Fringe Windsor Play Shows All Is Fair In Love And Redemption

Showing how a minor disagreement can grow, a local play is set to debut at a returning festival.

As part of Fringe Windsor, Love and Redemption will show audiences how one movie can change everything. Opening on Thursday, July 2,4 from Soiree Space at SHO Studios (located at 628 Monmouth Road), the play includes a mix of comedy, romance, and drama. It also marks actress/director Abbey Lee Hallett’s first solo script.

Beginning the process in December, the show originally served as a way to work with newly made theatre friends.

“[It] was inspired in part by the fact that I had just finished performing in Korda’s production of Frankenstein, which finished in November,” said the first-time playwright. “I was feeling some immense post-show blues in large part because I had made some incredibly wonderful friends during that process. Not getting to see them regularly anymore was very sad. So after Frankenstein wrapped, I was going over some different creative ideas, one of which was that I wanted to write a play that would bring some of the friends that I made in Frankenstein and myself back together to perform once again. I treasured the experience of performing with them so much and was very lucky to make many friends in Frankenstein. [Those] who are now in this play with me though are Dalton Mugridge and Boris Gatackic.”

Focusing on engaged couple Evan and Anna, Love and Redemption revolves around a simple difference of opinion: After seeing it for the first time, Anna tells Evan that she thinks his favourite movie (The Shawshank Redemption) is “just okay.” Although it’s seemingly a small blip on the radar for their relationship, what comes out of the disagreement is anything but. Proceeding from there, it results in heartfelt humour, emotional vulnerability and maybe a pretentious cinephile or two. Either way, it’s a show that hopes to have people questioning the power of a single meeting and movie.

Referencing films heavily, the play didn’t rely on one until Hallett was inspired by a real life story however.

“Love and Redemption didn’t initially have movies as the central cog,” she said. “I initially wanted to write about a couple that had a wedge between them for a reason that initially seemed minor, but turned out to be a much bigger problem than it seemed. Since I love TV shows, movies and plays, I did want something of that nature to be the proverbial wedge. After hearing about a friend who unfollowed another friend on social media after disagreeing over The Shawshank Redemption, I was like ‘That’s it!’ and Love and Redemption was born.”

Armed with a premise, the story still underwent some changes as writing commenced. Originally intended to be purely comedic, Hallett concluded halfway through that this tone wouldn’t work. In the initial version, Evan overtly attempted to get Anna to change her mind with a three-step plan where each part became more farcical. It wasn’t until the third scene when the playwright realized Evan would look like a terrible person if he continued shoving the movie in Anna’s face. Needing the audience to connect with both characters for stakes to matter, Hallett included more realistic elements to make them care about the couple’s outcome.

For personal reasons, one of these things is especially important to the playwright.

“One theme that did get incorporated, partially because of my own interests and background, is mental health, anxiety, and what it’s like to live with more chronic anxiety,” she said. “I do hope that, especially as someone who lives with an anxiety disorder myself, I was able to do justice to this. One thing I notice with a lot of depictions of mental health is that the mental health diagnosis of the character sometimes becomes their entire personality. Either that or you only see the character who’s dealing with a mental health concern in this very heightened state. With my character (Anna) in the show, you see her in many different respects. You see her anxiety, but she’s also got many moments where she’s very silly, loving, insightful, and a few moments where she’s brutally honest.”

Hallett also felt it was important to ensure the character’s rationale for this honesty fell outside of simply being moody or anxious. It’s something the playwright feels gets intertwined too often in different forms of entertainment. Instead, Anna has a wide spectrum of emotions like anyone else. While anxiety is one of them, it’s not the only state she finds herself in.

Surprised by how much she loved the writing process, mining details such as these kept Hallett engaged when plotting the story. Exploring things like character desires, tonal shifts between different scenes, why Evan and Anna fell in love and how they met brought lots of joy to the process.

Even so, the first-time playwright still faced more challenges along the way.

“The main challenge I faced was figuring out the main focus of each scene,” she said. “I noticed, especially with the final scene, that the reason why I initially had trouble writing it was because I was trying to force an idea that wasn’t gelling with where the characters were headed. As soon as I stopped trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, I wrote that scene in about fifteen minutes. This came after about two hours of staring at the screen to write a single sentence.”

