Local playwright Robin Taylor Wright has been hosting play readings in Fort Frances and around Canada for the last couple of years, and now, over the next few months, one of his shows will take to the stage in the United Kingdom.
Wright is producing his works under the banner of Laughing Cactus Productions, a name he says he got from his father.
“Laughing Cactus actually is my dad’s old record label from the 80s and 90s, and he’s still somewhat active,” Wright said.
“I asked, ‘Hey, Dad, can I use this? I really like it.’ He said, ‘yeah, sure.’ So I use it sort of as a front for some of my plays, so it’s not just focusing on me, because I want to collaborate with other writers too. Right now, I’m just writing a bunch of stuff. I’ve been sitting on these for a while.”
Wright has brought his shows to various venues, with several at the Pink Parasol Tea Room in Fort Frances and multiple venues in Winnipeg and southern Ontario. He likens his experiences in bringing his plays around to touring with a band in his younger years.
“It’s sort of like a parallel to when I used to tour in bands. We just booked our own gigs and introduced ourselves to people and made connections,” he said.
“I know a lot of theatre is sending your stuff out, but the whole ethos of Laughing Cactus is I’m not waiting for anybody. I’m just gonna make my own work. If somebody wants to join in and be a part of it, or if you want to hire my plays, awesome. But for now, I’m not waiting for anybody. I’m just kind of doing these DIY pop up shows like you’ve seen at the Tea Room using you all as guinea pigs and seeing what works.”
The show Wright is taking to the UK is called “Home for Boys,” and is set in a southwestern Ontario group home in the mid-1990s. The story follows PJ, a vulnerable late bloomer; Randall, a charming but controlling boy; and Casey, a reserved but musically talented newcomer. Due to conflicting personalities, Randall sees Casey as a threatening influence to PJ, and tries to manipulate his way into making Casey leave. Resulting in potentially horrific consequences.
Wright will now be showing the play at the Brighton Fringe Festival in the south of England. The show is one that Wright has been working on and tinkering with since his university days in 2014-15.
Preparing to bring the show to the UK has meant contextualizing many aspects which were originally written for Canadian audiences and might not be easily understood by British patrons.
For example, rather than the foster home or group home, which is depicted in the show, the term most understood by a UK audience might be ‘children’s home.’
For help with this, Wright has been working with help from the British theatre scene.
“I connected with a director in London and we looked at it, and she’s like, it’s good, but it’s very Canadian,” he said.
“She got together with her team and just went through everything and did sort of a cultural translation.”
The show has also changed a bit because of its casting.
In readings and productions of the show, Wright has cast primarily female identifying actors for the roles of the young boys.
“Basically it boils down to aesthetics,” he said.
“Like in cartoons, women play young boys. But also thematically, I want to deconstruct masculinity in these pieces. So having those born without the assignment of being male is a better approach for the performer, much like these boys about to enter manhood and unsure what the best way to do it is. Also, because of the subject matter I am uncomfortable with children performing these roles.”
For the UK showings, one of the cast members has impacted the story slightly.
“The performer playing PJ is actually from Portugal, and during her audition, she kept trying to hide her accent, and the director was like, ‘no, lean into it,’ Wright said.
“So now PJ has a different kind of story and character where he’s trying to reconnect with his lost parents somewhere in Portugal. So it’s about language, and even the title of the play has changed, because even shifts in lexicon create a new story.”
For the production mounted this spring in the UK, the show has been re-christened as “Calls from Castlemar.” It will be playing at Brighton Fringe in May and at the Baron Court Theatre in Camden, London, in August.
For his next presentation in Fort Frances, Wright will be featuring a comedy called “Don’t You Dare Run Away” which will be a reading at the Fort Frances Public Library.
Briefly, “Don’t you Dare Run Away” is the story of a dysfunctional sibling band attempting to rise above tragedy and come together to play their hit song once more on national radio. Unfortunately, the titular song carries a curse. Will they put aside their ego and guilt to pull it off?
The performance will take place on Apr. 22 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. but Wright will be accepting donations which will be split between performers.
For more information on Laughing Cactus Productions, check out their Instagram page: instagram.com/laughingcactusproductions/.
