Review: (Toronto) Awake (Next Stage)

Lauren Brotman (photo credit: Steve Carty)

When Much is Given and More is Wished

by Christian Baines

It’s almost impossible not to admire the intent behind Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley’s Awake. The pair interviewed over 100 members of the Jamestown & Rexdale communities of Toronto to create their script, quoting the accounts of residents more or less verbatim. Their approach firmly steers the story of this violence plagued neighbourhood clear of melodrama, and gives it an authenticity that’s both the play’s biggest draw card, and its unfortunate downfall.

Sunday Feature: Laura Mullin on AWAKE (Next Stage)

Beryl Bain

AWAKE and Sing!
by Laura Mullin, co-Artistic Director, Expect Theatre / Spark Collective
(photos: Steve Carty)

Sometimes during rehearsals for AWAKE, Chris Tolley and I will look at each other and say, we can’t believe this is our show. At first glance, the piece really has nothing to do with us. It is set in a community that we have never lived in, it’s about struggles we’ve never contended with, and it grounds itself in a church that we have never attended. In many ways, it is the antithesis of us, and perhaps that is why we are so drawn to this piece.

AWAKE was conceived four years ago when my business partner Chris and I were in the throws of producing our annual festival in the Jamestown area. It's called urbanNOISE, and for eight years we've had the privilege of working with the Jamestown/Rexdale community to showcase and celebrate the area's incredible arts and artists.