There are sure to be many laughs when the comedy Conversations With My Motherplays to audiences as the Gateway Theatre gets its new season underway in early October.
But director Katrina Dunn believes there will be plenty of introspective nods of acknowledgment, too.
“It explores the tension between raising children and pursuing your career,” said Dunn, “and how those things pull you in a certain direction. That’s a core thing that most of us are trying to figure out; getting just the right balance of that particular formula. And I’m sure many people will relate to that.”
The story follows sisters, Heather (Alison Kelly) and Lily (Deborah Williams)— complete opposites — who, after mourning their mother Hyacinth’s sudden death quickly learn she still roams the earth. And as Hyacinth tries to “give up her ghost,” her grown daughters struggle with their own midlife crises.
“It’s an interesting story about a matrilineal family with a grandmother character who is dead, but still exerts her influence,” Dunn said. “And what’s great about that is we really don’t get the chance to talk about that matrilineal line a lot and how we pass on family name and importance through the women’s line.
“It’s a real women’s story. It’s always exciting to work on a female story that has a potential to really get into the hearts of a whole bunch of people and tell an important story,” said Dunn who grew up in Richmond and is looking forward to her first opportunity to work at the Gateway Theatre.
Conversations With My Motheris a new play, co-written by Stacey Kaser, and Alison Kelly which debuts Oct. 9 and runs until Oct. 25.
And with a brand new production comes a sense of freedom for the director, Dunn said.
“I love working on new plays. I’ve spent most of my career doing that,” she said. “It’s a process I really enjoy.”
Part of that is being “pulled into the creative process” of a number of people connected with the production. Plus, it gives her a greater degree of latitude in her director’s role.
“It does give you a lot of freedom. There’s a lot of things to solve, as well,” she said, “because there’s re-writes going on at the same time you’re rehearsing.”
When an established play has been performed many times before, Dunn said there’s often a “roadmap” that reflects what changes were made in the earlier productions.
“When you’re working on a new play, you are doing all of that work at the same time,” she said. “Figuring out all the emotional connections through the script, solving writing and staging issues. You’re doing that work for the first time.”
While that adds to the workload, Dunn said it’s an exciting challenge.
“It’s really creative.”
Since rehearsals began a few weeks ago, roughly a quarter of the play has been altered.
“That’s about normal for a new play process. And it’s been mostly trimming and cutting within scenes,” she said, adding even the placement of one scene was shifted.
“Quite often, when you’re in rehearsal you don’t attempt those kind of structural things, but this made a lot of things clearer. So, we went with it.”
For more information about Conversations With My Mother, and the Gateway Theatre’s 2014/15 lineup, visit gatewaytheatre1-px.rtrk.ca.
