Theatre Calgary’s dark comedy Vigil runs until November 4

DETAILS

Vigil by Theatre Calgary
Max Bell Theatre
Tuesday, October 16 - Sunday, November 4

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The award-winning black comedy Vigil finds a silver lining in mortality and loneliness at Theatre Calgary this October. “It’s all about life, it’s all about death — it’s hysterical,” says artistic director Dennis Garnhum.

Written by Morris Panych, who is originally from Calgary and later studied acting in London, England, Vigil follows the story of Grace, an ailing, bedridden aunt, and Kemp, her socially inept nephew. The two finally cross paths after 30 years when Grace writes Kemp telling him she believes she is on her deathbed.

The 40-scene play takes place entirely at Grace’s apartment. Assuming Grace will pass on rather quickly, Kemp starts making regular visits to his aunt. But days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and as the time slips by, the two begin to find solace in each other’s company. “It’s about loneliness and finding a connection with someone — feeling like someone loves you, cares about you and ‘somewhere in the air, someone is thinking of you,’” says Dean Paul Gibson, who plays Kemp, quoting from the play.

While nuances of Kemp’s character are not new to Gibson, having previously played Kemp in Western Canadian Theatre’s (WCT) Vancouver production of Vigil, he says picking up the character again did not come without its challenges. “Once you open (the script) up, it’s a bit of a hornet’s nest of good things. It energizes me; it invigorates me when you get to work on good material.”

Kemp is described as self-centred, cynical, bitter and socially inept. Being able to understand the degree of loneliness, rejection and isolation experienced by Kemp took some investigating. “I feel very loved, supported and needed in the world by my family and others,” he says. “(But) Kemp does not feel that. He doesn’t have great social skills, this character — we get to enjoy his inept way of dealing with the situation going on,” he adds, saying previous audiences have found Kemp’s demeanour towards his aunt startling and unbelievable. “The darker the piece, the more disquieting (it is). On the other side of that mean coin, or that dark comedy, is this marvelous story.”

According to Garnhum, after last year’s success of The Overcoat, another one of Panych’s plays and winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award in 2005, he was excited to bring a different variation of Panych’s imagination to Theatre Calgary’s 2007-08 season. “I suspected people would be interested in hearing more from (Panych),” says Garnhum. “It will stand alone if you didn’t see The Overcoat, but if you have, you’re going to be quite enamoured with how far his imagination can take things.”

Vigil has a tendency to sweep audiences into laughter within the first few minutes of opening the curtain. But there are moments where people will be caught with emotion or surprised by how deeply they feel for Panych’s characters. “Morris rewrote the book with what’s possible (in theatre) with The Overcoat. (Now) he’s rewritten the two-hander,” says Garnhum. “There’s many two-actor plays but none like this.”