – is heart-wrenchingly sweet. Angell, as Woman, shows what unacknowledged, unresolved hurt wreaks years and years later. Her performance is like open heart surgery: tense, raw and transparent. She’s an appropriate mess of nerve endings.

Rutherford says in her notes that she does not want to perpetuate the image of girls as victims. From what I’ve observed, young woman are far more outspoken about their bodies and sex than their mothers were. What used to be taboo is now out in the open. But heterosexual sex or homosexual sex – it’s all about consent.

It’s a sexual minefield out there but at least we’re talking about it. And playwrights are writing about it. Mortified is a terrific play, brilliantly staged by Rochon and her cast, and a great place to start the conversation.  Who should see this? Everyone. Kudos to Studio 58 and Touchstone Theatre.