School of the Art’s fall major theatrical production explores love and power through a reimagining of Greco-Roman mythology

From Nov. 8 to 17, 2024, the school of the arts presented Woven Hearts, this year’s fall major theatrical production, in the Lyons Family Studio in L.R. Wilson Hall. Divided into two acts, the original production incorporated a series of Greco-Roman mythological figures and stories, drawing from Ovid's poem Metamorphoses.

Woven Hearts was produced by students taking the course iARTS 3MP6 – Devised Theatre Production. Through this course, students get hands on experience with production aspects like set and lighting design, costume and makeup design and choreography. These students also serve in key roles such as stage managers, script supervisors and assistant directors.

The central set piece for Woven Hearts was a loom that stretched from floor to ceiling and across the width of the theatre, splitting the stage in half. The Lyons Family Studio is arranged so that the audience sits on opposite sides of the stage, facing into the centre of the room.

Throughout the show, the actors interacted with the threads of the loom in various ways, pulling them aside to walk through the loom, leaning against them and entangling themselves between them. Different textiles were also woven into the loom to create imagery for certain scenes.

Peter Cockett, a SOTA associate professor who directs the fall major each year, discussed his selected source material.

“I wanted to do something about love, so we turned to a classical source, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, that has all these stories about love. And when we went to that source we discovered that it also had a lot to say about power and it actually was really political in our times, especially around issues of consent around this very patriarchal world of Ovid’s poem,” said Cockett.

Cockett emphasized that the fall major goes beyond just retelling old stories.

“I don’t think they’re important because they’re classical . . . but they’re here. They’re constantly being told and retold. They’re being idolized and idealized. So I think taking them on and seeing what they’re really about and changing them, that feels important still,” said Cockett. “But I think the most important thing is what the audience is responding to, which is this notion of centering love and the potential for a kind of altruistic social love that humans are capable of.”

But I think the most important thing is what the audience are responding to, which is this notion of centering love and the potential for a kind of altruistic social love that humans are capable of.

Peter Cockett, Director and Writer
Woven Hearts

In the spring 2024 term, Cockett taught THTRFLM 3PR3 – Text-based Devising: Research and Development, which is where the devising process for the fall major began. Cockett explained that the process involved studying Metamorphoses before writing and designing the entire production around the themes and stories from the text.

Mikey Gough, a fourth-year theatre and film studies student, described his experience working with Metamorphoses.

“There’s this instinct to have a lot of wonder surrounding the Greek myths, have a lot of positive associations. There was a lot of excitement . . . and when we were really kind of getting into the meat of them, I feel like we were running into these issues . . . it feels like they’re so harmful at times. And I think that friction, that incongruence with the wonder we had surrounding the stories and our problems with them is almost where we found our thesis,” said Gough.

Throughout the devising process, Gough and his peers asked questions like: “What about these stories are we not liking? What do we want to leave behind? And why? And what are these kind of new interpretations which we somehow or we suddenly find super beautiful?” said Gough.

Gough shared that he had heard positive reactions from others who watched the production.

“People in my age group, other students . . . have found it really moving. They’ve really enjoyed the upward arc of the show, which I would say there is . . . and I’ve heard a lot of people saying that the dose of hope it brings in our unprecedented times is really refreshing and important to see,” said Gough.

I've heard a lot of people saying that the dose of hope it brings in our unprecedented times is really refreshing and important to see.

Mikey Gough, fourth-year theatre and film studies student
Woven Hearts Actor

The annual SOTA fall major is a testament to the artistic talent of McMaster’s student body. Each production is creatively designed to convey an important message to its audience. Cockett shared that next year's production will focus on prison abolition, with a research-based devising process set to begin in January 2025.

Welcome to Unity, Saskatchewan, where kissing, spitting, going to school and even opening the mail are banned. The year is 1918, and the small prairie town is in lockdown as WWI, the Spanish Influenza and the prophesy of an impending apocalypse wreak havoc on the terrified civilians.

This year’s Theatre & Film Studies Fall Major is an intense staging of Canadian playwright Kevin Kerr’s 2002 play, Unity (1918). This morbidly funny show revolves around the experiences of Beatrice Wilde and her two sisters, Mary and Sissy, as they come of age in such a complicated and perilous time. While they mourn the absence and loss of their young men – and love interests – to a violent war overseas, their lives are irrevocably interrupted by the contagious and lethal Spanish flu. One by one they receive notice of men being killed in Europe; one by one the people of their town fall in an equally devastating slaughter. This frightening moment for Unity and greater Canada was a significant – albeit overlooked – moment in Canadian history.

“In McMaster’s anniversary year, I wanted to find a play about Canadian history. Kerr’s play was attractive because it takes such an interesting perspective on a key period of Canada’s development as a nation,” said Theatre & Film professor and program director Peter Cockett.

Indeed, one in six people are believed to have fallen ill with the Spanish flu during the fall and winter of 1918-19 in Canada, and over 50,000 of them died. This made the period a devastating one in Canadian history – a topic tackled by the many classes involved with putting this show together.

The production process involved substantial research on the period, an extensive rehearsal process and the collaboration of summer class T&F 3PR3 Research and Planning, as well as fall classes T&F 3S03 Major Production Workshop and T&F 3PC3 Community Outreach, along with volunteers.

“The level of engagement from the students this year has been exemplary. They have come to the work with a passion to learn and a desire to understand the play, the characters and how it connects to our country’s history and our current historical moment,” Cockett commented. This history, as the audience will quickly realize, is much more heart-wrenching and violent than perhaps assumed.

Such dire circumstances leads some town youth, spearheaded by Sissy Wilde (played with distinction by the edgy Zoe Blenkinsop), to become convinced that the end of the world is coming – and soon. Her excitement about an impending apocalypse parallels the fuss surrounding contemporary predictions about December 2012, and creates a thematic thread that links old-fashioned characters with a modern audience. “I think these perennial apocalypses are always a good excuse to look at ourselves and our world and reflect on what we have achieved and what we would like to achieve,” Cockett observed.

With a two-and-a-half-hour running time, this black comedy is a tad wearing on audiences and not for the casual, commercial theatre-goer. However, strong performances by an emotionally dedicated cast keep the heavy material engaging. Special praise should be directed to Hannah Wayne for portraying the lead role of Beatrice Wilde with grace, sympathy and passion, and to Devin France for embodying the blind soldier Hart with respect, humour and emotional flexibility. The consistent presence of choreographed ghosts throughout the show also adds interest to a minimalist set.

Continuing the tradition of recent years, the Fall Major features a talkback sequence immediately following all performances. While most nights are student-directed talks with the audience about responses to questions the show raises, some nights this year are themed and feature input from specialized members of the McMaster community. Wednesday, Nov. 14 asked the question “Who Makes History?” Thursday, Nov. 15 focuses on healthcare issues, and Friday, Nov. 16 considers the “View from Anthropology.” These sessions provide a forum for unpacking the complicated material explored in the play and then making connections to our present-day lives.

“As always with our work in Theatre and Film Studies, we want our production to be the beginning of a dialogue rather than the end of a story,” Cockett said.

After a successful opening weekend, Unity (1918) continues this week at 7:30 p.m. until Saturday, Nov. 17. Tickets are $12 for students, $20 for regular admission and are available at the School of the Arts office (TSH 414 or by calling 905-525-9140 x24246) or at the door.