I’ve been interested in the prison system for many years
of my life. I feel it has to do with my job. I work at an adult learning center
and I have met many people from many different walks of life. Personally, it
amazes me when people, despite what they have been through in life, come back
to do ‘better’ things. Thus, when I went to watch the play Dionysus in Stony
Mountain at the Rachel Browne Theatre, I was in absolute awe.
I’m not a theatre person, nor have I been to enough plays
to even comment on anything that has to do with theatre, but what a beautiful
evening it was to watch a play filled with heartache, intellectual minds, guilt
and the desire to do the ‘right’ thing.
Ross McMillan plays James Hiebert, an inmate who refuses
to take his lithium pills. He’s accompanied by, Sarah Constible who plays Heidi
Prober the strong yet confused psychiatrist, encouraging James to finish his
pills before his parole hearing in two weeks.
This play explores guilt and making sense of guilt. James
tries to make sense of everything by quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, a German
philosopher who questions religion and the value of truth. Heidi is intrigued
by what her patient has to say, yet confused since she is in a justice system
that tells her to stay single-minded and concentrated on only one purpose; get
inmates out of prison.
The second half is quite surprising since the roles are
reversed. I was very shocked to find out that Ross McMillan plays the uncle role
to Heidi in the second half. I said to my classmate beside me, “wait, is that
the same guy from the first half?” And he is said yes, but I could not believe
it. It was interesting to watch Heidi question everything she believed in.
I myself have gone through that stage and continue to. The
battle of figuring out what the ‘right’ thing to do is like trying to figure
out how to balance your life- it’s very challenging.
Overall, what would be considered sane, what the right
thing to do is and the notion of being someone’s savior are encompassed in this
play.
It’s deep stuff, I tell you. But you will not be
disappointed.
Dionysus in Stony Mountain, by Steven Ratzlaff, directed
by Bill Kerr is playing March 29-April 8 at the Rachel Browne Theatre.
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| Photography: Leif Norman |
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| Photography: Leif Norman |
Deep, yes. Fascinating, too.
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