Terminus

The Off-Mirvish Second Stage Series kicked-off in style on Friday night with Outside The March’s exciting remount of Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus. The Canadian premiere of this intimately staged show was first presented at the SummerWorks Performance Festival this past August for an audience of 30 to 40 people, where theatre producer David Mirvish saw it and picked it up as part of his new indie theatre programming. Now playing at the historic Royal Alexandra Theatre, the venue seats 200 people on risers, facing out at the gorgeous beaux-arts architecture of the oldest operating legitimate theatre in North America. 

Set in the darkest corners of Dublin, O’Rowe’s lyrical script tells three interwoven stories in rhyming vernacular. The tale moves betweeen narrators: Maev Beaty as “A,” a mother with a heavy conscience who races to save a near-stranger from an anarchic band of lesbians; Ava Jane Markus as “B,” a lonely woman who finds comfort sex and love in the “arms” of a disembodied soul; and Adam Wilson as “C,” a prowling serial killer haunted by a pact with the devil.

The visceral play calls for very little in the way of design, yet Richard Feren makes the audience squirm with subtle then shocking sound that bookmarks the show. Meanwhile, Nick Blais’ simple set evokes a construction site and a pair of worm-filled wings, and the theatre itself comes alive through his brilliant lighting technique.

Director Mitchell Cushman gets exceptional performances from the cast: Beaty is a perfect blend of vulnerable and ferocious as she battles to help a woman from a most unnatural abortion, her soaring voice and stark frankness commanding our attention from the very start; Markus shines in her genuine portrayal of a sad young woman in need of love, carrying us sweetly along on her supernatural journey; and Wilson is darkly funny and sly in his violent chronicle of bloodshed and destruction. There is only one word for storytelling as good as this: Epic.

Terminus is easily the most thrilling production of the year. Don’t miss your opportunity to experience the magic on stage at the Royal Alex.

Read our interview with Outside The March co-artistic director Mitchell Cushman here.

Terminus runs until December 9. Visit Mirvish.com for more information and to buy tickets.

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