Red Birds

At PAL Studio Theatre until November 18, 2018
Tickets from $27 at 604-363-5734 or brownpapertickets.com

Posted November 4, 2018

We keep hearing about how getting out ‘in nature’ restores the soul, lessens stress and is a necessary element of our overall physical and mental health. In Red Birds, Aaron Bushkowsky’s new play – enjoying its world premiere at PAL Studio Theatre – Carol (France Perras) gets that. Every Sunday she drags her somewhat unwilling, adult daughter Ashley (Gili Roskies) and her aging, Eastern European adoptive mother Red (Christina Jastrzembska) to a bird sanctuary where they watch hopefully to catch a glimpse of Cardinalis cardinalis, aka the Northern Cardinal or, more commonly, Redbird.

Carol, dumped by her husband who told her she was the right person for him but at the wrong time, has been a single, dateless mom for years, eking out a living as an artist and raising Ashley. The three generations of women live together with little money but lots of love until Hannah, Carol’s birth mother arrives on the scene. Hannah (Anna Hagen) is a rich, successful prosecutor and Carol is thrown into an identity crisis: who is she now? What does she expect from Hannah? And how does meeting her biological mother affect her relationship with Red?

And then smooth-talking, thick-as-a-brick Derek enters the picture.

This is where Red Birds goes off the rails: Derek (Gerry Mackay) readily admits, “How obviously shallow I am. But I’m honest – sort of.” Ashley sees right through him; Hannah is suspicious. And to top it all off, while he thinks birders are “cute”, he hates birds. So just how desperate for love – or whatever – is Carol? Can love possibly be that blind?

The Carol that actor Perras gives us is smart and funny and witty. And while Bushkowsky’s script gives Mackay terrific comedic opportunity – which he maximizes – the credibility gap that opens up is impossibly wide. While Derek says Carol is “caught up” in his charm, we certainly are not. Perhaps if director Scott Bellis had toned the character down a bit, we would be more willing to see Derek in a more sympathetic or even credible light. On the other hand, it would have taken the fun out of Mackay’s performance. The audience the afternoon I attended loved it.

However, Bushkowsky has the gift of smart, funny dialogue so if you are able to suspend disbelief, there are rewards here.

Roskies, as Ashley, is cheeky and outspoken and, surprisingly – because Ashley’s the youngest – the strong, moral core of the story. When asked to sing and offered $200 by Hannah to do it, Ashley takes the money and then returns it. And Jastrzembska, as Red, really nails the wily old woman, willing to sacrifice integrity for pragmatism. Red really wants to get back to the Old Country to visit her sister and she doesn’t really care where the money comes from as long as it comes.

The payoff in Red Birds comes late after more than a few plot twists and turns. Just when it seems that Hagen’s hard-hearted Hannah will never melt, the scene is set where this might be possible: back at the bird sanctuary. It’s a quiet, contemplative moment in which the four women – Carol, Red, Ashley and Hannah – can reflect on their relationship. It brings what has been a mixed bag to a thoughtful, satisfying conclusion.

The show looks good: Stephanie Wong’s pretty set – framed in lattice-work – serves as Red’s apartment, Hannah’s condo, an upscale restaurant and, with some dried grasses, a bird sanctuary in what looks like late Fall. And, of course, there are the obligatory chirps and cheeps of feathered friends, presumably Cardinalis cardinalis.

As some birds gather to fly south and others arrive to winter here on the Westcoast, it’s a time of departures and arrivals. Red Birds, presented by Western Gold Theatre and Solo Collective Theatre, eventually reaches a poignant place as Carol, Ashley, Red and Hannah look back – and then ahead to the future.