Before writing a single word of Love and Redemption though, Hallett applied to Fringe Windsor. As part of the application process, those entering only have to submit their show title, name and contact information. Scripts aren’t required and spots are selected randomly to ensure everyone gets the same opportunity. While not being selected initially, a space eventually opened up and led to the play’s July debut.

Despite having a script ready, Love and Redemption’s unexpected addition to Fringe Windsor created a sudden rush to get the production started. Admitting rehearsals were structured in “a bit of a frenzy,” Hallett was suddenly faced with the task of moving up her targeted opening night from November to the end of July. This led to rehearsals starting once a week in May before bumping them up to a couple of times at the beginning of June.

Beyond this situation, Hallett is also new to every aspect of production. It’s left the playwright juggling many elements such as hunting down props, thinking about blocking and directing everyone while she co-stars and learns on the fly. Being supported through welcome collaboration, Hallett’s fellow actors have helped by putting forward different suggestions.

Changing lines to improve the show, she ultimately hopes it’s left Mugridge and Gatackic feeling comfortable enough to play with the script.

“This is all modern language,” said Hallett. “I wanted it to get to a point where everyone felt comfortable to just dig in, have fun, play off of each other, and have that trust to explore. It’s exciting now because we are at that point where we are getting to just play. Now that the lines are down, now that the blocking is down, now that we have all of our props, we’re just getting to be at that point where we’ve practiced so much that we get to let go and dive in. That is really the biggest joy of the process.”

Immediately coming to mind as the playwright started on her script, Hallett incorporated elements that played to Mugridge and Gatackic’s strengths as well. Knowing they were on board, she worked in several easter eggs based on their own experiences too.

Adding these personal touches also allowed everyone to have more fun with their performances.

“In one scene, Anna runs into Evan and says she’s looking for Cinema Six,” said Hallett. “In real life, [Mugridge] has an animated series called Cinema Six. I also knew that I wanted to have a pretentious cinephile in Love and Redemption, and Cinema Six also had a pretentious cinephile character in a short scene named Phillip. So we’ve kind of taken where Phillip ended in Cinema Six and built upon him in Love and Redemption, where he’s popping up and just causing the most chaos with his pretentious opinions about movies. [Gatackic] plays Phillip and the hardest part of doing this play is trying not to break while in character whenever Phillip comes into a scene. He really got us good recently when he turned a tablecloth into a scarf for Phillip and kept flipping it over both shoulders.”

Approaching opening night, the director remains grateful to be part of Fringe Windsor’s revival. Noting that such festivals are important to a community, Hallett believes they bring people together and help encourage community support for new work.

In addition, she feels these events give everyone an opportunity to find new experiences as well.

“I think it’s easier to commit to one festival where many shows are happening as opposed to committing to 12 different standalone productions,” said Hallett. “It’s similar to a film festival where, because you have this festival pass, you’re like ‘Well, I’m here now, so I might as well see these four other things that I wouldn’t normally see while I have the chance.’ So the fact that Fringe Windsor is being put on, especially after such a long post-COVID hiatus, is wonderful. And with Fringe, you do get to see unique work because the nature of the Festival allows artists to throw ideas at the wall and run with them. I’m really excited to get to see the other Fringe shows!”

Performances of Love and Redemption will take place from Soiree Space @ SHO Studios on July 24, 25, 26, and 27. Showtimes are at 6:40 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. on night one, 5:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. on night two, 10:10 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. on night three, while night four’s shows are at 6:25 p.m. and 7:25 p.m. Tickets are $15 each and can be purchased online through the play’s Fringe Windsor page.

Not wanting to spoil too much, Hallett hopes her show ends in a way that’s interesting for audiences while sparking debate after it’s finished. Falling in love with each character and getting to work with her friends again, it’s been a joyful experience for the playwright overall.

Because of this, Hallett especially hopes Love and Redemption shows audiences they aren’t alone in whatever they choose to connect with either.

“For me, the show has just been filled with such joy, discovery, and exploration,” she said. “It’s made me laugh, and it’s also pulled my heart out a little bit at some rehearsals. Because it has such a broad spectrum of feeling, I’m not 100 per cent sure what people will get out of it. Ultimately, I love creating stories that help people feel like they’re not alone, especially in things that bring them joy. I think often in life, we’re told to tamp down the things that make us joyful and the things that we love. In this show, Evan’s love of The Shawshank Redemption is truly unbridled and you know what? Why not? We should all have those things that bring us joy and fulfill us.”