The team that brought us Oleanna earlier this year is back with an all new locally-written play for Windsor-Walkerville Fringe titled The Worst Thing I Ever Did, and although the title suits the story really well, it certainly isn’t the worst play ever made – in fact, it’s one of the highlights of the year.
While Oleanna was a deep and emotionally-twisting cry-fest about what society felt about feminism, the new one is a little more light-hearted, with plenty of humour injected into a rather dark story concept.
The tale brings us into the lives of three deeply troubled individuals assemble for a meeting of PORC (People Overcoming Random Cruelty), a support group for people who do terrible things. Owen (Michael O’Reilly) is an angry compulsive liar, Percy (Fay Lynn) adrores chaos wherever she goes, and Wesley (Michael Potter) is joining the group for the first time.
The group is supposed to work toward overcoming their worst impulses, but the facilitator hasn’t shown up and the trio takes the group in their own hands as they tell stories about the worst things they ever did.
The story was cleverly crafted by all three actors just for the Fringe Festival and audiences seemed to really love the dark humour. It’s a one act play with just enough juice to keep you interested at every moment. As the actors performed their parts on stage, there was little time to look over the minimalistic set with folding chairs and a snack table – all the action was happening between the actors and in some witty way, the audience was sucked into the world of PORC and we didn’t want to miss a thing.
Was Owen really a dick? Did Percy do what I just think she just did? What is wrong with that Wes guy, he really freaks me out?
O’Reilly, Lynn and Potter have a great chemistry on stage and a synergy that’s hard to find when assembling actors at random. They’re good together and although this is only the second piece they’ve created as a group, it comes across like they’ve done a lot more together.
It’s also nice to see that Post Productions is continuing to create thoughtful pieces rather than fluff. Not every play needs to be a giant musical or an all out comedy fest. In fact, some of the better ones can be small intimate stories like The Worst Thing I Ever Did. They’re creating entertaining theatre while still creating a conversation – and if this is what we can expect from the gang at Post Productions as they continue to grow, sign me up for a lifetime subscription.
There’s still one more chance to catch the show at Olde Walkerville Theatre tonight (Saturday July 29 at 7:15pm).
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