Windsor-Walkverille Fringe Festival continues this weekend, featuring The Worst Thing I Ever Did, a brand-new dark comedy written, directed, and performed by Fay Lynn, Michael O’Reilly, and Michael Potter – the team that brought Mamet’s Oleanna to Windsor-Essex in the spring.
Three deeply troubled people assemble for a meeting of PORC (People Overcoming Random Cruelty), a support group for people who do terrible things. Owen is a compulsive liar whose anger threatens to boil over at any moment. The remorseless Percy sows chaos wherever she goes. Wesley, the newest member, is a baffling bundle of nervous tics who doesn’t believe in free will. They’re supposed to work toward overcoming their worst impulses . . . but the facilitator hasn’t shown up today. Without her, can these three forces for evil possibly push each other toward healthy behavior?
Spreading the writing duties across three minds with their own perspectives, preferences, and styles proved challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
“The more minds involved in any project,” Fay Lynn explains, “the more layers of perspective and interpretation interwoven into the material.”
Ultimately, negotiations between the writers pushed the play toward a rare level of honesty, Michael O’Reilly argues, adding, “There is something that is becoming quite rare in story – especially in drama – and that is to not push a particular outcome, to maybe allow the ‘wrong’ outcome to occur because that’s where these flawed characters end up”.
The honesty of the storytelling, Lynn believes, balances the dishonesty of the characters, who are “deceptive even in their attempts to be genuine. Whether they’re deceiving themselves as a form of defense, or purposely deceiving each other, will be left for the audience to decide”.
The Worst Thing I Ever Did stars Fay Lynn as Percy, Michael O’Reilly as Owen, and Michael Potter as Wesley. Performances will be at the Olde Walkerville Theatre.
Tickets can be purchased for $11 at the venue, or by phone at 519-253-2929. The remaining performances are scheduled for July 27 at 8:15 PM, July 28 at 12:00 PM, and July 29 at 7:15 PM. This play is for mature audiences only.
For more information, visit postproductionswindsor.ca
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