Who are you drawn to? Is it people who look like you, or think like you? What about someone who’s charming or vivacious? Or maybe you’re drawn to those you think you can fix, those with “natural deficiencies”? Erin Shields’s To A Flame looks at the perils of being drawn in by someone who might seem parental and protective, but has their own motives lurking just below the surface. Performed in both English and ASL simultaneously, having been translated into ASL by 1S1’s Dawn Jani Birley, and directed and choreographed by Josette Bushell-Mingo, To A Flame is unlike anything you’ve witnessed before.

Walking into the theatre space, the sound of rain pouring down and the wind whipping outside, your shoulders immediately begin to make their way towards your ears. The occasional crack of thunder makes you jump, and then suddenly you notice the three women at the front of the room. They stand upon a raised platform with slanted walls, a table and a chair. A lone cellist sits adjacent to this, looking just as frightened of her surroundings as you’re beginning to feel as well. Yet the other women smile, giving inviting looks and nods as you file in. They’re all in a state of partial undress, though it’s clear that all three of them are wearing identical garments. You find out that these sisters, as they’ve been raised to call each other, have asked you here because there have been strange goings on in their mansion: terrifying noises can be heard at night, seemingly emanating from the cellar door. They tell the stories of how they came to be in this house, about the things their “father” used to tell them, and about what’s led to the horrors they’re now experiencing.

Shields’s text contains all of the hallmarks of a gothic horror: a huge mansion with never-ending passageways, a master of the house who rules with an iron fist, and young women who think they have been rescued, but might be in more danger than they know. The tension builds steadily throughout the play, culminating in a final scene which left me wondering if I was going to be able to sleep without hearing the same noises as the women were describing. The inclusion of some of the Victorian period’s most strange obsessions, like vivisection, is brilliant; it enhances the unsettling feeling while being totally true to the time in which the play is set. The constant shadow of the father figure, his hat and coat always hanging in view on the wall, embodies the power he has over the three women. Likewise, their clothing symbolizes their confinement, both societally and within their home, and the shedding of these vestments shows their slow but essential liberation from their “father”. Not only does this feminist reading play into the tropes set down by gothic fiction’s heroines, but it also proves why To A Flame is the perfect fit for a feminist theatre company like Nightwood Theatre.

However, what I think impressed me the most about To A Flame is how the text, movement, design, and consistent use of ASL all come together into this cohesive, beautiful, spectacle of a production. Deanna H. Choi’s sound design and Jung-Hye Kim’s set and costume design give us our initial impressions of what we’re about to witness. As the play continues, Laura Warren’s incredible projection design dominates the walls, taking us from one room to the next, and even out onto the roof with full view of the night sky. Bushell-Mingo’s choreography is perfectly designed so that all of the performers are able to move in sync. ASL is used throughout the performance, and no one is left in the dark about what’s being said, no matter which language is being used. This is next level ingenuity and accessibility being combined with awe-inspiring projections to create an unforgettable piece of theatre.

Dawn Jani Birley stars alongside Nickeshia Garrick, and Juliana Monk, the three of them an unstoppable force throughout the production. Birley is so beautifully expressive when she performs, and there were moments in this play where their character Madeline nearly brought me to tears. Garrick’s Harriet is the reserved one; Harriet has clearly taken everything her “father” has told her to heart, which makes the ending of the play all the more fantastic. Garrick gives Harriet a strength and resolve which makes her feel like the eldest, even though she’s technically the middle sister. Monk’s Fanny is wild and tenacious, and I love the way Monk moves through her character. The three of them are dynamic and engaging from the moment we walk into the theatre until the final lights go down.

“Thus hath the candle singed the moth.” (The Merchant of Venice, II ix, 85)

The title, To A Flame, asks us to think about inevitability: were these young women actually drawn to this man? Or him to them? How many more times would they allow each other to get burned before they were consumed by his flame? And what’s more important: can the moth fight back? In many ways this gothic thriller speaks to the feeling of inevitability in our current social climate, and yet shows us that unlike the moths in the attic, and despite the incorrect assumptions made by society at large, we have the ability to fight against the pull of the flame.

To A Flame runs at the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre until October 4. For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.nightwoodtheatre.net/to-a-flame/

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Quote from The Merchant of Venice found here: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/read/2/9/

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Cover Photo: Photo of Nickeshia Garrick, Dawn Jani Birley and Juliana Monk by Elana Emer. Set and Costume design by Jung-Hye Kim. Lighting Design by André du Toit. Projection Design by Laura Warren.

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