The Old Neighbourhood

Today we can Google, Facebook or use any number of pseudo-verbs to reconnect with, or find information on, old friends. However, there was a time, not so long ago, that you had to get in touch, seek people out, even meet face to face.

Confronting the past — regrets and all — and reconnecting with old friends and family is the central theme of David Mamet’s The Old Neighbourhood by Rogues Theatre. “It’s about regret, and how the events of our past still affect us in the present and, I guess, what it means to deal with unfinished business,” says director Aaron Coates.

Coates agrees with Mamet’s description of the play as a classic kitchen-sink drama. “It’s a thoughtful piece that tackles some really huge ideas,” he says.

The Old Neighbourhood runs until March 28 at the Joyce Doolittle Theatre at Pumphouse Theatres.

Highway 63

Fort McMurray, the crazy oil-drenched boomtown of the north, is the focus of Downstage’s latest production, Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show, created by Emergency Architect Theatre.

A Newfoundlander moves to Fort Mac in order to make his fortune on the rigs. He ends up rooming with an environmental scientist hired to look at oilsands reclamation, and the two meet a local woman who is busy educating residents about the oilsands and dreaming of escaping to Toronto. Romance and conflict ensue.

Highway 63 runs March 26 and 28 at Motel in the Epcor Centre.