Annabel Soutar’s The Watershed, Gateway Theatre until April 15. For more information visit gatewaytheatre.com.
West Vancouver-raised Toronto-based actor Brenda Robins saw a production of The Watershed when it was released to coincide with the “water” theme of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and she was impressed.
So there was little hesitation on her part when she was invited to perform in the play, written and produced by Montreal playwright and co-founder of Porte Parole Productions, Annabel Soutar.
In the production, showing at Richmond’s Gateway Theatre until April 15, Robins plays Soutar’s overbearing mother, Hazel (among nine other characters) as she follows her daughter on her journey across Harper’s Canada to explore the decline of the nation’s natural resources.
The play is done in a unique “documentary theatre” format where much of the content and inspiration for the screenplay is sourced verbatim from media transcripts and recorded conversations with scientists, government officials, activists and business leaders. It all provides an interesting opportunity for The Watershed cast to connect with audience members on the tour’s various stops. “During the run in Winnipeg we had audiences partially composed of people associated with, and working at, the Experimental Lakes Area (research station in Ontario), a crucial component of this play. Some of the people represented in the (production) were actually in the audience,” Robins explains.
A seasoned actress and longtime member of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre group with film credits including David Cronenberg’s film Map to the Stars and August: Osage County, Robins faced special challenges when preparing for this role. “I play 10 different characters so it is really a matter of making sure I’m in the correct costume, getting the information across and staying out of people’s way.” In the second act Robins does play a character consistently for several scenes, which she says, “is a relief, in spite of the fact that she is eight years old.”
Like the protagonist, Robins is currently touring the country with The Watershed cast to promote the show. But while Soutar’s character’s last stop is the oil sands in Northern Alberta; Robins’ is her hometown of Vancouver, where she grew up before making the move to Toronto where she lives with her son, visiting her husband, Patrick Galligan, often at their second home on Niagara-on-the-Lake where he has a career with the Shaw Festival.
“I grew up in West Vancouver, just up the hill from Dundarave Village, and so whenever I come back to Vancouver I walk along the seawall, both in West Vancouver and around Stanley Park. On my days off I’m staying with a friend in North Vancouver, just off Lonsdale (which is a) great street to walk/sit and grab a coffee. And I will make sure I get to Granville Island while I’m here.”
Though her first love is acting, Robins has exercised her writing chops over the years too, in particular during an experience adapting the screenplay for Parfumerie, in its translation from English to Hungarian. “The source material is beautiful and I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the outcome. The company I often work for in Toronto, Soulpepper, has produced it four times, and it thrills me every time.”
And luckily for audiences, writing for the stage is something that Robins will be doing more of: “In fact another play that I co-adapted, is going to be produced at Soulpepper this fall.”
The Watershed is currently at the Mainstage at Gateway Theatre until Saturday, April 15. Tickets are available at gatewaytheatre.com.
