Refusing dehumanization is the theme of Casey & Diana, a co-production between Alberta Theatre Projects and The Citadel Theatre, written by Nick Green.
Casey House was Canada’s first stand-alone facility for people living with HIV/AIDS. It opened in 1988, during the height of the AIDS epidemic. People living with the disease were often ostracized and abandoned by their families at that time, and nobody really knew how the disease was transmitted. Patients died alone, with no one willing to touch them while they were sick. Princess Diana visited Casey House on October 25, 1991 and that visit, as Director Lana Michelle Hughes aptly puts it in the program of this show, became a symbol of what it looks like to refuse dehumanization.
The play tells of Thomas (Nathan Cuckow), a patient at Casey House, who has had several roommates and is being introduced to the next one, Andre (Josh Travnik). Andre is a lot younger than Thomas and doesn’t take well to having a roommate and being at Casey House. Marjorie (April Banigan), a volunteer, tries to connect with Andre but her enthusiasm and neediness winds up crossing some boundaries that lands her in hot water with the charge nurse Vera (Norma Lewis). Everyone is trying to make it to Princess Diana’s (Emily Howard) upcoming visit. It is only 7 days away. Anything could happen in those 7 days, including several unwanted visits from Thomas’ sister Pauline (Helen Knight).
This play is multi-layered. There are triangles of tension that exist on stage. There is Thomas, who has lesions on his face, but isn’t bedridden. His anticipation of Diana’s visit is what keeps him going and the hurt due to his estrangement with his sister almost unravels him. This tension comes to a head when he and Pauline talk in a nearby church. The push and pull between his disease, his sister and what Diana represents in his life has its own life on stage. Pauline doesn’t want to believe that her brother is dying. The idea of meeting the Princess of Wales is keeping him alive.
The other triangle that exists is between Andre, Vera and Marjorie. This tension isn’t as strong, as Marjorie’s intentions are washed away. She isn’t as assertive as she could be in trampling over Andre to fill the void that exists within her. She’s presented as too nice and oblivious, so that when Vera probes her motivations, the way she has caused harm isn’t shown as directly.
Casey & Diana will do a couple of things throughout its presentation. It will make audiences ugly cry and it will portray the tragedy of society’s pension for dehumanizing those with which they don’t want to deal. It was easier for HIV patients to be the problem, than it was to embrace everyone as human, worthy of a rich life and a good death.
Helen Knight has an ability to humanize any role she is in and Pauline is no different. She manages to make her selfishness and pain humane enough that you can understand her point of view. Her transformation towards the end of the play is a quiet heartbreak. Cuckow ensures that Thomas is sass and steady as the main character, while also showing his quiet terror underneath it all. There isn’t anything not to love about Lewis’ Vera. She’s solid as the busy but compassionate nurse. Travnik shows Andre’s youth and heartbreak about his family’s abandonment and Banigan is earnest as Marjorie. Howard has an extremely difficult role to play as Diana and she absolutely nails it. Her mannerisms and accent never stray from character.
Lana Michelle Hughes’ direction is bang on for the Thomas/Pauline/Diana dynamic, but a little off the mark for Andre/Vera/Marjorie. The creative decision to have this production as a thrust stage is thoughtful, creating the intimacy you need to connect with the characters. Hanne Loosen’s set design combined with Whittyn Jason’s lighting design allow the play to change locations and blur the lines of reality in a way that really works. Allison Lynch’s composition and sound design also adds a theatricality to the production.
Casey & Diana is a heartfelt story and this production still gets to the beating heart of the script, with only a couple of missteps. But Calgary should let this quiet story of heartbreak show them what it means to be human in the world.
This production runs until March 15th. More information and tickets are available online.
Nathan Cuckow and Emily Howard in Alberta Theatre Projects’ production of Casey and Diana. Photo by Benjamin Laird. Set Design by Hanne Loosen. Costume Design by Rebecca Toon. Lighting Design by Whittyn Jason.