Seyed Hossein Mortazavi

Emotional revelations drop in on the set of Falling: A Wake

It’s existential exploration in Wishbone Theatre’s latest production, Falling: A Wake. Anguish tinges the three-person show that tells the story of Harold and Elsie, a middle-aged couple who wake to a nighttime explosion and the body of a young man, still strapped in his airplane seat, sitting on their lawn. The couple subsequently recreates their living room around the fallen body, both affected in their own ways by the bizarre arrival of the cadaver. The production offers genuine emotion as the incredible circumstance allows the couple to reach a sentimental reconciliation with themselves and each other about their existence and the meaning of life.

Brian Dooley and Holly Turner are seasoned actors who take to the stage as Harold and Elsie. The older couple occupies a farm on the “nondescript edge of nowhere,” waiting with expiring hope for a miracle to bring back their missing son. While the arrival of the body doesn’t create the change they were hoping for, the night spent in their front yard takes the couple on an emotional journey. Beneath the stars, Elsie chats away at the young man’s body, while Harold watches, impatient and uninterested, a foil to his wife’s sanguine interaction with the corpse.

The context of the couple’s life is revealed through Turner’s eccentric dialogues with the unsympathetic body: she recounts stories of their life on the farm, the townsfolk, Harold’s job and finally, their beloved son. Though it seems heavy to have the majority of the play carried by a single actress’ monologues, Turner rises to the challenge, a believable mother figure and authentic optimist. Dooley also succeeds, though featured less in voice, bringing much of the play’s humour in gruff wit and adoring quips to Turner’s eccentric character.

However, it’s when Harold finally breaks, frustrated and tired at his wife’s fervent hope that the boy’s arrival “means something,” that Dooley, and Falling: A Wake hit their stride.

“I’m just tired of hoping. I’m tired!” Harold shouts, and when he stalks off stage, tears might fall as Elsie remains alone with the body, and alone with her hope that a miracle will bring the couple their long-awaited peace.

With a genuine portrayal of the emotion involved in coming to terms with tragedy, Falling: A Wake drives viewers to consider their own convictions about faith and hope through its emotional and philosophical exploration. The authentic chemistry between Dooley and Turner carries this absurd play to a tender conclusion as a mysterious stranger allows the couple to say “goodbye” to their past and move forward anew.

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