The Darkest Dark: theatre is like revolution for your brain
26 Feb 2025 - Photos by Dahlia Katz

The week of the first moon landing in 1969, young Chris and his family go to their cottage. Chris is an aspiring astronaut—who will grow up to become Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian Bowie-singing in space astronaut who wrote the book The Darkest Dark is based upon and co-wrote the play with Kate Fillion—who is also obsessed with science fiction. Aliens, asteroids and space travel fill his imagination and dreams and the rendering of them onstage is delightful and poignant. Childhood in the '60s was so innocent when it came to science fiction, with The Jetsons, Star Trek and Lost in Space, being more influential than The Green Slime or 2001: A Space Odyssey. But Chris has one problem that is exacerbated at the cottage: he is afraid to be alone in the dark. 

Will Chris conquer his fear? 
Will the space shadow aliens conquer the earth?
Are those horrific sounds really owls?
What lurks in the dark of outer space? Or under the bed? 
Are space toilets really just "vacuums for your butt?"
Stay tuned as The Darkest Dark unfolds.

As this is a Young People's Theatre production, there are several lessons in the text about conquering one's fears. All three of the central protagonists, Chris (Ziska Louis), Herbie (Anthony Perpuse) and Jane (Hannah Forest Briand) have a fear that they keep secret from the others. By working together they learn to surmount those phobias and learn just how valuable friendship is. Fortunately the production, directed by Jim Millan, is so bright, fast-paced, gag-filled and full of special effects that the lesson goes down effortlessly. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and the kids thronging the theatre seemed mesmerized though I can't vouch for whether they post-production turned to their besties in order to slay their inner demons. I hope so. There are also a few tangents that are explored, the most tangential being the responsibilities of growing up. Chris's sister Cindy (Evelyn Wiebe) is post-pubescent and obsessed with being maturer than Chris. This mostly means that she fawns, working up to being brave enough to flirt, over hot self-proclaimed hippie canoe instructor Keith (Shaquille Pottinger [White Muscle Daddy, The Pansy Craze]). Cindy is not as mature as she hopes, and Chris finds a level of maturity—it even heals his puberty-cracking voice—when he deals with the dark.

Even more intriguing is a play within the play that the children put on. Jane, the impresario, explains that her wagon full of inspirational creations are "props not junk," and they also become a governing aesthetic for The Darkest Dark. In the same way that imagination can turn a plastic water gun into a space laser, or a cardboard oatmeal drum into a space helmet, set and costume designer Anna Treusch allows a touch of homemade quality to seep into the props. Except for one, a delicious jump scare towards the end that made me jump and made the audience scream, reducing one moppet to tears. Excellently done. The reciprocal relationship between imagination, play and theatre is subtly and evocatively illustrated. While we ache for the characters investing in their tin foil creations, we also feel for and completely believe in the creations ourselves. Pulled right into Chris's imagination and dreams. Jane's fear has to do with the fine art of theatre and her adaptation instead of conquering is a fine piece of adaptation itself. And of course the philosopher Keith also has an astute stoner observation, "I love theatre, it's like revolution for your mind."

Keith's mantra (and yes the concept of a mantra is explained) is, "The river of life finds its own true path," which is a little hippie passive but this is theatre and not an actual revolutionary call to arms. Occasionally the performances slip into broad declarative statements instead of naturalistic acting, which is off-putting but which I'm going to chalk up to my attending a sadly, sparsely populated early matinee. While attentive once the show got rolling, it was not an easy audience to initially engage. But the cast was game, moving set pieces, dancing groovily and interacting with magical projections courtesy of Daniele Guevara, that brought the wonders of space and the moon landing right to our laps. Lisa Ryder is a harried mom who has that dry sense of humour that is usually found in oblivious '80s horror film mothers, and Ron Pederson (Four Chords and a Gun) gives Eugene Levy a run for his money as most genial Canadian father figure. Most importantly, we feel Chris's fear of the dark, his false bravado and fear of losing face, and share his triumph as his dream/imaginative persona of Captain Chris crosses over into his real life. Though, even though it involves space shadow aliens lurking and menacing, the sci-fi imaginings of Chris, and Chris, are the most entertaining part of The Darkest Dark.