Forget About Tomorrow At Here For Now Theatre
Forget About Tomorrow, a play by Jill Daum now receiving its Ontario premiere at Stratford’s Here For Now Theatre, may be tough going for some, but thanks to sensitive direction by Peter Pasyk and a talented cast it rewards our close attention for its 80-minute length.
Jane (Raquel Duffy) has problems, lord knows. She works at a low paying job in an upscale boutique for babies and children. Her demanding boss Lori (Pamela Sinha) is a piece of work carrying on an affair with a “hot” Persian. Her two kids, Aaron (Sam Snyders) an aspiring musician and Lori (Annie Lockerbie Newton) a nervous first year college student, have recently left the nest, but their problems still demand her attention. Even so, she’s coping, buoyed by a loving marriage.
Then her 49-year-old husband Tom (Geoffrey Pounsett), a therapist, gets a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimers and her life begins to spiral out of control.
If Daum had written a made-for-tv movie, Jane would be a saintly heroine, rising to the challenge of caring for a loved one with a hideous prognosis. In Forget About Tomorrow, Daum does something far more interesting.
Buckling under the immense strain of her situation, Jane find herself attracted to Wayne (Kevin Bundy), a charming widower who drops into the boutique, The Nest, to buy gifts for his new grand-daughter.
Not only does she have sex with him, in the shop no less, she tells her husband what she has done.
Daum’s play places considerable demands on the actors and they respond admirably. Duffy makes Jane’s anguish and seemingly out of character fling with Wayne utterly believable. Sinha’s’s loud-mouthed boss, for all her faults, emerges as a sympathetic sounding board. Bundy is utterly disarming as the widower attracted to June but not seeking the drama that ensues when she reveals her indiscretion. Pounsett’s Tom is quietly heartbreaking.
And the kids are alright. In fact the kids are better than alright. Snyders and Newton may give the most impressive performances of all, considering how little time they have to make an impression.
Again, a great deal of credit must go to Pasyk who has done a terrific job of teasing out subtle performances from his cast and keeping Forget About Tomorrow from becoming mere soap opera.
Louise Guinand has once again provided lighting that allows the action to flow efficiently from place to place on Jung A Im’s compact set.
Forget About Tomorrow continues at Here For Now Theatre’s new indoor space at 24 St. Andrew Street in Stratford through June 29. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Here For Now Theatre website.
[image Here For Now Theatre. Art by Mark Uhre]
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