Fairview

The Cultch Historic Theatre to October 8, 2023
Tickets from $29 at 604-251-1363 or www.thecultch.com

Posted September 30, 2023

I thought long and hard about not reviewing Fairview, written by American playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury and co-directed by Mindy Parfitt and Kwaku Okyere. Act 1 felt like an ordinary black-American family sitcom with the usual suspects: mom and dad (played by Angela Moore and Christopher Bautista), teenaged daughter (Yasmin D’Oshun), and aunt (Miranda Edwards). Grandma’s birthday. Family dinner. Mom is frazzled. Dad is trying to calm her down. Familiar territory, we’ve been here before.

But Act 2 is something else and because it’s an outrageous shift, reviewers are asked not to reveal it. Ten minutes into this second act, I wanted out. It took ages for me to figure out what was going on. I felt stupid. Then pissed off. Then bored.

Interestingly, though, Fairview sparked a really interesting discussion on the way home. And that, in my mind, is good theatre. I want to be shaken up – just maybe not this much.

Why this play, why now? Could that black American family have been an indigenous family?  Would I have related to the situation more readily? Probably.

Fairview deals with the stereotypes we perpetuate, racial intolerance we don’t push back against. Complacency. Complicity. This is really unsettling territory and it’s easy to get defensive: I’m sorry I’m white – not black, not indigenous, not Asian – but that’s the family I was born into. Drury somewhere said she didn’t want white people to feel guilty but Fairview invited me to feel that way.

I was badly lost in Fairview for far too long and once lost, I  began to drift,  not to listen.  And by the end – with another huge surprise – I really, really wanted it to end. But it went on. And on. And I felt increasingly uncomfortable.  Manipulated.

Ironically, I felt the play was divisive: rather than bringing the audience together, I felt a deepening divide.

Still: This Pulitzer prize-winning playwright really breaks new ground in her storytelling technique. Presented by The Search Party (Vancouver) in partnership with b current  Performing Arts (Toronto), Fairview is risky, well-directed, well-acted and pulls no punches. It’s a bold opener for the Cultch’s 2023-2024 season and for that, I’m truly grateful. There is nothing same old, same old about Fairview. The New York Times called it “Dazzling and ruthless”. If you’re up for a challenge and your brain can go two ways at once, check it out.