REVIEW: The Shape of Home at Crow’s/Festival Players
Tying together playful original music and the haunting verses of Al Purdy, The Shape of Home is poignant, at times painful, and always shimmering. (There’s a distinct and welcome similarity to the folk musical Once.) Here, Purdy’s ghost haunts the Crow’s intimate studio playing space; his words wrap around table legs and banjo necks; his rhythm punctuates every solo, every bass line. The corps of artists onstage serve as a mouthpiece for Purdy’s existential restlessness — and the effect is simply magic.
Loosely, The Shape of Home is a love letter to Purdy and a record of #theaTO from the depths of pandemic. Five theatre artists — Frank Cox-O’Connell, Beau Dixon, Hailey Gillis, Raha Javanfar, and Andrew Penner — gather virtually to set Purdy’s poems to music. They email each other, lamenting lockdowns and aloneness, missing each other, sharing snippets of songs and fragmented text. “I hate theatre,” says Dixon at one point, funnily, when he recalls a time where burnout nearly got the best of him as a busy Toronto actor. The music that emerges from The Shape of Home is mostly bluegrass-ish, referencing the musical stylings of Canadian folk bands like Hey Rosetta! and at times more ethereal artists like Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles.
After a stint in Prince Edward County — a locale important to the myth of Al Purdy — The Shape of Home may now be in Toronto, but the production seems to pay homage to the County’s friendly, rural atmosphere. Blooming within the cozy, wood-panelled Crow’s studio, its walls lined by instruments and filled to the brim with enormous music, The Shape at Home is nearly a perfect pearl of a project, earnest and raw. (That smart set design is by Steve Lucas.) The musical performances from the cast are robust, velvety, and endlessly pretty, calling on everything from a violin to a euphonium to evoke the lasting melancholy of Purdy’s words. It seems every performer plays every instrument, and even difficult close vocal harmonies come easily in moments of duet. Pizzicato moments on violin twinkle against gruff runs on electric guitar — the musicianship, and especially the arrangements of the songs created by the group, stuns.
Some songs are more memorable than others — Purdy’s rhyming poems lend themselves better to song than his less structured work, generally — but the overall effect achieved by the musical moments seems to be the arc of Purdy’s life and its swells, its cracks, its triumphs, and its storms. We follow Purdy through these ups and downs, these near-constant moves across Canada, these multiple lovers and children. We sigh with relief when Al finds solace in the quietness of Prince Edward County, a moment of earned satisfaction and rest. The Shape of Home feels like a well-paced life in miniature, with a stunning emotional spine — there was nary a dry eye on opening night. Marni Jackson’s dramaturgy shines through the piece, complementing Cox-O’Connell’s keen direction (he’s got a great voice, too). Lindsay Forde’s costumes are lovely, digging into 2022 trends and rural Ontario plaid alike, and adeptly echoing the set’s folksy atmosphere and gentle lighting (by Noah Feaver).
It’s a simple night at the theatre, The Shape of Home, but the craft within the project shines, and what seem to be completely real moments of friendship between artists onstage are beyond touching. See it, then read up on your Purdy; you’ll want to.
The Shape of Home runs at Crow’s theatre September 11–25, 2022.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Narnia.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Bad Hats’ Narnia is a joyful, heartwarming escape
The spirit of openness and the joy of discovery rule over this Narnia. Open the wardrobe and see.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Robin Hood.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Canadian Stage’s Robin Hood panto is anti-capitalist fun for the whole family
Following Ross Petty’s legacy of scene-stealing, Damien Atkins as the evil Prince John is easily the greatest delight of the show.
iPhoto caption: Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton in 'Public Consumption.' Photo by Eden Graham.
REVIEW: Lester Trips’ stylish Public Consumption captures the internet’s profound emptiness
Rather than directly representing online life, Public Consumption speculates — with virtuosity — about how the digital world affects our bodies. And the show's findings are by no means comfortable.
iPhoto caption: Tony Ofori and Daren A. Herbert in 'Moonlight Schooner.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Kanika Ambrose’s Moonlight Schooner is animated and visually stunning, but its individual pieces don’t come together as neatly as I would've expected.
iPhoto caption: Fiona Mongillo in 'Reproduktion.' Photo by Ann Baggley.
REVIEW: Here For Now’s well-acted Reproduktion attempts to tackle too much
Amy Rutherford’s world premiere script is ambitious and the material it covers is complex — but the narrative feels disjointed.
iPhoto caption: Kristen Thomson in 'Fulfillment Centre.' Photo by Elana Emer.
REVIEW: Coal Mine’s Fulfillment Centre asks how we end up alone, together
The production understands the play’s themes, yet feels limited by a script that delivers a package it never fully opens.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
Comments