The Replacement Wife

 

Jericho Arts Centre to February 15, 2026

Tickets from $32 ($15 for students with ID) at 604-224-8007 or www.united players.com

Posted January 24, 2026

A new Canadian play is cause for celebration and a new play by local award-winning  playwright, poet, novelist and educator Aaron Bushkowsky makes the world premiere of The Replacement Wife even more exciting. Referred to as a comedy in the press release, it is, as Bushkowsky himself says, a ‘dramedy’ – a drama that is darkly funny.

Darkly funny is Bushkowsky’s long suit. This is a mature play about (mostly) mature people written by a mature playwright. And while there’s nothing funny about death-by-cancer, that’s not what The Replacement Wife is really about. It’s about love, letting go and moving on.

In the play, Jackie (Miriam Smith), a retired art therapist, has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Ben (Bill Dow), her husband of almost forty years, is in denial and scared stiff. He insists she go to Mexico for an experimental treatment that has an extremely low survival rate. Before she leaves, Jackie asks Rachel (Kathryn Stewart), her best friend, to “look after” Ben, a professor of Greek mythology, who has never made so much as a cheese sandwich in his life.  He thinks tofu is “Chinese cheese.”

Jackie knows her chances of survival are slim and that Ben, who quotes Nietzsche but probably can’t boil water, will need to be cared for when she dies. “I don’t want him to be alone,” she tells Rachel. What she asks her friend to do comes from a place of love albeit a bit weary after all the years, but love, nevertheless.

And so we know where The Replacement Wife is going. There are, however, surprises along the way. And some problems.

The speed with which Ben and Rachel become involved, given their obvious mutual dislike, comes too quickly. Bill Dow, as Ben, makes acting look as effortless as breathing. His Ben is pedantic and a little lost. It’s a lovely, solid, comfortable performance. But how soon Ben tells Rachel he loves her (while his wife lies dying in a Mexican hospital) costs his character a lot of our sympathy.

Part of problem comes from Kathryn Stewart’s very brittle performance as Rachel. Heavily made up, brightly dyed red hair, sporting stiletto heels and flamboyant outfits, Stewart doesn’t get to show Rachel’s softer side until late in the play and by then it’s almost too late. It’s also difficult to see Rachel and Jackie as best friends. Jackie: soft and mothering. Rachel: harsh and brassy. What’s her backstory?

Miriam Smith, as Jackie, gives us a thoughtful, frightened yet brave character.  Jackie is definitely the grownup in the play and Smith’s gentle performance captures all of Jackie’s qualities.

The standout in this United Players/Solo Collective production, directed ty Johnna Wright, is young Studio 58 grad Ella Wood. As Suzi, another cancer patient in the Mexican hospital, Wood rides an emotional roller coaster. Up/down, up/down. A teacher at Langara, playwright Bushkowsky has the inside track on how young people think and speak and Suzi’s dialogue is hilarious. What Suzi says she’s passionate about is “livin’ large” and Wood’s performance is just that: large and funny and sad. Director Wright creates some beautiful, stirring scenes between Jackie and Suzi: each slowly twirling their IV poles, arms outstretched like two hospital-gowned angels. The Flower Duet from Lakmé makes it simply heart-breaking.

Alvin Saunders is Glenn who initially and somewhat mysteriously appears as a Walmart ‘greeter’. All is revealed later in the play if you haven’t already guessed at Glenn’s true identity.

The production takes place on an elevated, maybe five-foot raised stage – the first I’ve seen at the Jericho Arts Centre. It’s unadorned and bulky and I’m not sure why it’s that high but I’d recommend sitting back at least four or five rows to avoid looking up at the play.

I think The Replacement Wife has problems but I admire it, nevertheless. It’s intelligent and thoughtful and funny. It asks, without directly asking, what is it all for? “What have I really done with my life?” And “What happens next?” It poses the big questions we begin seriously asking ourselves as we age.

Bushkowsky, pushing seventy himself and no stranger to grief, says it all when Jackie comments, “If you find love, hang on to it for dear life.” There’s no substitute – no replacement – for love.