HAPPY MERRY (A Light in Dark Places)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKspi1hvYfw

Available until: Unknown

I think this is a very brave play. The other plays in this series have focused on giving support to people with mental health problems, but in this play, we see a couple of characters with a less than ideal attitude to mental illness. It’s a difficult and painful watch, but I think it’s really important to acknowledge that these attitudes exist and that not everyone is perfect and to look at ways of dealing with people who are less than sympathetic.

Ezra and Nell, who is pregnant, are on their way to spend Christmas with Ezra’s mother. Ezra’s sister Alison was due to fly to their mother’s house, but she wasn’t able to. The mother wants Ezra to drive all the way to Alison’s house (which is in the wrong direction), pick her up, and then drive all the way to their mother’s. Ezra isn’t too keen on the idea. Not even when his mother reveals the extent of Alison’s mental health problems. Alison doesn’t have the most supportive family and the ignorance shown in this play is a shock, but it’s very realistic. Being related to someone doesn’t guarantee support. (And I should know – though I really consider my adoptive family to be my real family now.)

Writer Michael P. Adams doesn’t hold back on how bad things can be and he even inserts a sharp, dark humour, which is surprisingly effective, but he also creates the more sympathetic character of Nell. Director Trang Le was quite restricted on what she could ask the characters to do as they’re sitting in a car, but it was a great idea for the Zoom screen of the mother to appear between Ezra and Nell. I can imagine she’s the kind of person who comes between them in a figurative sense quite often and puts them on opposite sides.

Alisa Murray is very sweet as Nell, a good person with passionate beliefs. Devon Michaels has a difficult job in not making Ezra come across as a very horrible person, but although he says awful things, he gives the impression that Ezra is genuinely hurt by an aspect of the situation. Jenny O’Hara as the mother has some terrible things to say too, but there’s also a lot of emotion in her performance so she too isn’t completely awful, though she’s very wrong.

The ending to the play is maybe unsatisfactory in some ways, but I feel it’s the right ending. Much as we want a miracle - we’ve come to care for the unknown and invisible Alison - we do want an outcome that’s realistic