PREVIEW
Terry and the Dog
Edmonton Actors Theatre
May 9 to 19
ATB Financial Arts Barns
10330 - 84 Ave.
Tickets: $15 to $20. Call 780-420-1757 or visit www.tixonthesquare.ca or at door
The struggle with alcohol and addiction is difficult to understand and much more distressing to handle.
However, Edmonton playwright Collin Doyle (The Mighty Carlins, Let the Light of Day Shine Through) tackles it in Terry and the Dog, an Edmonton Actors Theatre (EAT) production.
Running May 9 to 19 at ATB Financial Arts Barns, Doyle’s memory play is seen through the eyes of Terry Mire, a recovering alcoholic in his sixties. As he waits for his dead dog to return to life, he tells the story of his wife, his son and the dog’s previous life.
Founding EAT director Dave Horak discovered the script after receiving an invitation to direct its third workshop. After Workshop West was unable to produce it, and Theatre Network passed on it, Horak, a fan of Doyle’s work, picked it up.
“You really care about these people. They’re very relatable. Even though there’s a dreamlike quality to the play, these people are the salt of the earth,” said Horak.
“Collin and I joke he’s written one of the saddest plays in the world. But it’s really beautiful. It’s about forgiveness and catharsis.”
Horak tapped Robert Benz to play Terry. Both artists had previously worked together in EAT’s production Stupid F@#king Bird.
“Robert is one of the hardest-working actors I know and he has a good chunk of the dialogue. He had done a one-person show at the Fringe last summer and I knew he could handle the dialogue.”
Horak explains that Doyle’s dialogue is very sparse leaving actors room to mine information and details.
“I think you’ll find Robert is a warm and funny storyteller.”
St. Albert Children’s Theatre founding artistic director Maralyn Ryan, fresh off the Citadel Theatre production of The Humans, is cast as Diane, Terry’s wife.
“Maralyn is a very strong actor and she has a comic sensibility that is important for me in a play that can be very dark. We always look for the humanity in people and she goes deep,” Horak explained.
Ryan tackles a complicated role. Diane is a woman who believes in miracles. She sees the challenges Terry faces in kicking his addictions, and loves him for trying. Yet, as a survival mechanism, she leaves him eight times.
“Her whole idea of addictions is you have to love the person, but you have to have a steely spine and won’t let yourself be abused,” said Ryan. “She takes him back because she wants him to be the person he can be.”
The play runs through about a dozen years of memories and part of Diane’s torment is seeing both her husband and son, Ken (Cole Humeny) lose themselves in addictions.
“As much as I believe in miracles, the tragedy of the son really hits me,” said Ryan, an artist who has spent a large part of her life promoting theatre for youth.
“But beyond everything, this is a beautiful, hopeful play. It gives you a sense of what it means to be human and it gives you a sense we are here to help each other.”
