Every day we make choices which lead us down one of any number of paths. But when war forces you out of your home, forces you to choose sides, forces you into unimaginable situations, what then? Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s stunning play Bad Roads examines that question and so much more. Brilliantly directed by Andrew Kushnir and featuring a cast of talented performers, Bad Roads is a poignant work for our time and is expertly staged by all involved.

Bad Roads takes place in Ukraine after the Russian attacks in 2014. Each scene depicts or describes how life has so drastically changed for the people of Ukraine and difficult choices they’re forced to make every day. Each one of the people in this play have had to make tough decisions which have lead them to the point where we meet them; some of them are understandable, others of them seem impossible to comprehend. To see this play while not only this war continues, but several more are being waged all over the world is heavy on your heart, but that’s also why it’s necessary. Bad Roads doesn’t shy away from any of the realities of the situation, harsh or otherwise. While these are mere snapshots of what daily life is like, they’re an important window into what’s really happening around the globe, and certainly opened my eyes to all of the things the media refuses to report on any longer.

The Studio Theatre at Streetcar Crow’s Nest is set up in a theatre-in-the-round style for this performance; allowing the action to be seen from all sides so that we don’t miss a minute os what’s occurring in front of us. Sim Suzer’s set design and Christian Horoszczak’s lighting design come together to create an intense and fascinating atmosphere for these stories to take place; I felt like I never knew what was going to come next or where from. I thought it was brilliant how the red scarf travelled from scene to scene, always making an appearance even if it wasn’t being worn the whole time. It was a beautiful symbol of how integrated each story and scene truly were.

Without giving away too much, there are several scenes which depict violence in one form or another onstage during this production. They are masterfully handled by director Andrew Kushnir along with the Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly. I really appreciated how these moments were handled; so many of them not even requiring physical touch between the cast members, rather allowing us to fill in what’s taking place from their actions/reactions on opposite sides of the stage. Bad Roads is masterfully staged by professionals who clearly have an excellent understanding of not only what’s possible on stage, but also how to take these more challenging moments and let them be challenging and shocking without that physical contact. You could feel and understand the trust that the cast members had in one another in these scenes, and that also stems from the trust in their director and fight/intimacy director.

Bad Roads is performed by an incredible cast who take on this material with compassion and grace in every moment. All of them give passionate performances as they take on multiple characters throughout the production. Andrew Chown and Katherine Gauthier share the most intense scene in the production, and they are amazing, making the audience feel such a range of emotion in one scene is no small feat. Craig Lauzon and Shauna Thompson likewise share a really profound scene and I thought their chemistry was great and both performers are fantastic. Michelle Monteith has the opening scene of the play, and she performs that monologue brilliantly; she never looses us for a moment and sets the stage perfectly for the rest of the stories we’re going to hear. Seana McKenna has a powerful stage prescience, and provides some of the few moments of levity which we get in this performance. She’s matched by Diego Matamoros whose characters are so wildly different from one another, and yet Matamoros’ charm shines through both of them.

Bad Roads is the kind of theatre we need to be seeing; while it is very hard to watch at times, it is a glimpse into the lives of others we don’t usually see on stage. I’m glad that I was able to see this production; it’s certainly left me with plenty to think about. You won’t want to miss Bad Roads either! It plays until November 26th. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.crowstheatre.com/whats-on/view-all/badroads

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Cover photo of Michelle Monteith, Katherine Gauthier, and Shauna Thompson by Dahlia Katz

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